Marginal Lands and Erosion in Terraced Fields in the Mediterranean Mountains

Abstract

Since the 1950s, the Spanish Mediterranean mountains have become a marginal territory, with few inhabitants and limited economic activity. As a consequence, significant land use changes (farmland abandonment, development of extensive cattle rearing, and reforestation) have taken place, resulting in landscape degradation and new hydromorphological processes. In this article, the process and impact of farmland abandonment in the Camero Viejo (northwestern Iberian System) are described. The authors also studied the geomorphological evolution of terraced fields after cultivation was given up. Runoff rates and sediment yield in abandoned and grazed terraces were measured using a rainfall simulator. Results show that the speed and intensity of the hydrological and erosional response increased if plots were grazed intensively. The study demonstrates that new land management systems in the Camero Viejo, in particular extensive cattle grazing, have generated additional source areas of sediments.