Abstract
Gullies up to 5 m deep are developed on sodic soils near St. Michael's Mission, central Zimbabwe, A preliminary study was undertaken to reconstruct the nature and timing of past gullying, and to determine the main factors affecting gully growth during the last 50 years. The gullies are formed in colluvium, with interbedded humic layers and stonelines containing stone artefacts, reflecting cycles of gully entrenchment, sheetwash and pedogenesis which occurred during the Late Quaternary. Significantly, historical and present day gully growth appears to be both more extensive and intensive than at any earlier period in the Late Quaternary. Recent gully growth appears to be a function of complex interaction of physical and anthropogenic factors. Attempts to arrest gully headward extension are discussed. It is argued that long and medium term perspectives on gully erosion, combined with present day observations, offer a more balanced view of the soil erosion problem.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Assessment Committee: Report on Ngezi-Mhondoro Reserve. Unpublished Report, National Archives, Harare 1956a.
Assessment Committee: Report on Mhondoro Reserve south of Umfuli River. Unpublished Report, Government Publications, University of Zimbabwe Library, Harare 1956b.
Beckedahl, H. R.; Bowyer-Bower, T. A. S.; Dardis, G. F.; Hanvey, P. M.: Geomorphic effects of soil erosion. In: Moon, B. P.; Dardis, G. F. (eds.), The geomorphology of southern Africa, pp. 249–276, 1988.
Bull, P. A.; Goudie, A. S.; Price-Williams, D.; Watson, A.: Colluvium: a scanning electron microscope analysis of a neglected sediment type. In: Marshall, J. R. (ed.), Clastic particles: scanning electron microscopy and shape analysis of sedimentary and volcanic clasts. pp. 16–35. Van Nostrand, Reinhold 1987.
Chakela, Q. K.: Soil Erosion and Sedimentation in Lesotho. Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala 1981.
Dardis, G. F.: Quaternary erosion and sedimentation in badland areas of southern Africa. In: Yair, A.; Berkowicz, S. (eds.), Arid and Semi-Arid Environments: Geomorphological and Pedological Aspects, pp. 1–9. Catena Supplement 14 (1989)
Dardis, G. F.: Late Holocene erosion and colluvium deposition in Swaziland. Geology (in press)
Goudie, A. S.; Bull, P. A.: Slope process change and colluvial deposition in Swaziland: an SEM analysis. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 9, 289–299 (1984)
McFarlane, M.; Miles, P.; Cooke, J.: Preliminary investigation of water characteristics from a selection of croscent springs from dambos, dambo-peripheral seepage zones and a palaeodambo interfluve profile in Malawi, British Geological Survey: Basement Aquifer Project. Unpublished Report (Open File) (1989)
Maggs, T.: The Iron Age south of the Zambezi. In: Klein, R. G. (ed.), Southern African Prehistory and Palaeonenvironments. A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam 1984
Ndoro, W.: Report on stone tools from Muvezve River, St. Michael's, Mhondoro. Unpublished report, National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, Harare 1989.
Nirt, D.; Klein, M.: Gully erosion induced by land use in a semiarid terrain (Nahal Shiqma, Israel). Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie; Supplementband 21, 191–201 (1974)
Oliveira, M. A. T.: Erosion disconformities and gully morphology; a three dimensional approach. Catena 16, 413–423 (1989)
Pickup, G.: The erosion cell—a geomorphic approach to landscape classification in range assessment. Australian Rangeland Journal 7, 114–121 (1985)
Price-Williams, D.; Watson, A.: New observations on the prehistory and palaeoclimate of the Late Pleistocene in southern Africa. World Archaeology 13, 372–381 (1982)
Price-Williams, D.; Watson, A.: Goudie, A. S.: Quaternary colluvial stratigraphy, archaeological sequences and paleoenvironments in Swaziland, southern Africa. Geographical Journal 148, 50–67 (1982)
Schumm, S. A.: Episodic erosion: a modification of the geomorphic cycle. In: Melhorn, W. N. & Flemel, R. C. (eds.), Theories of Landform Development, pp. 69–86, State University of New York, Binghampton 1975.
Smith, B. J.: Effects of climate and land-use change on gully development: an example from northern Nigeria. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie; Supplementband 44, 33–51 (1982)
Stocking, M. A.: Aspects of the role of main in erosion in Rhodesia. Zambezia 2, 2, 1–10 (1972)
Stocking, M. A.: Tunnel erosion. Rhodesia Agricultural Journal 73, 2, 35–39 (1976)
Stocking, M. A.: Erosion of soils in Karoo Sands in central Rhodesia, with particular reference to gully form and process. Unpublished Ph. D. thesis, University of London, London 1977.
Stocking, M. A.: Relationship of agricultural history and settlement to severe erosion in Rhodesia. Zambezia 6, 2, 129–145 (1978a)
Stocking, M. A.: Interpretation of stonelines. South African Geographical Journal 60, 2, 121–134 (1978b)
Twidale, C. R.: The origin of recently initiated exogenic landforms, South Australia. Environmental Geology 1, 231–240 (1976)
Twidale, C. R.; Forrest, G. J.; Shepherd, J. A.: The imprint of the plough: ‘lands’ in the Mt. Lofty ranges, South Australia. Australian Geographer 11, 5, 492–503 (1971)
Watson, A.; Price-Williams, D.; Goudie, A. S.: The palaeoenvironmental interpretation of colluvial sediments and palaeosols of the Late Pleistocene hypothermal in southern Africa. Palaeoclimatology, Palaeogeography, Palaeoecology 45, 225–249 (1984)
Westoby, M.: Soil erosion, as a landscape ecology phenomenon. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 2, 11, 321–322 (1987)
Whitlow, J. R.: A scenario of changes in subsistence land use and its relevance to the tribal areas of Zimbabwe. Zambezia 7, 2, 171–190 (1979)
Whitlow, J. R.: Land Degradation in Zimbabwe: A Geographical Study. Natural Resources Board, Harare 1988.
Whitlow, R.; Campbell, B.: Factors influencing erosion in Zimbabwe: a statistical analysis. Journal of Environmental Management 29, 17–29 (1979)
Whitlow, R.; Firth, C.: Gully form and development on Karoo sediments in central Zimbabwe; a preliminary survey. Zambezia 16, 1, (in press)
Zinyama, L.; Whitlow, R.: Changing patterns of population distribution in Zimbabwe. GeoJournal 13, 4, 365–384 (1986)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shakesby, R.A., Whitlow, R. Perspectives on prehistoric and recent gullying in Central Zimbabwe. GeoJournal 23, 49–58 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00204409
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00204409