HLC-RUSLE HiLSS Project v. 1.0.1

The R script code was developed by dr. F. Brandolini (Newcastle University, UK) to accompany the paper: "Brandolini F. et al. - Modelling the impact of historic landscape change on soil erosion and degradation".

Abstract

Historic agricultural practices have played a dominant role in shaping today’s landscapes, creating a heritage which can be understood and conserved from the perspective of sustainable development. International policies and guidelines often highlight the divide between ‘nature’ and ‘heritage’ in landscape management, and the weakness of monodisciplinary approaches. This study responds by developing a new interdisciplinary approach which can bridge these divides to investigate the relationships between sustainability and landscape heritage with particular reference to soil loss and degradation over the long term. The resulting analyses can be used to inform strategies for sustainable land resource planning. This study presents an innovative method for modelling how pre-industrial agricultural features can mitigate soil erosion risk in response to the current environmental conditions. Landscape archaeology data presented through Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC) have been integrated in a GIS-RUSLE model to illustrate the impact of varying historic land-uses on soil erosion.

List of files included in HLC_RUSLE.zip:

• R_script_code named "HLC_RUSLE" in .rmd format
• Output folder:
  • Figures folder: .png products of the R script code
  • Rasters folder: .png products of the R script code
  • Tables folder: .pdf products of the R script code
• GeoTiff folder (.TIFF file format): Regional RUSLE Data
• GPKG: HLC dataset and Region Of Interest file in .gpkg format.