Effects of Land-Cover Change on Soil Erosion in the Saxon Switzerland National Park Region

Land-cover patterns changed significantly during the last century due to anthropogenic impact. This also affected soil erosion rates. Changes in land-cover patterns influence slope lengths and, thus, erosional displacement. However, this effect is not yet well quantified. There are various established approaches for the empirical modelling of soil erosion, but none seems appropriate to sufficiently consider changes in land-cover patterns. Our main objective is to quantify the effects of land-cover changes on soil erosion. Based on historical maps and physical factors, mainly soil properties and precipitation, our modelling techniques utilise Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to assess these effects, using the Saxon Switzerland ("Sachsische Schweiz") National Park Region during the past century as a test area. Our results indicate that changes in land-cover patterns affected soil erosion to a greater extent than estimated so far, and thus need to be considered more precisely in erosion modelling.

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