Brigitta Schütt - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Brigitta Schütt
Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, Supplementary Issues, 2011
Abstract: The Wadi Awatib discharges near the 6 th Cataract into the River Nile and drains a catc... more Abstract: The Wadi Awatib discharges near the 6 th Cataract into the River Nile and drains a catchment of 2360 km 2, an escarpment area. In this escarpment area, at the foot of the" Gebel Naga", the Meroitic settlement Naga was located. The relief is characterized by the ...
We present results of a geomorphological-sedimentological study on the Holocene evolution and the... more We present results of a geomorphological-sedimentological study on the Holocene evolution and the Bronze Age paleoenvironment of a lowland river valley in the northeastern Black Sea hinterland. The study investigates the valley of the Sambek, 15 km west of the Don Delta. This area has been colonized since the Bronze Age, as settlements and burial mounds on the slopes of the valley testify. The environmental setting of the Sambek valley changed over the last ten thousand years. In the tenth millennium BP, the valley floor was captured by active meandering channels and oxbow lakes. The latter were filled up by in situ peat formation. From the end of the eighth millennium BP at the latest, the fluvial dynamics changed, and the deposition of allochthonous material through overbank deposition became the dominant process. Because this change did not coincide with any settlement activities, we assume it was the result of the mid-Holocene aridization of the Black Sea steppe described for ex...
This study analyses the relationship between Aleppo and settlements in the city’s hinterland base... more This study analyses the relationship between Aleppo and settlements in the city’s hinterland based on spatial statistics. A theoretical extension of the term central place is used in reconstructing Aleppo’s central character. Locally the city served as a centre for trade, exchange, and cult activity. In a regional and supra-regional context, advantages deriving from the topographic location led trade, exchange, and craft to take on different functions. This study demonstrates that, in constrast to other important cities in the ancient Middle East, Aleppo could maintain its long-lasting significance as a central place due to the combination of different functions.
The Egyptian Journal of Remote Sensing and Space Science, 2013
Soil erosion, salinity and sodicity hazards are serious problems in the northern west coast of Eg... more Soil erosion, salinity and sodicity hazards are serious problems in the northern west coast of Egypt and lead to reducing the soil quality and increasing the degradation of soil resources. Sidi Barrani and Al-Sallum regions are selected as study areas which are located from a longitude of 25°10 0 00 00 to 26°55 0 00 00 East and from a latitude of 31°00 0 0 00 to 31°37 0 30 00 North. Erosion hazard was estimated using the 'Universal Soil Loss Equation' (USLE), which is a simple empirical model that is widely used for assessing long-term annual soil loss .The salinity and sodicity hazards were estimated based on FAO method as standard reference. The resultant map of annual soil erosion shows a maximum soil loss of 60 t h À1 y À1 with a close relation to foot slopes and wide units on the steep side-slopes (with high LS value) and the erodibility value reached to 0.1 t h À1 y À1 . Meanwhile sand beaches and sabkha units are characterized by high environmental hazards of both water erosion, salinity and sodicity, while in the overflow basin units are identified as low environmental hazards. The spatial environmental hazards assessment is conducted by using integrated GIS and RS which can serve as effective inputs in deriving strategies for sustainable land use planning and management.
Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, Supplementary Issues, 2008
Abstract: The endorheic Nam Co Lake, southeastern Tibetan Plateau, was selected to investigate th... more Abstract: The endorheic Nam Co Lake, southeastern Tibetan Plateau, was selected to investigate the interrelation between post-glacial glacier decay and lake level fluctuations. During the transition between MIS 2 and MIS1glacier decay caused regional changes in ...
eTopoi. Journal for …, 2012
An exchange of goods corresponds to an interaction between humans. Centrality is the measure of t... more An exchange of goods corresponds to an interaction between humans. Centrality is the measure of the concentration of such interactions—a central place its spatial manifestation. The absence of these regional or super-regional interactions is considered as marginality. ...
Quaternary International, 2013
This study investigates the relationship between late Holocene landscape development and early hu... more This study investigates the relationship between late Holocene landscape development and early human interaction by means of geomorphological and sedimentological analyses supported by GIS modeling operations. The selected geoarchives are sedimentary valley fills of two subwatersheds located in the upper Turano River drainage basin (60 km northeast of Rome, Italy), where humans settled at least since the earliest classic period. First the alluvial plains were identified and mapped through multiple GIS operations. Thereafter, 12 cores were taken from the alluvial plains, collecting in total 68 m of alluvial profiles. By sedimentological analyses (i.e., grain size, carbon determination) together with 36 AMS-radiocarbon dates, we identified phases when changes in the geomorphological evolution of the study area occurred. Starting around 4200 cal BP, eight distinct clusters of increased cumulated probability density functions of the 14 C dates were observed, representing enhanced alluvial deposition and/or fluvial activity. The shift from a phase of prevailing biostasy to a period of anthropic rhexistasy occurred after 4200 cal BP in the Rio di Riccetto and around 2200 cal BP in the more remote Ovito watersheds. Dividing the alluvial sediment volumes by the potential erosion areas and assuming a sediment delivery ratio (SDR) between 0.21 and 0.46, we obtained an average late Holocene surface lowering of 370 to 540 mm in the Rio di Riccetto and 400 to 510 mm in the Ovito watersheds. Our results show that notable land reshaping occurred in the vicinity of the city of Rome, which can be attributed to human-induced land cover changes.
Quaternary International, 2013
The importance of an archaeological site is determined by its centrality, a measure of the intera... more The importance of an archaeological site is determined by its centrality, a measure of the interaction at the site. Interactions are assessed by different central functions that are important on different spatial scales. With this integrated approach, applying the knowledge of geography, prehistoric archaeology and classical archaeology, the surroundings of present-day Bergama and Selçuk in Western Anatolia are analysed with regard to their centrality. The diachronic approach shows the different developments of both areas throughout time, indicating the importance of different environmental and social factors that create the level of centrality. Two kinds of centrality can be distinguished: (1) a natural centrality that is mainly based on the location of a site in relation to its local hinterland as well as supra-regional landscape characteristics and (2) a politically controlled centrality that is caused by human efforts to assemble central functions. While in the second case deterioration starts when the required effort can no longer be afforded, deterioration in the first type of centrality is caused by the natural landscape dynamics. This interdisciplinary, diachronic analysis allows a holistic assessment of centrality. Furthermore it shows that (1) local, natural or social factors alone are not able to give a full and sufficient explanation of the differences in a location's centrality as well as (2) the evident need for integrated research frameworks in the analysis of humaneenvironmental relationships throughout time.
Quaternary International, 2013
Quaternary International, 2012
Quaternary International, 2010
For Lake Nam Co, south-central Tibetan Plateau, geomorphological features and hydrological charac... more For Lake Nam Co, south-central Tibetan Plateau, geomorphological features and hydrological characteristics have been compiled to provide an overview of the landscape character. Information is based on primary data, collected during field campaigns in the summers of 2005 and 2006, and secondary data as available from satellite images. Nam Co is located at the intersection of the Westerlies, the winter monsoon, the South West Asian monsoon, and the East Asian monsoon. It is situated in a graben structure. Landforms of the drainage basin are highly influenced by tectonics, superimposed by fluvial and periglacial processes, and locally by glacial and aeolian processes. Its drainage basin is endorheic. Thus, lake level is primarily controlled by the balance between input through precipitation or inflow streams and evaporation as the output. The significance of lake water evaporation is evidenced by the salinity and measurable increase of 2 H and 18 O of the lake water when compared to the inflow streams and precipitation. Maximum conductivities total 431 mS mm À1 for the inflowing river waters and 1920 mS mm À1 for the lake water. Overall, the solute contents are low and characterise Nam Co as a pristine environment. Dominant ions are calcium and bicarbonate in river waters. Sulphate contents are relatively high in Nam Co, and the lake is also characterised by high boron values. A significant decrease in lake water salinity during the past two decades is likely related to increased freshwater input.
