Michael Maerker

• Prof. Dr. Habil.
• Professor (Associate) at Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) & University of Pavia

From the beginning of the past century geomorphological maps have been generated through detailed field surveys representing Earth surface landforms and deposits fixed on sheets of printed paper. The introduction of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the last decades has allowed the addition of more information to each mapped landform through...

In this paper we introduce HOTSED, a novel, innovative GIS-based model designed for assessing potential hotspots of sediment dynamics at watershed scale. HOTSED integrates geomorphic spatial information with both structural and functional properties of connectivity. HOTSED provides a single and intuitive output that depicts the location of sediment...

This paper presents a novel GIS-based methodological framework for multiscale digital mapping and database implementation in sediment dynamics assessments. It relies on the concept of ‘Geomorphic Entities’ (GEs), which are polygon objects representing complex, polygenetic geomorphic systems. GEs allow mapping ‘focal landforms’ as elementary mapping...

The increasing impacts of climate variability pose a challenge in understanding the dynamics of arid and semi-arid regions, especially in the context of desertification and land degradation. However, in South America, there is a lack of comprehensive studies on the spatial and temporal shifts in aridity zones, particularly using satellite-based ind...

Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle and in maintaining soil functions in the context of land use and climate change. Understanding the spatial distribution of SOC is essential for the management of agricultural land to optimize soil health and carbon storage. In this study, we investigated the spatial distribut...

Soil erosion and land degradation are among the main threats to agricultural landscapes such as Mediterranean agroecosystems. Assessing the variety of geomorphic processes at the different spatio-temporal scales must be considered for identifying hotspots of sediment dynamics, as to support decision-makers in a sustainable watershed management. How...

Mapping soil classes to retrieve information for specific soil management strategies according to capabilities and limitations of soil types is an important and very useful application of Digital Soil Mapping (DSM). DSM harnesses auxiliary data, including Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and remote sensing information, to establish crucial relations...

Sediment connectivity is a pivotal concept in geomorphological studies aimed at assessing watershed sediment dynamics. It is expressed through the spatial arrangement and physical linkages of system components (Structural Connectivity, SC) and the actual transfer of water and sediments facilitated by dynamic processes (Functional Connectivity, FC)....

Digital soil mapping (DSM) around the world is mostly conducted in areas with a certain relief characterized by significant heterogeneities in soil-forming factors. However, lowland areas (e.g., plains, low-relief areas), prevalently used for agricultural purposes, might also show a certain variability in soil characteristics. To assess the spatial...

In Digital Soil Mapping (DSM), assessing the transferability of soil type classification models across different spatial resolutions is a pivotal step in ensuring their robustness and applicability to diverse terrains. This study investigates the impact of spatial resolutions on soil type mapping within an intensively used agricultural lowland regi...

This study examines the hydrological dynamics of the Ticino irrigation cascade in northern Italy from 2004 to 2022. The region, which is shaped by human activity, is characterized by its flat topography and complex management of water resources, featuring a unique historic irrigation cascade. Utilizing the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), we...

The aim of our study was to explore the diversity of soil microbial and microarthropod consortia in relation to different tillage application or permanent grass cover, in a traditional winegrowing area, considering also chemical, physical, and geological properties, focused on multidisciplinary approach.

A pseudo-3D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) survey has been carried out to detect cavities at the Neolithic/Palaeo-lithic site of Grotta Scaloria, close to Manfredonia, Apulia, Italy. Scaloria Cave has a rich history of archaeological research of more than 80 years and is one of the most important Neolithic complexes in the Mediterranean. S...

Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle and for maintaining soil function in the context of land use and climate change. Understanding the spatial distribution of SOC is essential for the management of agricultural land to optimize soil health and carbon storage. In this study, we investigated the spatial distribut...

Gully erosion affects the landscape and human life in many ways, including the destruction of agricultural land and infrastructures, altering the hydraulic potential of soils, as well as water availability. Due to climate change, more areas are expected to be affected by gully erosion in the future, threatening especially low-income agricultural re...

Large scale databases are critical for helping scientists decipher long-term patterns in human evolution. This paper describes the conception and development of such a research database and illustrates how big data can be harnessed to formulate new ideas about the past. The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans (ROCEEH) is a transdisciplina...

Our study aims at evaluating the sediment dynamics of a geomorphologically highly active area in the Northern Apennines, Italy. The study area is the upper Val d'Arda, which is a highly anthropized catchment. The widespread presence of weak clayey sedimentary formations makes this area particularly susceptible to land degradation, soil erosion and...

In this paper, we study natural hazards and their potential impacts on productive activities in the Comau Fjord in Chilean Northern Patagonia. We carried out hazard mapping to identify areas with evidence of geomorphological activity on slopes in terms of landslides, river/tsunami flooding, and glacial retreat. The assessment of different geomorphi...

Poster presented at the International Conference on Fluvial Sedimentology, July 2-7 2023.

This study was carried out in the upper Val d’Arda catchment (Northern Apennines, Italy). The study area is highly susceptible to soil erosion and mass movements, which significantly contribute to land degradation and reservoir siltation. Sediment sources were extensively mapped to elaborate an inventory map providing the extent and distribution of...

The management of Mediterranean Agroecosystems is crucial to prevent or mitigate sediment-related threats like soil erosion, water quality issues, and reservoir sedimentation. Hence, the identification of type, extent, and location of sediment sources and sinks, in relation to geological and landscape features, is a key prerequisite for identifying...

In mountain regions, soil landscapes are highly vulnerable against soil loss. Moreover, these environments are particularly affected by land use changes, which influence soil properties and related processes like surface runoff generation and soil erosion. These processes are in turn amplified by extreme climatic events and intensive geomorphologic...

This paper investigates the locations of past watermills in terms of their hydrological and geomorphological conditions. In our analysis, the natural landscape was treated as a resource of factors favouring or hindering the location of a specific mill and the possibility of their persistence as technological and economic conditions became increasin...

Sustainable agricultural landscape management needs reliable and accurate soil maps and updated geospatial soil information. Recently, machine learning (ML) models have commonly been used in digital soil mapping, together with limited data, for various types of landscapes. In this study, we tested linear and nonlinear ML models in predicting and ma...

Landscape sensitivity is a concept referring to the likelihood that changes in land use may affect in an irreversible way physical and chemical soil properties of the concerned landscape. The objective of this study is to quantitatively assess the sensitivity of the southern Alpine soil landscape regarding land use change-induced perturbations. Alp...

Soil erosion is a serious threat to soil functions leading to land productivity decline and multiple off-site effects. Here we show, using a multi-model approach, the spatial risk of soil erosion by water, wind, tillage and harvesting and where the co-occurrence of these different processes is observed. Moreover, we analysed where these locations o...

Gully erosion is known to affect soil productivity, and to limit land use in many parts of the world. To assess the susceptibility of soils to gully erosion, the triggering factors must be analyzed. A simulation of gully development over time was implemented in Python – GIS modules based on the topographic characteristics of the study area, soil pr...

The aim of this work is to assess the sediment dynamics of a small watershed in the Northern Apennines dominated by suspended sediment transport. Therefore, we analysed and correlated the sediment volume concentration and grain size distribution of the suspended sediments with the precipitation pattern. The study area is sited in the Varzi Municipa...

The present work has two main objectives: i) the hydro-geomorphological analysis of the variations of the Lambro River and ii) the assessment of the potential hydrogeological risks in the district of Cologno Monzese, San Maurizio al Lambro, in Central-West Lombardy, Italy. The study area is sited in the Po Plain and is characterised by fluvial and...

The management of Mediterranean agroecosystems is crucial to prevent and mitigate sediment-related threats like soil erosion, water quality issues, or reservoir sedimentation. Hence, the assessment of sediment dynamics at catchment scale is essential for identifying hotspot areas susceptible to sediment loss. Therefore, the identification of type,...

Poster presented at VII Convegno di Geomorfologia, IX Giornata dei Giovani Geomorfologi AIGeo 2022, Palermo.

In mountain regions, soil landscapes are highly vulnerable against soil loss. Moreover, these environments are particularly affected by land use changes, which influence soil properties and related processes like surface runoff generation and soil erosion. These processes are in turn amplified by extreme climatic events and intensive geomorphologic...

