Articles | Volume 18, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-2507-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-2507-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Soil information and soil property maps for the Kurdistan region, Dohuk governorate (Iraq)
Mathias Bellat
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
CRC 1070 “ResourceCultures”, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany
Department of Geosciences, Working group of Soil Science and Geomorphology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany
Mjahid Zebari
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Müchen, 80634, Germany
Nawroz University, Duhok, Iraq
Benjamin Glissmann
CRC 1070 “ResourceCultures”, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany
Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Studies (IANES), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany
Tobias Rentschler
CRC 1070 “ResourceCultures”, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany
Department of Geosciences, Working group of Soil Science and Geomorphology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany
Digital Humanities Center, University of Tübingen, 72074, Germany
Paola Sconzo
Department of Culture and Society, University of Palermo, Palermo, 90133, Italy
Nafiseh Kakhani
CRC 1070 “ResourceCultures”, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany
Department of Geosciences, Working group of Soil Science and Geomorphology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany
Ruhollah Taghizadeh-Mehrjardi
CRC 1070 “ResourceCultures”, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany
Department of Geosciences, Working group of Soil Science and Geomorphology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany
Faculty of Agriculture and Natural resources, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran
Pegah Kohsravani
Department of Geosciences, Working group of Soil Science and Geomorphology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany
College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Bekas Brifkany
Dohuk Directorate of Antiquities and Heritages, Dohuk, Iraq
Peter Pfälzner
CRC 1070 “ResourceCultures”, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany
Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Studies (IANES), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany
Thomas Scholten
CRC 1070 “ResourceCultures”, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany
Department of Geosciences, Working group of Soil Science and Geomorphology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany
DFG Cluster of Excellence “Machine Learning: New Perspectives for Science”, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72076, Germany
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Kay D. Seufferheld, Pedro V. G. Batista, Hadi Shokati, Thomas Scholten, and Peter Fiener
SOIL, 12, 301–319, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-301-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-301-2026, 2026
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Soil erosion threatens global food security, yet modeling soil conservation remains challenging. We evaluated WaTEM/SEDEM (Water and Tillage Erosion Model/Sediment Delivery Model) in six highly instrumented micro-scale watersheds optimised for soil conservation using a GLUE (Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation) framework. The model captured the magnitude of very low sediment yields but showed limited accuracy for annual steps. However, it performed well over eight-year timeframes and larger spatial scales, demonstrating its suitability for strategic, long-term soil conservation planning.
Hadi Shokati, Kay D. Seufferheld, Peter Fiener, and Thomas Scholten
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 743–756, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-743-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-743-2026, 2026
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Floods threaten lives and property and require rapid mapping. We compared two artificial intelligence approaches on aerial imagery: a fine‑tuned Segment Anything Model (SAM) guided by point or bounding box prompts, and a U‑Net network with ResNet‑50 and ResNet‑101 backbones. The point‑based SAM was the most accurate with precise boundaries. Faster and more reliable flood maps help rescue teams, insurers, and planners to act quickly.
Fedor Scholz, Manuel Traub, Christiane Zarfl, Thomas Scholten, and Martin V. Butz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 6257–6283, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6257-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6257-2025, 2025
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We present a neural network model that estimates river discharge based on gridded elevation, precipitation, and solar radiation. Some instances of our model produce more accurate forecasts than the European Flood Awareness System (EFAS) when simulating discharge with lead times of 50 days on the Neckar river network in Germany. It consists of multiple components that are designed to model distinct sub-processes. We show that this makes the model behave in a more physically realistic way.
Kerstin Rau, Katharina Eggensperger, Frank Schneider, Michael Blaschek, Philipp Hennig, and Thomas Scholten
SOIL, 11, 833–847, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-833-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-833-2025, 2025
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We developed an uncertainty method to show where machine learning (ML) models predicting soil units are most reliable, especially for transfer tasks. The model was able to correctly predict soil patterns, especially along rivers, in a new but similar region without retraining. It was too confident about common soil types, showing the need for balanced data. This helps improve soil maps and guides better planning for future data collection, saving time and resources while showing uncertainty.
