TY - GEN A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Raab, Thomas A1 - Hinz, Christoph A1 - Letmathe, Peter A1 - Leuchner, Michael A1 - Roß-Nickoll, Martina A1 - Rüde, Thomas A1 - Trachte, Katja A1 - Wätzold, Frank A1 - Lehmkuhl, Frank T1 - Perspectives of lignite post‑mining landscapes under changing environmental conditions: what can we learn from a comparison between the Rhenish and Lusatian region in Germany? T2 - Environmental Sciences Europe N2 - Background The decision of the German federal government to cease lignite mining until 2038 or—if possible— already earlier until 2030, will cause manifold transition processes in the remaining lignite mining districts of Germany. The two largest districts are located in geographically opposite regions: The Rhineland in the western part and Lusatia in the east of Germany. As particularly these two mining districts will experience severe changes in their socioeconomic as well environmental conditions, the federal government has adopted comprehensive economic support measures. However, the environmental changes will also cause altered ecosystem functions and services to be provided by the future post-mining landscapes. Results In this paper, the two main lignite-producing regions of Germany are compared with regard to their natural and cultural settings. The economic situation and its history are reflected and differences are outlined. Part of the disparities in the cultural development can be explained by very different natural conditions, especially edaphic factors and climatic situation. Because of dissimilar geological settings, different mining technologies were developed and are in use in the two regions with distinct effects on the resulting post-mining landscapes. Conclusion The long-standing and manifold lignite mining activities have radically restructured the landscapes in Lusatia and the Rhineland. With the ongoing decline of the mining industry and its complete cessation, presumably within the next decade, both regions will alter their faces significantly. These changes offer both challenges but also opportunities with respect to the post-mining landscapes and their ecosystem services they are going to provide. The prerequisites for a positive socioeconomic development and for sustainable land-use concepts that also consider ecological aspects are different for both regions. However, or especially because of these differences, the knowledge exchange and experience transfer between both mining regions are pivotal for the success of this extensive transformation process. KW - Lignite mining KW - Ecosystem services KW - Post-mining landscapes KW - Transformation processes Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-023-00738-z SN - 2190-4715 VL - 35 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Raab, Thomas A1 - Hinz, Christoph A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Lehmkuhl, Frank T1 - Editorial for the Special Issue “Anthropogenic Geomorphology – Geomorphology in the Anthropocene” T2 - Geomorphology Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2022.108528 SN - 0169-555X VL - 422 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Lehmkuhl, Frank A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Raab, Thomas A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus A1 - Hinz, Christoph A1 - Letmathe, Peter A1 - Leuchner, Michael A1 - Roß-Nickoll, Martina A1 - Rüde, Thomas R. A1 - Trachte, Katja A1 - Wätzold, Frank T1 - Perspectives for the lignite post-mining landscapes of the lignite mining landscapes under changing environmental conditions - what can we learn from a comparison between the Rhenish and the Lusatian regions in Germany? : EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria & Online | 14–19 April 2024 N2 - The German government's decision to phase out lignite mining by 2038 or earlier, as recently 2030 has been agreed for the Rhineland, will trigger a number of transition processes in Germany's remaining lignite mining areas. The two largest lignite mining areas are located in geographically different regions: Rhineland in the west and Lusatia in the east. As the socio-economic and environmental conditions in these two mining areas are set to change dramatically, the German government has adopted extensive economic support measures. However, the environmental changes will also lead to changes in the ecosystem functions and services provided by the future post-mining landscapes. Gerwin et al. (2023) compare the two main lignite producing regions of Germany in terms of their natural and cultural environments. The economic situation and its history are reflected and differences are outlined. Part of the differences in cultural development can be explained by the natural