Journal of Environmental Management, 2011
The Gallocanta Basin represents an environment highly sensitive to climate change. Over the past ... more The Gallocanta Basin represents an environment highly sensitive to climate change. Over the past 60 years, the Laguna de Gallocanta, an ephemeral lake situated in the closed Gallocanta basin, experienced a sequence of wet and dry phases. The lake and its surrounding wetlands are one of only a few bird sanctuaries left in NE-Spain for grey cranes on their annual migration from Scandinavia to northern Africa. Understanding the impact of climate change on basin hydrology is therefore of utmost importance for the appropriate management of the bird sanctuary. Changes in lake level are only weakly linked to annual rainfall, with reaction times between hours and months after rainfall. Both the total amount of rainfall over the reaction period, as well as individual extreme events, affect lake level. In this study the characteristics and frequencies of daily, event, monthly and bi-monthly rainfall over the past 60 years were analysed. The results revealed a clear link between increased frequencies of high magnitude rainfall and phases of water filling in the Laguna de Gallocanta. In the middle of the 20th century, the absolute amount of rainfall appears to have been more important for lake level, while more recently the frequency of high magnitude rainfall has emerged as the dominant variable.
Geomorphology, 2014
This study on past soil erosion processes focuses on a catchment located in a mountainous sector ... more This study on past soil erosion processes focuses on a catchment located in a mountainous sector of the Central Apennines, 60 km northeast of Rome. Humans are known to have interacted with the landscape in this region at least since the early Iron Age. The area is highly sensitive to climatic changes and human intervention and thus is susceptible to soil erosion. The environmental impact of past human activities has been examined by geomorphological and sedimentological investigations and supported by modelling operations.
Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 2000
. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy 0.4-2.5 mm is evaluated as fast and non-destructive method for... more . Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy 0.4-2.5 mm is evaluated as fast and non-destructive method for the analysis of sedi-Ž . ments, characterised by a wide range of mineral constituents. Combined with feed-forward artificial neural networks ANNs this technique is used to estimate quantitatively the chemical composition from the sediments based on a supervised training with one model. The examined characteristics include contents of inorganic carbon, Fe, S, Al, Si, Ca, K, Mg and calcite. The Ž Ž . efficiency of several learning algorithms Backpropagation, Quickprop, Resilient propagation Rprop , Cascade Correlation Ž .. Ž . CC is investigated. All learning algorithms perform well using principal component PC scores of the first derivative spectra as input for the supervised training. ANNs trained with Quickprop and Rprop produced most accurate estimations of Ž the chemical characteristics and the performance was better than for standard multivariate statistical tools stepwise multiple Ž . Ž . . linear regression SMLR , principal component analysis PCA . An interpretation of the results is given by a detailed consideration of the correlation structure among the chemical constituents. q
Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, Supplementary Issues, 2011
Abstract: The Wadi Awatib discharges near the 6 th Cataract into the River Nile and drains a catc... more Abstract: The Wadi Awatib discharges near the 6 th Cataract into the River Nile and drains a catchment of 2360 km 2, an escarpment area. In this escarpment area, at the foot of the" Gebel Naga", the Meroitic settlement Naga was located. The relief is characterized by the ...
We present results of a geomorphological-sedimentological study on the Holocene evolution and the... more We present results of a geomorphological-sedimentological study on the Holocene evolution and the Bronze Age paleoenvironment of a lowland river valley in the northeastern Black Sea hinterland. The study investigates the valley of the Sambek, 15 km west of the Don Delta. This area has been colonized since the Bronze Age, as settlements and burial mounds on the slopes of the valley testify. The environmental setting of the Sambek valley changed over the last ten thousand years. In the tenth millennium BP, the valley floor was captured by active meandering channels and oxbow lakes. The latter were filled up by in situ peat formation. From the end of the eighth millennium BP at the latest, the fluvial dynamics changed, and the deposition of allochthonous material through overbank deposition became the dominant process. Because this change did not coincide with any settlement activities, we assume it was the result of the mid-Holocene aridization of the Black Sea steppe described for ex...
This study analyses the relationship between Aleppo and settlements in the city’s hinterland base... more This study analyses the relationship between Aleppo and settlements in the city’s hinterland based on spatial statistics. A theoretical extension of the term central place is used in reconstructing Aleppo’s central character. Locally the city served as a centre for trade, exchange, and cult activity. In a regional and supra-regional context, advantages deriving from the topographic location led trade, exchange, and craft to take on different functions. This study demonstrates that, in constrast to other important cities in the ancient Middle East, Aleppo could maintain its long-lasting significance as a central place due to the combination of different functions.
