Abstract
This paper critically assesses the evidence for soil erosion by water in a cool temperate country, Scotland. In the Scottish uplands, peat erosion is the most extensive form of erosion but there are marked regional variations in extent and severity. Potential influencing factors are discussed, but it is concluded that no simple causal relationships can be proposed; instead peat erosion is linked to a combination of such factors as grazing by sheep and deer, increases in rainfall and resultant sub-surface pipe enlargement, and natural cycles of peat growth and decay. For upland mineral soils, data are provided to demonstrate the loss of organic matter as a result of human trampling pressure. In the lowlands, the incidence of soil erosion is demonstrated to be highly variable in space and time. Fields with light-textured soils and which have been ploughed or sown with autumn cereals are the most susceptible to gullying and soil wash as a result of particular weather sequences. Though the impacts of individual erosional events may be low, concern is expressed about the cumulative impacts. For one site, the cumulative impacts over a c. 40 year timescale are demonstrated by the application of the 137Cs technique and the results indicated that erosion rates were ≤ 2.00 mm yr −1; the corresponding deposition rates were ≤ 2.4 mm yr−1. In this field, the main impact was damage to postholes from a Neolithic( ca. 3000 BC) timber structure. The effect of soil erosion on loss of the archaeological record is thus demonstrated. The overall conclusion is that soil erosion is an issue in a cool temperate country such as Scotland with different impacts in the uplands and lowlands. New approaches to modelling and predicting soil erosion are required for such environments to reflect relationships between erosion and hydrology.
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Davidson, D.A., Grieve, I.C., Tyler, A.N. (2001). An Assessment of Soil Erosion by Water in Scotland. In: Conacher, A.J. (eds) Land Degradation. The GeoJournal Library, vol 58. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2033-5_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2033-5_6
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