conditions, especially the edaphic factors and the climatic situation. Because of the specific geological settings, tailored mining technologies were developed and used in the two regions, with different effects on the resulting post-mining landscapes. We conclude that the landscapes of Lusatia and the Rhineland have been radically restructured by the long and varied history of lignite mining. Both regions will change significantly as the mining industry continues to decline and is expected to cease altogether within the next decade. These changes in the post-mining landscapes and the ecosystem services will provide both challenges and opportunities. The preconditions for positive socio-economic development and for sustainable land use concepts that also consider ecological aspects are different for the two regions. The exchange of knowledge and experience between the two mining regions is crucial to the success of this major transformation process, despite, or perhaps because of, these differences. Gerwin, W., Raab, T., Birkhofer, K., Hinz, C., Letmathe, P., Leuchner, M., Roß-Nickoll, M., Rüde, T., Trachte, K., Wätzold, F., Lehmkuhl, F. (2023): Perspectives of lignite post-mining landscapes under changing environmental conditions: what can we learn from a comparison between the Rhenish and Lusatian region in Germany? Environmental Sciences Europe 35:36. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-023-00738-z Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-2791 PB - Copernicus GmbH ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Pohle, Ina A1 - Hu, Yuzhu A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Maurer, Thomas A1 - Hinz, Christoph T1 - Hydrogeochemische Signaturen der Einzugsgebietsentwicklung – die Rolle der Calcium- und Sulfatfreisetzung im Hühnerwassereinzugsgebiet T2 - Abstract-Sammlung zu Posterbeiträgen, eingereicht zum Tag der Hydrologie in Trier 2017, 23. 03. – 24. 03. 2017 Y1 - 2017 UR - https://www.uni-trier.de/fileadmin/fb6/prof/PHY/PDF-Dateien/TdH2017_4Abstracts_Poster.pdf SP - S. 5 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Hinz, Christoph A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Pohle, Ina T1 - Entwicklung eines transienten hydrologischen Systems: Zustandsänderungen des künstlichen Einzugsgebiets Hühnerwasser T2 - Abstract-Sammlung zu Posterbeiträgen, eingereicht zum Tag der Hydrologie in Trier 2017, 23. 03. – 24. 03. 2017 Y1 - 2017 UR - https://www.uni-trier.de/fileadmin/fb6/prof/PHY/PDF-Dateien/TdH2017_4Abstracts_Poster.pdf SP - S. 1 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Maurer, Thomas A1 - Brück, Yasemine A1 - Hinz, Christoph A1 - Gerke, Horst H. T1 - Modeling 3D soil and sediment distributions for assessing catchment structure and hydrological feedbacks T2 - European Geosciences Union, General Assembly 2015, Vienna, Austria, 13 April - 17 May 2015 Y1 - 2015 UR - http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2015/EGU2015-12519.pdf N1 - EGU2015-12519 PB - European Geophysical Society CY - Katlenburg-Lindau ER - TY - GEN A1 - Maurer, Thomas A1 - Caviedes-Voullième, Daniel A1 - Gerke, Horst H. A1 - Hinz, Christoph T1 - A 3D-spatial approach for modeling soil hydraulic property distributions on the artificial Huehnerwasser catchment T2 - Geophysical Research Abstracts N2 - Knowledge of catchment 3D spatial heterogeneity is crucial for the assessment and modeling of eco-hydrological processes. Especially during the initial development phase of a hydro-geo-system, the primary structural properties have the potential to determine further development pathways. Small-scale heterogeneity (cm to m scale) may have significant effects on processes on larger spatial scales, but is difficult to measure and quantify. The Hühnerwasser (Chicken Creek) catchment offers the unique opportunity to study early ecosystem development within an initial structural setup that is well-known, from the plot up to the catchment scale. Based on information on the open-cast mining technology, catchment boundaries and sediment properties, we developed a structure generator program for the process-based modeling of specific dumping structures and sediment property distributions on the catchment. The structure generator reproduces the trajectories of spoil ridges and can be conditioned to reproduce actual sediment distributions according to remote sensing and soil sampling data. Alternatively, sediment distribution scenarios can be generated based on geological data from the excavation site, or can be distributed stochastically. Using pedotransfer functions, the effective hydraulic van-Genuchten parameters are then calculated from sediment texture and bulk density. The main application of the 3D catchment model is to provide detailed 3D-distributed