"Humanized River Systems“ – Influence of land use change and industry development on the morphdynamics of small rivers between uplands and lowlands: Examples from the Rur River catchment (Northrhine-Westfalia)

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Frank Lehmkuhl; Professor Dr.-Ing. Holger Schüttrumpf
• Subject Area: Hydrogeology, Hydrology, Limnology, Urban Water Management, Water Chemistry, Integrated Water Resources Management
• Term: from 2019 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 418362535

Human induced landuse change and the development of different industries and their influence on the morphodynamic of river floodplains in the Rur River catchment are investigated. The Rur River stretches 165 km with a catchment size of 2340 km² and combines a nowadays-forested upland up to 600m with a lowland dominated by agriculture between 200 and 30 m NHN. As in most other river catchments of Central Europe, human activities caused changes in the environment and river morphology. In the Rur River catchment the main river and also its tributaries were influenced by enlargement of settlements, mill dams, deforestation, mining activities, pollutants by industries, construction of dams, re-forestation and relocation of land as well as natural conservation (e.g. National Park Eifel). This project focuses on the influence of land use change and other human activities on the fluvial systems in different times (e.g. Middle Ages, modern times, present and future) using geoscientific and engineering approaches and methods. This includes e.g. mapping, sampling, sedimentological and geochemical analysis, radiocarbon and 137Cs dating, and numeric modelling of rivers and floodplains including the influence of dams. Emphasis is also the different human impact as well as natural fluvial dynamics in the uplands and lowlands. The interdisciplinary approach shall provide a vison of the Rur River catchment and the human impact from the past to present and future.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants