Review ArticleTerraced landscapes: From an old best practice to a potential hazard for soil degradation due to land abandonment
Section snippets
Terraces: the ancient practice of soil conservation and steep hillslopes cultivation
Terraces are among the most evident human signatures on the landscape, and they cover large areas of the Earth (Fig. 1). The purpose of terracing and its effect on hydrological processes depend on geology and soil properties (Grove and Rackham, 2003), but they are generally built to retain more water and soil, to reduce both hydrological connectivity and erosion (Lasanta et al., 2001, Cammeraat, 2004, Cots-Folch et al., 2006), to allow machinery and ploughs to work in better conditions, to make
Terraces: Italy case study
Terracing has been practiced in Italy since the Neolithic and is well documented from the Middle Ages onward. In the 1700s, Italian agronomists such as Landeschi, Ridolfi and Testaferrata began to learn the art of hill and mountain terracing, earning their recognition as “Tuscan masters of hill management” (Sereni, 1961). Several agronomic treatises written in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries observe that in those times there was a critical situation due to a prevalence of a “rittochino”
Integrated view, likely solutions and future challenges
The literature review proposed in Section 1 and the practical examples described in Section 2 underline how human actions connected to the presence and maintenance of terraced structures are capable of accelerating or diverting natural events such as landslides and land degradation. Connected to these issues, the following section is divided in three parts: first are the non-structural management suggestions for the correct management of terraces; second are the structural measures to be
Final remarks
Terraces are one of most evident landscape signatures of man. Land terracing is a clear example of an anthropic geomorphic process that has significantly reshaped the surface morphology. Since ancient times, humans have used terracing practices for agricultural activities in different environments (both hilly and mountainous areas) and regions of the world, and also for mitigating soil erosion and stabilizing hillslopes. The study of terraces represents a challenge for our modern society and
Acknowledgements
Analysis resources and terrestrial laser scanner data were provided by the Interdepartmental Research Centre of Geomatics—CIRGEO, at the University of Padova. Aerial lidar data were provided by the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea (Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare, MATTM), within the framework of the `Extraordinary Plan of Environmental Remote Sensing' (Piano Straordinario di Telerilevamento Ambientale, PST-A).
We thank the
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