The Emilian Apennines (Northern Apennines) are among the most landslide-prone areas in Italy, due to the prevalence of weak rocks formations, i.e., arenaceous-pelitic flysch and chaotic mélanges. In the Quaternary, landslide processes have been a major geomorphic factor in shaping the landscape of this area. Indeed, most of the landforms are associ...

Poster presented at SGI-SIMP Congress 2022 (Turin, 19-21 September) during the session "Landslides from mountain to coastal environments and beyond".

Se analiza la dinámica geomorfológica de cuencas y subcuenca de la Región de Coquimbo, Chile, para establecer las condiciones que generan los eventos de 'flashflood' de verano-otoño, asociado a eventos de precipitaciones extremas. Se consideran los eventos ENSO como antecedentes previos de precipitaciones extremas, de invierno. El trabajo realizado...

In times of global change, it is of fundamental importance to understand the sensitivity, stability and resistivity of a landscape or ecosystem to human disturbance. Landscapes and ecosystems have internal thresholds, giving them the ability to resist such disturbance. When these thresholds are quantified, the development of countermeasures can hel...

Gully erosion is known to affect soil productivity, limit land use, and to pose threats on infrastructure in many parts of the world. Gully erosion has been largely neglected because it is difficult to model and visualize its effects. Many gullies grow rapidly to large sizes, making effective control technically difficult and often too expensive. T...

Sustainable agricultural landscape management needs reliable and accurate soil maps and updated geospatial soil information. The traditional process of soil surveying is time-consuming and limited in terms of accuracy and spatial distribution. This problem can be partly overcome by Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and the application of digit...

Soil erosion is one of the most challenging environmental issues in the world, causing unsustainable soil loss every year. In South Africa, several episodes of gully erosion have been documented and clearly linked to the presence of Quaternary colluvial deposits on the Drakensberg Mountain footslopes. The aim of this study was to identify and asses...

The volumes and dynamics of suspended sediments drained from a watershed are often unknown, especially in small creeks and tributaries where continuous discharge measurements are seldom available. The objective of this study was to assess in a qualitative and quantitative way the sediment dynamics of a small ungauged watershed in the Northern Apenn...

The location of hillforts is an extremely important issue in terms of understanding the functioning of the Middle Ages community. The multifaceted nature of hillfort localization factors requires an interdisciplinary approach. In this study we propose a methodology based on a detailed digital terrain analysis and the application of a predictive mod...

The European Commission's Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection (COM(2012)46) identified soil erosion as an important threat to European Union's (EU) soil resources. Gully erosion is an important but hitherto poorly understood component of this threat. Here we present the results of an unprecedented attempt to monitor the occurrence of gully erosio...

The aim of the present work is to assess the morpho-climatic conditions that trigger area variations of Badlands, in the lower Secchia Basin, Emilia-Romagna region, (Italy). Furthermore, we compare the results of this study with the area variation trends in other Italian regions. The final purpose is to understand and project the future evolution o...

For the estimation of the soil organic carbon stocks, bulk density (BD) is a fundamental parameter but measured data are usually not available especially when dealing with legacy soil data. It is possible to estimate BD by applying pedotransfer function (PTF). We applied different estimation methods with the aim to define a suitable PTF for BD of a...

Nell’ambito del progetto della Regione Lombardia denominato CE4WE, viene effettuata la classificazione di lunghe e frequenti serie storiche di immagini Sentinel-2, allo scopo di ottenere una mappa di uso del suolo dinamica. La classificazione è stata effettuata, per ora, nella sola modalità a immagine singola. Sono stati tuttavia considerati divers...

Soil erosion is generally recognized as the dominant process of land degradation. The formation and expansion of gullies is often a highly significant process of soil erosion. However, our ability to assess and simulate gully erosion and its impacts remains very limited. This is especially so at regional to continental scales. As a result, gullying...

Soil erosion is one of the major processes degrading the natural environment but also agricultural production areas. Soil erosion may lead to soil organic carbon (SOC) loss, especially from sloping agricultural terrain units. The use of phytomelioration in environmental management, particularly long-term, permanent forest vegetation, is widely reco...

To gain a better understanding of the global application of soil erosion prediction models, we comprehensively reviewed relevant peer-reviewed research literature on soil-erosion modelling published between 1994 and 2017. We aimed to identify (i) the processes and models most frequently addressed in the literature, (ii) the regions within which mod...

To gain a better understanding of the global application of soil erosion prediction models, we comprehensively reviewed relevant peer-reviewed research literature on soil-erosion modelling published between 1994 and2017. We aimed to identify (i) the processes and models most frequently addressed in the literature, (ii) the regions within which mode...

For the estimation of the soil organic carbon stocks, bulk density (BD) is a fundamental parameter but measured data are usually not available especially when dealing with legacy soil data. It is possible to estimate BD by applying pedotransfer function (PTF). We applied different estimation methods with the aim to define a suitable PTF for BD of a...

Soil erosion can present a major threat to agriculture due to loss of soil, nutrients, and organic carbon. Therefore, soil erosion modelling is one of the steps used to plan suitable soil protection measures and detect erosion hotspots. A bibliometric analysis of this topic can reveal research patterns and soil erosion modelling characteristics tha...

Different inter-row agronomical practices can deeply influence the soil properties and the grapevine root development, especially for those vineyards cultivated along steep slopes. Cultivation of grapevines on slope systems represents also a fundamental component of the local economy. This study is aimed at assessing the sustainability of differen...

Cultivation of grapevines in sloping soils is very widespread all over the world, representing also a fundamental branch of the local economy of several hilly zones. Vineyards can be managed in different ways especially in the inter-rows. These management practices may influence deeply soil properties and grapevine root development. Therefore, this...

Soil erosion is often regarded as one of the main processes of desertification. Many parts of the world have been affected by soil erosion, resulting in major environmental problems and causing land degradation, loss of agricultural land, destroyed villages and infrastructure as well as historic places. Soil erosion particularly affects arid and se...

Grapevine root development can be susceptible to slope instabilities and different inter-row management can affect vine yard soil ecosystem. In this study the traditional techniques of tillage practices were evaluated.The microarthropod community was described by adaptation to soil life (epe-,hemi-and eu-edaphic forms). Molecular based methods was...

Soil erosion is one of the most important environmental problems distributed worldwide. In the last decades, numerous studies have been published on the assessment of soil erosion and the related processes and forms using empirical, conceptual and physically based models. For the prediction of the spatial distribution, more and more sophisticated s...

We present a 1:50 000 scale geomorphological map of the upper Mkhomazi River basin, located in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The sub-horizontal strata of the Permo-Triassic Beaufort Group forms plateau interfluves with a concave valley slope morphology. Locally, thick sequences of late Pleistoce...

Soil erosion represents one of the most important global issues with serious effects on agriculture and water quality, especially in developing countries, such as Ethiopia, where rapid population growth and climatic changes affect widely mountainous areas. The Meskay catchment is a head catchment of the Jemma Basin draining into the Blue Nile (Cent...

Geographic information system (GIS)-based predictive modelling is widely used in archaeology to identify suitable zones for ancient settlement locations and determine underlying factors of their distribution. In this study, we developed predictive models on Roman viticulture in the Laetanian Region (Hispania Citerior-Tarraconensis), using the locat...

In this report, we present the contributions, outcomes, ideas, discussions and conclusions obtained at the PaleoMaps Workshop 2019, that took place at the Institute of Geography of the University of Cologne on 23 and 24 September 2019. The twofold aim of the workshop was: (1) to provide an overview of approaches and methods that are presently used...

Along the middle reaches of the Dnieper River in central Ukraine, braided riverbeds with many islands have developed in alluvial valleys. In the 1970s, six dams were commissioned, and respective monitoring infrastructure was installed. Riverbanks and valley floors composed of unconsolidated material have much lower bank strengths and are susceptibl...

Reservoirs are formed through the artificial damming of a river valley. Reservoirs, among others, capture polluted load transported by the tributaries in the form of suspended and dissolved sediments and substances. Therefore, reservoirs are treated in the European Union (EU) as “artificial” or “heavily modified” surface water bodies. The reservoir...

