Cartografía semi-automática de terrazas de cultivo a partir de datos LiDAR

Abstract

The mountain systems surrounding the Mediterranean suffered a huge transformation related with the agriculture, mainly as a consequence of the agricultural terraces construction. These structures modify the topography and soils distribution, and, as a consequence, the drainage basins hydro-erosive dynamics. The massive land abandonment especially during the second half of the 20th century conduced to an afforestation associated with the occurrence of wild fires. The combination of fires and the collapse of the terraces walls has accelerated soil erosion processes. Actual sources of topographical data –mainly the airborne LiDAR- and the image analysis tools, offers an adequate resolution to get the land surface elements patters and map landforms such terrace steps. This paper explores the possibilities of such data sources and tools and pretends mapping the terrace walls both active and abandoned for the agricultural practices. Two small catchments have been selected in Mallorca and Castelló as samples characterised by the massive presence of agricultural terraces and using airborne LiDAR data has applied a procedure that produced satisfactory results. The maps have been check by means of photointerpretation and field work, and an exploratory work has been done analysing the influence of the terraces over the erosion processes by means of the study of the structural connectivity applying to the DTMs a Connectivity Index (IC)

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