@inproceedings{SchneiderBonhageHirschetal., author = {Schneider, Anna and Bonhage, Alexander and Hirsch, Florian and Raab, Alexandra and Raab, Thomas}, title = {Spatial and temporal variability of soil physical properties on legacies of historic charcoal production}, series = {European Geosciences Union, General Assembly 2018, Vienna, Austria}, booktitle = {European Geosciences Union, General Assembly 2018, Vienna, Austria}, publisher = {European Geophysical Society}, address = {Katlenburg-Lindau}, abstract = {The spatial variability of soil physical properties on the landscape scale is often increased by anthropogenic land occupation, not only by current land use but also through the legacies of past land use systems. The remains of historic charcoal hearts are an example for such a disturbance of the soil landscape by former forestry. Such relict charcoal hearths (RCH) exhibit a clearly altered soil stratigraphy, most prominently characterized by a technogenic substrate layer on the soil surface, and their soil physical properties can considerably differ from those of surrounding forest soils. The aim of our study is to characterize the soil water and temperature regime on RHC in a pre-industrial charcoal production area in Brandenburg, Germany, as compared with the surrounding sandy forest soils. Soil properties were analyzed in profiles on and around hearth sites and are monitored in a sensor transect equipped with soil moisture sensors and pF-meters. Results of soil sample analyses show differences in density and porosity between the RCH soils and surrounding forest soils, not only in the technogenic layer but also in the buried soil layers on hearth sites. The soil water characteristic curves determined in the laboratory indicate a modified pore size distribution and lower plant available water contents in the RCH soils. Preliminary results of the ongoing soil water monitoring, however, show increased soil wetness in the RCH soils, along with lower soil moisture tensions. Furthermore, the measurements show higher variations of soil temperature in RCH soils. The results affirm that the legacies of historic charcoal production can increase the spatial variability of soil physical properties and therefore also of ecological site conditions in forest areas. The results of soil moisture monitoring suggest that a determination of soil physical parameters in the laboratory is not sufficient to characterize the spatio-temporal variations of the soil water regime.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{RaabSchneiderBonhageetal., author = {Raab, Alexandra and Schneider, Anna and Bonhage, Alexander and Takla, Melanie and Hirsch, Florian and M{\"u}ller, Frank and R{\"o}sler, Horst and Heußner, Karl-Uwe}, title = {Spatial analysis of charcoal kiln remains in the former royal forest district Tauer (Lower Lusatia, North German Lowlands)}, series = {European Geosciences Union, General Assembly 2016, Vienna, Austria}, booktitle = {European Geosciences Union, General Assembly 2016, Vienna, Austria}, publisher = {European Geophysical Society}, address = {Katlenburg-Lindau}, abstract = {Archaeological excavations have revealed more than thousand charcoal kiln remains (CKRs) in the prefield of the active opencast lignite mine J{\"a}nschwalde, situated about 150 km SE of Berlin (SE Brandenburg, Germany). The charcoal was mainly produced for the ironwork Peitz nearby, which operated from the 16th to the mid-19th centuries. In a first approach, to estimate the dimension of the charcoal production, CKRs were mapped on shaded-relief maps (SRMs) derived from high-resolution LiDAR data (Raab et al. 2015). Subsequently, for a selected test area, identified CKRs on the SRMs were compared with archaeologically excavated CKRs in the field. This survey showed a considerably number of falsely detected sites. Therefore, the data was critically re-evaluated using additional relief visualisations. Further, we extended the CKR mapping to areas which are not archaeologically investigated. The study area, the former royal forest district Tauer, consists of two separate areas: the Tauersche Heide (c. 96 km2 area) N of Peitz and the area J{\"a}nschwalde (c. 32 km2 area) NE of Peitz. The study area is characterized by a flat topography. Different former and current anthropogenic uses (e.g., military training, solar power plant, forestry measures) have affected the study area, resulting in extensive disturbances of the terrain surface. The revised CKR abundance in the study area J{\"a}nschwalde was considerably smaller than the numbers produced by our first approach. Further, the CKR mapping revealed, that a total record of the CKRs is not possible for various reasons. Despite these limitations, a solid database can be provided for a much larger area than before. Basic statistic parameters of the CKR diameters and all comparative statistical tests were calculated using SPSS. To detect underlying spatial relationships in the CKR site distribution, we applied the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic, a method to test for local spatial autocorrelation between neighbouring sites. The test is available as part of the ArcGis 10.1 spatial statistics toolbox. The outcomes are discussed in consideration of our archaeological, archival and dendrochronological research results.}, language = {en} }