The Egyptian Journal of Remote Sensing and Space Science, 2013
Soil erosion, salinity and sodicity hazards are serious problems in the northern west coast of Eg... more Soil erosion, salinity and sodicity hazards are serious problems in the northern west coast of Egypt and lead to reducing the soil quality and increasing the degradation of soil resources. Sidi Barrani and Al-Sallum regions are selected as study areas which are located from a longitude of 25°10 0 00 00 to 26°55 0 00 00 East and from a latitude of 31°00 0 0 00 to 31°37 0 30 00 North. Erosion hazard was estimated using the 'Universal Soil Loss Equation' (USLE), which is a simple empirical model that is widely used for assessing long-term annual soil loss .The salinity and sodicity hazards were estimated based on FAO method as standard reference. The resultant map of annual soil erosion shows a maximum soil loss of 60 t h À1 y À1 with a close relation to foot slopes and wide units on the steep side-slopes (with high LS value) and the erodibility value reached to 0.1 t h À1 y À1 . Meanwhile sand beaches and sabkha units are characterized by high environmental hazards of both water erosion, salinity and sodicity, while in the overflow basin units are identified as low environmental hazards. The spatial environmental hazards assessment is conducted by using integrated GIS and RS which can serve as effective inputs in deriving strategies for sustainable land use planning and management.
Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, Supplementary Issues, 2008
Abstract: The endorheic Nam Co Lake, southeastern Tibetan Plateau, was selected to investigate th... more Abstract: The endorheic Nam Co Lake, southeastern Tibetan Plateau, was selected to investigate the interrelation between post-glacial glacier decay and lake level fluctuations. During the transition between MIS 2 and MIS1glacier decay caused regional changes in ...
eTopoi. Journal for …, 2012
An exchange of goods corresponds to an interaction between humans. Centrality is the measure of t... more An exchange of goods corresponds to an interaction between humans. Centrality is the measure of the concentration of such interactions—a central place its spatial manifestation. The absence of these regional or super-regional interactions is considered as marginality. ...
Quaternary International, 2013
This study investigates the relationship between late Holocene landscape development and early hu... more This study investigates the relationship between late Holocene landscape development and early human interaction by means of geomorphological and sedimentological analyses supported by GIS modeling operations. The selected geoarchives are sedimentary valley fills of two subwatersheds located in the upper Turano River drainage basin (60 km northeast of Rome, Italy), where humans settled at least since the earliest classic period. First the alluvial plains were identified and mapped through multiple GIS operations. Thereafter, 12 cores were taken from the alluvial plains, collecting in total 68 m of alluvial profiles. By sedimentological analyses (i.e., grain size, carbon determination) together with 36 AMS-radiocarbon dates, we identified phases when changes in the geomorphological evolution of the study area occurred. Starting around 4200 cal BP, eight distinct clusters of increased cumulated probability density functions of the 14 C dates were observed, representing enhanced alluvial deposition and/or fluvial activity. The shift from a phase of prevailing biostasy to a period of anthropic rhexistasy occurred after 4200 cal BP in the Rio di Riccetto and around 2200 cal BP in the more remote Ovito watersheds. Dividing the alluvial sediment volumes by the potential erosion areas and assuming a sediment delivery ratio (SDR) between 0.21 and 0.46, we obtained an average late Holocene surface lowering of 370 to 540 mm in the Rio di Riccetto and 400 to 510 mm in the Ovito watersheds. Our results show that notable land reshaping occurred in the vicinity of the city of Rome, which can be attributed to human-induced land cover changes.
Quaternary International, 2013
The importance of an archaeological site is determined by its centrality, a measure of the intera... more The importance of an archaeological site is determined by its centrality, a measure of the interaction at the site. Interactions are assessed by different central functions that are important on different spatial scales. With this integrated approach, applying the knowledge of geography, prehistoric archaeology and classical archaeology, the surroundings of present-day Bergama and Selçuk in Western Anatolia are analysed with regard to their centrality. The diachronic approach shows the different developments of both areas throughout time, indicating the importance of different environmental and social factors that create the level of centrality. Two kinds of centrality can be distinguished: (1) a natural centrality that is mainly based on the location of a site in relation to its local hinterland as well as supra-regional landscape characteristics and (2) a politically controlled centrality that is caused by human efforts to assemble central functions. While in the second case deterioration starts when the required effort can no longer be afforded, deterioration in the first type of centrality is caused by the natural landscape dynamics. This interdisciplinary, diachronic analysis allows a holistic assessment of centrality. Furthermore it shows that (1) local, natural or social factors alone are not able to give a full and sufficient explanation of the differences in a location's centrality as well as (2) the evident need for integrated research frameworks in the analysis of humaneenvironmental relationships throughout time.
