Journal of the Korean Geographical Society (대한지리학회지)

The Korean Geographical Society (대한지리학회)
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Soil Erosion and Environmental Change in Central Mexico

멕시코 중부의 토양 침식과 고환경 변화

  • Park, Jung-Jae (Department of Geography, Chonnam National University)
  • Published : 2009.03.31
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Abstract

Paleostudies using lake sediment are essential to reconstruct environmental history of cental Mexico, where few documents on ancient civilizations and the colonial period exist. This study aims to reveal changes in the soil erosion rates through the calculation of sediment influx into the lake. The calculation is based on different kinds of chronologies and LOI. Sediment influx and dates for important events could be obtained in great detail through various chronological methods. Results show that corn agriculture was the most important reason to degrade the environmental status of the lake basin and European cattle raising was not much influential within the lake basin at least. It was possible to reveal a lot of recent environmental changes in detail, because the lake sediment used for this study has a very high sedimentation rate. Also, due to an accurate chronological framework, fundamental problems with the sediment were solved and reliable results could be produced.

멕시코 중부의 환경사를 파악하고자 할 때, 호수퇴적물을 이용하는 고환경 분석은 필수적이다. 이 지역의 고대문명과 스페인인의 식민사 등에 대한 기록이 거의 남아있지 않기 때문이다. 본 연구에서는 호수로의 토사 유입량을 분석하여 연구 지역에서 발생했던 토양 침식과 환경변화를 시기별로 밝혀 냈다. 토사유입량은 연대분석 결과와 작열감량 분석 결과를 기초로 산출하였다. 다양한 연대측정(Lead210, 바브층, 화산재층, 지진연도)을 수행하여 정확한 토사유입량를 계산할 수 있었으며 지역 환경에 중요한 영향을 미쳤던 사건들의 상세한 연대를 파악할 수 있었다. 연구 결과에 따르면, 유역의 환경을 훼손시킨 가장 큰 요인은 점령 전후의 옥수수 농경이었다 한편, 스페인인의 목축활동이 미친 영향은 최소한 호수 유역 내에서는 그리 크지 않았다. 본 연구에서는 여러 종류의 연대분석을 다각적으로 시도하여 보다 정확한 고환경 정보를 획득할 수 있었다.

Keywords

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