flow domain information for hydrological flow modeling. Observation data are available from catchment monitoring are available for determining the boundary conditions (e.g., precipitation), and the calibration / validation of the model (catchment discharge, ground water). The analysis of multiple sediment distribution scenarios allows to evaluate the effect of initial conditions on hydrological behavior development. Generally, the modeling approach can be used to pinpoint the influx of specific soil structural features on ecohydrological processes across spatial scales. Y1 - 2019 UR - https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2019/EGU2019-5378.pdf VL - 21 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kästner, Karl A1 - Caviedes-Voullième, Daniel A1 - Hinz, Christoph ED - Li, Pan T1 - Formation of spatial vegetation patterns in heterogeneous environments T2 - PLOS One N2 - Functioning of many resource-limited ecosystems is facilitated through spatial patterns. Patterns can indicate ecosystems productivity and resilience, but the interpretation of a pattern requires good understanding of its structure and underlying biophysical processes. Regular patterns are understood to form autogenously through self-organization, for which exogenous heterogeneities are negligible. This has been corroborated by reaction-diffusion models which generate highly regular patterns in idealized homogeneous environments. However, such model-generated patterns are considerably more regular than natural patterns, which indicates that the concept of autogenous pattern formation is incomplete. Models can generate patterns which appear more natural when they incorporate exogenous random spatial heterogeneities (noise), such as microtopography or spatially varying soil properties. However, the mechanism through which noise influences the pattern formation has not been explained so far. Recalling that irregular patterns can form through stochastic processes, we propose that regular patterns can form through stochastic processes as well, where spatial noise is filtered through scale-dependent biophysical feedbacks. First, we demonstrate that the pattern formation in nonlinear reaction-diffusion models is highly sensitive to noise. We then propose simple stochastic processes which can explain why and how random exogenous heterogeneity influences the formation of regular and irregular patterns. Finally, we derive linear filters which reproduce the spatial structure and visual appearance of natural patterns well. Our work contributes to a more holistic understanding of spatial pattern formation in self-organizing ecosystems. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324181 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 20 IS - 5 SP - 1 EP - 38 PB - Public Library of Science (PLoS) CY - San Francisco, California ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Pohle, Ina A1 - Maurer, Thomas A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Hinz, Christoph A1 - Badorreck, Annika T1 - Water balance dynamics of the constructed Chicken Creek catchment as influenced by 12 years of ecological development T2 - European Geosciences Union, General Assembly 2018, Vienna, Austria N2 - Experimental catchments with well-known boundaries and characteristics may contribute valuable data to hydrological, critical zone and landscape evolution research. One of the most well-established and largest constructed catchments is the Chicken Creek catchment (6 ha area including a 0.4 ha pond, Brandenburg, Germany) representing an initial ecosystem undergoing a highly dynamic ecological development starting from clearly defined starting conditions. The water balance dynamics of the catchment was calculated using a simple mass balance approach to reveal the impact of ecological development during 12 years. Water storage in the catchment was calculated from a 3D-model of groundwater volumes, soil moisture measurements and water level recordings of the pond. The catchment water balance equation was resolved for evapotranspiration, the only part that was not measured directly. Due to the known boundary conditions and the inner structure of the catchment, we were able to quantify the different storage compartments and their role in hydrologic response. Our results indicate that for small catchments with a highly dynamic ecological development like the Chicken Creek, the knowledge about saturated and unsaturated storage volumes enables a good estimate and closure of the water balance using a rather simple approach, at least in annual resolution. We found a significant relationship between vegetation cover in the catchment and calculated ET. Time series of meteorological, hydrological, soil and vegetation data over 12 years