Quaternary International, 2013
Quaternary International, 2012
Quaternary International, 2010
For Lake Nam Co, south-central Tibetan Plateau, geomorphological features and hydrological charac... more For Lake Nam Co, south-central Tibetan Plateau, geomorphological features and hydrological characteristics have been compiled to provide an overview of the landscape character. Information is based on primary data, collected during field campaigns in the summers of 2005 and 2006, and secondary data as available from satellite images. Nam Co is located at the intersection of the Westerlies, the winter monsoon, the South West Asian monsoon, and the East Asian monsoon. It is situated in a graben structure. Landforms of the drainage basin are highly influenced by tectonics, superimposed by fluvial and periglacial processes, and locally by glacial and aeolian processes. Its drainage basin is endorheic. Thus, lake level is primarily controlled by the balance between input through precipitation or inflow streams and evaporation as the output. The significance of lake water evaporation is evidenced by the salinity and measurable increase of 2 H and 18 O of the lake water when compared to the inflow streams and precipitation. Maximum conductivities total 431 mS mm À1 for the inflowing river waters and 1920 mS mm À1 for the lake water. Overall, the solute contents are low and characterise Nam Co as a pristine environment. Dominant ions are calcium and bicarbonate in river waters. Sulphate contents are relatively high in Nam Co, and the lake is also characterised by high boron values. A significant decrease in lake water salinity during the past two decades is likely related to increased freshwater input.
Journal of Environmental Management, 2011
The Gallocanta Basin represents an environment highly sensitive to climate change. Over the past ... more The Gallocanta Basin represents an environment highly sensitive to climate change. Over the past 60 years, the Laguna de Gallocanta, an ephemeral lake situated in the closed Gallocanta basin, experienced a sequence of wet and dry phases. The lake and its surrounding wetlands are one of only a few bird sanctuaries left in NE-Spain for grey cranes on their annual migration from Scandinavia to northern Africa. Understanding the impact of climate change on basin hydrology is therefore of utmost importance for the appropriate management of the bird sanctuary. Changes in lake level are only weakly linked to annual rainfall, with reaction times between hours and months after rainfall. Both the total amount of rainfall over the reaction period, as well as individual extreme events, affect lake level. In this study the characteristics and frequencies of daily, event, monthly and bi-monthly rainfall over the past 60 years were analysed. The results revealed a clear link between increased frequencies of high magnitude rainfall and phases of water filling in the Laguna de Gallocanta. In the middle of the 20th century, the absolute amount of rainfall appears to have been more important for lake level, while more recently the frequency of high magnitude rainfall has emerged as the dominant variable.
Geomorphology, 2014
This study on past soil erosion processes focuses on a catchment located in a mountainous sector ... more This study on past soil erosion processes focuses on a catchment located in a mountainous sector of the Central Apennines, 60 km northeast of Rome. Humans are known to have interacted with the landscape in this region at least since the early Iron Age. The area is highly sensitive to climatic changes and human intervention and thus is susceptible to soil erosion. The environmental impact of past human activities has been examined by geomorphological and sedimentological investigations and supported by modelling operations.
Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 2000
. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy 0.4-2.5 mm is evaluated as fast and non-destructive method for... more . Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy 0.4-2.5 mm is evaluated as fast and non-destructive method for the analysis of sedi-Ž . ments, characterised by a wide range of mineral constituents. Combined with feed-forward artificial neural networks ANNs this technique is used to estimate quantitatively the chemical composition from the sediments based on a supervised training with one model. The examined characteristics include contents of inorganic carbon, Fe, S, Al, Si, Ca, K, Mg and calcite. The Ž Ž . efficiency of several learning algorithms Backpropagation, Quickprop, Resilient propagation Rprop , Cascade Correlation Ž .. Ž . CC is investigated. All learning algorithms perform well using principal component PC scores of the first derivative spectra as input for the supervised training. ANNs trained with Quickprop and Rprop produced most accurate estimations of Ž the chemical characteristics and the performance was better than for standard multivariate statistical tools stepwise multiple Ž . Ž . . linear regression SMLR , principal component analysis PCA . An interpretation of the results is given by a detailed consideration of the correlation structure among the chemical constituents. q