Corinna Gall, Silvana Oldenburg, Martin Nebel, Thomas Scholten, and Steffen Seitz
SOIL, 11, 199–212, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-199-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-199-2025, 2025
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Soil erosion is a major issue in vineyards due to often steep slopes and fallow interlines. While cover crops are typically used for erosion control, moss restoration has not yet been explored. In this study, moss restoration reduced surface runoff by 71.4 % and sediment discharge by 75.8 % compared with bare soil, similar to cover crops. Mosses could serve as ground cover where mowing is impractical, potentially reducing herbicide use in viticulture, although further research is needed.
Wanjun Zhang, Thomas Scholten, Steffen Seitz, Qianmei Zhang, Guowei Chu, Linhua Wang, Xin Xiong, and Juxiu Liu
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3837–3854, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3837-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3837-2024, 2024
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Rainfall input generally controls soil water and plant growth. We focus on rainfall redistribution in succession sequence forests over 22 years. Some changes in rainwater volume and chemistry in the throughfall and stemflow and drivers were investigated. Results show that shifted open rainfall over time and forest factors induced remarkable variability in throughfall and stemflow, which potentially makes forecasting future changes in water resources in the forest ecosystems more difficult.
Nicolás Riveras-Muñoz, Steffen Seitz, Kristina Witzgall, Victoria Rodríguez, Peter Kühn, Carsten W. Mueller, Rómulo Oses, Oscar Seguel, Dirk Wagner, and Thomas Scholten
SOIL, 8, 717–731, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-8-717-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-8-717-2022, 2022
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Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) stabilize the soil surface mainly in arid regions but are also present in Mediterranean and humid climates. We studied this stabilizing effect through wet and dry sieving along a large climatic gradient in Chile and found that the stabilization of soil aggregates persists in all climates, but their role is masked and reserved for a limited number of size fractions under humid conditions by higher vegetation and organic matter contents in the topsoil.
Corinna Gall, Martin Nebel, Dietmar Quandt, Thomas Scholten, and Steffen Seitz
Biogeosciences, 19, 3225–3245, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3225-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3225-2022, 2022
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Soil erosion is one of the most serious environmental challenges of our time, which also applies to forests when forest soil is disturbed. Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) can play a key role as erosion control. In this study, we combined soil erosion measurements with vegetation surveys in disturbed forest areas. We found that soil erosion was reduced primarily by pioneer bryophyte-dominated biocrusts and that bryophytes contributed more to soil erosion mitigation than vascular plants.
Sascha Scherer, Benjamin Höpfer, Katleen Deckers, Elske Fischer, Markus Fuchs, Ellen Kandeler, Jutta Lechterbeck, Eva Lehndorff, Johanna Lomax, Sven Marhan, Elena Marinova, Julia Meister, Christian Poll, Humay Rahimova, Manfred Rösch, Kristen Wroth, Julia Zastrow, Thomas Knopf, Thomas Scholten, and Peter Kühn
SOIL, 7, 269–304, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-269-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-269-2021, 2021
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This paper aims to reconstruct Middle Bronze Age (MBA) land use practices in the northwestern Alpine foreland (SW Germany, Hegau). We used a multi-proxy approach including biogeochemical proxies from colluvial deposits in the surroundings of a MBA settlement, on-site archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological data and off-site pollen data. From our data we infer land use practices such as plowing, cereal growth, forest farming and use of fire that marked the beginning of major colluvial deposition.
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Short summary
This dataset presents the first soil maps for the region produced using digital mapping techniques. It includes predictions for ten major physical and chemical soil properties at various depths, plus a map of total soil depth. For each property, we selected the most accurate models and key environmental drivers. In Southwestern Asia and many arid or semi-arid regions, detailed soil data are often missing. This dataset fills that gap, supporting agriculture, research, planning, and local policy.
This dataset presents the first soil maps for the region produced using digital mapping...
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