enabled us to characterize the transient development of the catchment and to evaluate the effect of different feedback mechanisms on catchment hydrology. The dataset from the Chicken Creek catchment indicate at least three phases in ecosystem development, where initial abiotic feedbacks (e.g. erosion) were followed by more and more biotic controls (e.g. biological soil crusts, vegetation succession and growth). Data from Chicken Creek in high spatial and temporal resolution provide a valuable database underlining the high importance of abiotic/biotic feedback effects that change the hydrologic functioning and response of the catchment more than the water balance itself revealed and thus have to be included in catchment models. Y1 - 2018 UR - https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2018/EGU2018-11977.pdf N1 - EGU2018-11977 PB - European Geophysical Society CY - Katlenburg-Lindau ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Pohle, Ina A1 - Maurer, Thomas A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Hinz, Christoph A1 - Badorreck, Annika T1 - Water Balance Dynamics during Ten Years of Ecological Development at Chicken Creek Catchment T2 - Vadose Zone Journal N2 - Difficulties in quantitatively closing the water balance of catchments arise when upscaling point measurements and from insufficient knowledge of the physical boundaries, inner structure, and storage volumes of natural catchments. In addition, there is a strong need for generalizing the relationship between catchment characteristics and hydrological response. Therefore, experimental catchments with well-known boundaries and conditions could contribute valuable data to hydrological and critical zone research. One of the most well-established and largest constructed catchments is the Chicken Creek catchment (6 ha including a pond, Brandenburg, Germany) representing an initial ecosystem undergoing highly dynamic ecological development starting from clearly defined starting conditions. Directly after completion of the construction, extensive monitoring equipment was installed to track the ecosystem development and to capture the spatiotemporal variability of meteorological, hydrological, ecological, and soil conditions and vegetation succession. In this study, we focused on the water balance dynamics of the Chicken Creek catchment for the period 2005 to 2015 as influenced by ecological development. Water storage in the catchment was calculated from a three-dimensional model of groundwater volumes, soil moisture measurements, and water level recordings of the pond. The catchment water balance equation was resolved for evapotranspiration, the only part that was not measured directly. Time series of meteorological, hydrological, and ecological data for 10 yr enabled us to characterize the transient development of the catchment and to evaluate the effect of different feedback mechanisms on catchment hydrology. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2017.04.0074 SN - 1539-1663 VL - 16 IS - 11 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Hinz, Christoph A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Hüttl, Reinhard F. ED - Liu, Jiu-Fu ED - Gu, Wei-Zu T1 - Ecosystem Development in the Constructed Catchment "Chicken Creek" T2 - Hydrology of Artificial and Controlled Experiments N2 - Landscapes and ecosystems are complex systems with many feedback mechanisms acting between the various abiotic and biotic components. The knowledge about these interacting processes is mainly derived from mature ecosystems. The initial development of ecosystem complexity may involve state transitions following catastrophic shifts, disturbances, or transgression of thresholds. We propose a conceptual framework of feedback processes in early states of ecosystem development affected by spatiotemporal environmental drivers. To test this concept, we used 10-year time series of hydrological, biological, geomorphological, and soil data from the constructed catchment Chicken Creek.” The 6ha site was left to unrestricted development since 2005 and was intensively monitored. The data showed a very rapid development of the site with an increasing complexity and heterogeneity. In the first years, stochastic signals like the initial substrate conditions and external drivers like extreme weather events were the most important factors resulting in abiotic/abiotic feedback mechanisms shaping the morphology of the site and creating site diversity. Initial abiotic feedback mechanisms between water and substrate were soon followed by abiotic/biotic feedbacks between biological soil crusts, invading vegetation, geomorphology, and hydrology resulting in state transitions of catchment functioning. Y1 - 2018 UR - https://www.intechopen.com/books/hydrology-of-artificial-and-controlled-experiments/ecosystem-development-in-the-constructed-catchment-chicken-creek- SN - 978-1-78923-559-3 SN - 978-1-78923-558-6 SP - 75 EP - 93 PB - Intech Open CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Badorreck, Annika A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Hinz, Christoph A1 - Hüttl, Reinhard F. T1 - Das Hühnerwasser-Einzugsgebiet in SO-Brandenburg im Übergang von einem abiotischen zu einem biotisch kontrollierten Wasserhaushalt T2 - Hydrologie und Wasserbewirtschaftung N2 - Das Hühnerwasser-Einzugsgebiet ist ein 6 ha großes, künstlich geschaffenes Wassereinzugsgebiet im Tagebau Welzow-Süd in Südost-Brandenburg. Das Zweischichtsystem mit einer Ton- und einer darüber liegenden Sandschicht wurde im Jahr 2005 fertiggestellt und ohne weitere Rekultivierungsmaßnahmen für Forschungszwecke bereitgestellt. Es lässt exemplarisch die Untersuchung der initialen Landschaftsgenese zu. Insbesondere die Entwicklung von einem zunächst noch abiotisch kontrollierten hin zu einem biotisch gesteuerten System lässt sich hier beobachten. In diesem Beitrag werden beispielhaft einige in diesem Kontext aufgetretene Interaktionen zwischen abiotischen und biotischen Strukturelementen vorgestellt. Dies sind zum einen Erosions- und Sedimentationsprozesse und ihre Wechselwirkungen mit der Vegetation. Zum anderen wird der Einfluss der Vegetation auf die Grundwasserentwicklung dargestellt. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5675/HyWa_2018,3_1 SN - 0012-0235 SN - 1439-1783 VL - 62 IS - 3 SP - 134 EP - 144 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Pohle, Ina A1 - Hu, Yuzhu A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Hinz, Christoph T1 - Hydrogeochemical signatures of catchment evolution – the role of calcium and sulphate release in the constructed Hühnerwasser (“Chicken Creek”) catchment T2 - European Geosciences Union, General Assembly 2016, Vienna, Austria N2 - The constructed Hühnerwasser (“Chicken Creek”) catchment is an ecohydrological system in an initial state of development. The catchment with an area of 6 ha was built up from quaternary sediments in the post-mining landscape of Lusatia in Eastern Germany and serves as a critical zone observatory for detecting ecosystem transition. The soil substrate is characterized as sands to loamy sands with low carbonate contents but significant amounts of gypsum in the sediments of the catchment. The catchment undergoes a strong transition from an abiotic system in the initial years to a system with growing influence of biota. Concerning the hydrology, a regime shift from surface runoff to groundwater flow dominated processes is significant. It is of interest, whether the catchment transition is also reflected by hydrogeochemical indicators. We assume gypsum dissolution as dominant process at the catchment scale. In order to investigate the hydrogeochemical evolution of the catchment we analysed electric conductivity, calcium and sulphate concentrations and pH-values of biweekly composite samples from 2007-2013 of the atmospheric deposition, of runoff and soil water. The two observation points in the flowing water represent surface runoff and groundwater discharge respectively. Soil water has been analysed at four soil pits in three depths. The monitoring data were provided by the Research Platform Chicken Creek. From the macroscopic data analysis we found an exponential decay of the electric conductivity, calcium and sulphate concentrations in the flowing waters and some of the soil pits. In the flowing water, the decrease slope of the electric conductivity and the calcium and sulphate concentrations is almost identical. The calcium / sulphate molar ratio as an indicator of gypsum dissolution is almost equal to one up to 2010, afterwards more calcium than sulphate is released. The pH-values in the flowing and soil water are generally higher than in the atmospheric deposition, they do show variabilites but no trend behaviour. The time series analyses showed that the interannual variability of the hydrogeochemical properties is less pronounced in the first years of ecosystem development than in the later years. This leads to the conclusion, that in the first years, gypsum dissolution is the major source for calcium and sulphate in the soil and the flowing waters. The increasing interannual variability and changes in the calcium / sulphate ratio in the later years might be interpreted as hydrogeochemical response to the development of vegetation and acidification due to the development of the rhizosphere. Y1 - 2016 UR - http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2016/EGU2016-7726-1.pdf N1 - EGU2016-7726-1 PB - European Geophysical Society CY - Katlenburg-Lindau ER -