Geological Society of Australia, 2014 Australian Earth Sciences Convention (AESC), Sustainable Australia. 22nd Australian Geological Convention, Newcastle, New South Wales. July 7-10
While the interdisciplinary field of geoarcheology now often involves petrological surveys at arc... more While the interdisciplinary field of geoarcheology now often involves petrological surveys at archeological sites, the Kazanlak Geoscience Project aimed to go back to the geomorphology-based beginnings of the field to demonstrate how a simple soil survey could be beneficial to an archeological project. During the 2011 autumn season of the Tundzha Regional Archaeology Project (TRAP), a small geoscience team conducted such a soil survey across the Kazanlak valley in central Bulgaria. Sample sites were randomly selected using stratified systematic random sampling (SSRS), and 155 soil samples were collected. The soil was tested for organic matter content, carbonate content, texture and coarse fraction, with the results analysed and interpolated in a GIS to determine spatial patterns in each of these soil properties within the study area. The data were then used in combination with topographic and land cover datasets to produce a quantitative model of soil erosion potential for the region, which predicted erosion rates of up to 895 t/ha/yr or 70 mm/yr. These findings have various potential applications, such as past landscape reconstructions or in determining spatial relationships between soil properties, landscape stability and surface distribution of archeological artefacts.
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Objective: To evaluate how surface water network structure, landscape resistance to movement, and flooding affect the connectivity of amphibian habitats within the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB), a highly modified but ecologically significant region of south-eastern Australia.
Methods: We evaluated potential connectivity network graphs based on circuit theory, Euclidean and least-cost path distances for two amphibian species with different dispersal abilities, and used graph theory metrics to compare regional- and patch-scale connectivity across a range of flooding scenarios.
Results: Circuit theory graphs were more connected than Euclidean and least-cost equivalents in floodplain environments, and less connected in highly modified or semi-arid regions. Habitat networks were highly fragmented for both species, with flooding playing a crucial role in facilitating landscape-scale connectivity. Both formally and informally protected habitats were more likely to form important connectivity “hubs” or “stepping stones” compared to non-protected habitats, and increased in importance with flooding.
Conclusions: Surface water network structure and the quality of the intervening landscape matrix combine to affect the connectivity of MDB amphibian habitats in ways which vary spatially and in response to flooding. Our findings highlight the importance of utilising organism-relevant connectivity models which incorporate landscape resistance to movement, and accounting for dynamic landscape-scale processes such as flooding when quantifying connectivity to inform the conservation of dynamic and highly modified environments.
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Tundzha Regional Archaeological Project (TRAP). Using techniques developed for landscape archaeology, this research identified temporally variable influences of environmental and cultural factors on human activity. These results contribute to current understanding of regional changes in settlement patterns, subsistence
strategies, strategic considerations and cultural factors, providing an important starting point for further analysis of developing social complexity throughout the region’s 8000 year history.
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Objective: To evaluate how surface water network structure, landscape resistance to movement, and flooding affect the connectivity of amphibian habitats within the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB), a highly modified but ecologically significant region of south-eastern Australia.
Methods: We evaluated potential connectivity network graphs based on circuit theory, Euclidean and least-cost path distances for two amphibian species with different dispersal abilities, and used graph theory metrics to compare regional- and patch-scale connectivity across a range of flooding scenarios.
Results: Circuit theory graphs were more connected than Euclidean and least-cost equivalents in floodplain environments, and less connected in highly modified or semi-arid regions. Habitat networks were highly fragmented for both species, with flooding playing a crucial role in facilitating landscape-scale connectivity. Both formally and informally protected habitats were more likely to form important connectivity “hubs” or “stepping stones” compared to non-protected habitats, and increased in importance with flooding.
Conclusions: Surface water network structure and the quality of the intervening landscape matrix combine to affect the connectivity of MDB amphibian habitats in ways which vary spatially and in response to flooding. Our findings highlight the importance of utilising organism-relevant connectivity models which incorporate landscape resistance to movement, and accounting for dynamic landscape-scale processes such as flooding when quantifying connectivity to inform the conservation of dynamic and highly modified environments.
Tundzha Regional Archaeological Project (TRAP). Using techniques developed for landscape archaeology, this research identified temporally variable influences of environmental and cultural factors on human activity. These results contribute to current understanding of regional changes in settlement patterns, subsistence
strategies, strategic considerations and cultural factors, providing an important starting point for further analysis of developing social complexity throughout the region’s 8000 year history.