From the 1990s onwards several Italian rivers have experienced a recent phase characterized by active-channel widening and, generally, by bed-level stability or slight aggradation. However, its triggering factors and its diffusion, along with the relationship between active-channel planform dynamics and vertical adjustments, are still quite debated...

Cultivation of grapevines in sloping soils is very widespread all over the world, representing also a fundamental branch of the local economy of several hilly zones. Vineyards can be managed in different ways especially the inter-rows. These management practices may influence deeply soil properties and grapevine root development. Therefore, this wo...

The landscape of the surroundings of the Melka Kunture prehistoric site, Upper Awash Basin, Ethiopia, were studied intensively in the last decades. Nonetheless, the area was mainly characterized under a stratigraphic/geological and archaeological point of view. However, a detailed geomorphological map is still lacking. Hence, in this study, we iden...

This is a map of geomorphological processes, forms and features in the surroundings of the Melka Kunture Palaeolithic site, Ethiopia which has to be read in conjunction with the paper by the same authors in Journal of Maps, 15:2, 797-806, DOI: 10.1080/17445647.2019.1669497

In this article we present a detailed litho-structural map of the Oltrepo Pavese, a sector of the Northern Apennines, Southern Lombardy, Italy. Lithology and geological structures are an important basis for different disciplines of Earth Sciences. In particular, for the assessment of earth surface processes such as soil erosion, mass movements, flo...

Cultivation of grapevines in sloping soils is very widespread all over the world, representing also fundamental branch of local economy of several hilly areas. Vineyards can be managed in different ways. Agronomical practices in inter-rows can be significantly different and may influence deeply the soil properties and the grapevine root development...

Gully erosion is one of the most intensive process of soil erosion in South Africa. The aim of this study is to examine the driving factors for the origin and development of gully forms and features in the upper Mkhomazi basin, KwaZulu-Natal, RSA. The study area covers about 600 km 2 and is characterized by the sedimentary rocks of the Permo-Triass...

ASSESSMENT OF GULLY EROSION IN RELATION TO LITHOLOGY IN THE SOUTHWESTERN ZAGROS MOUNTAINS, IRAN USING ASTER DATA, GIS AND STOCHASTIC MODELING

Badlands and gullies are a typical erosional landform occurring prevailingly in semiarid to sub-humid areas. Badland and gully formation processes are driven by i) natural settings, like highly erodible soils and substrates, intensive precipitation and/or scarce vegetation cover and by ii) human activity such as climate change or land use change. I...

In this research, we present the lower Scrivia river planform changes occurred from 1878 to 2016. furthermore, we illustrate the channelization-works development and the land-use changes registered close to the riverbed after the 1950s. The Scrivia river is among the most relevant right-bank tributaries of the Po river; it is about 90 km long and o...

Particularly the Liguria region in Northern Italy is highly affected by soil erosion processes. This study was conducted in the Portofino promontory in eastern Liguria, to predict potential annual soil loss using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). Moreover, we evaluate the relative accuracy of the predictions at detailed scale, using...

Badlands are characteristic erosional forms distributed along the entire Apennines. In the Italian context badland areas are called “calanchi”, the plural of the word “calanco”. In this paper we present the first calanchi inventory map of the Oltrepo Pavese area, Northern Apennines (Italy). In total 263 calanchi were mapped using remote sensing tec...

In the most ancient wine area of the Controlled Denomination of Origin (DOC) “ OltrepòPavese ” in North-West Italy, foothills of the Apennine mountains, the soils of 14 representative vineyards managed for about 10 years with tillage (T) or natural grass-cover (G) or the alternation of the two methods between the rows (GT), were compared for their...

The use of phytomelioration in environmental management, particularly in case of long-term, permanent forest vegetation, is one of the most natural and effective ways to mitigate the effects of soil erosion. Forests in general have a very effective protective function. The paper identifies differences in the basic soil properties along slope surfac...

Artificial reservoirs have an important role in water management of river systems in terms of flood control, water supply and sediment budgeting. Therefore, it is important to maximize the time of their effective functioning. Sediment budgeting mainly depends on sediment transport dynamics. This article illustrates the impact of the Koronowski Rese...