COMPARATIVE WATERSHED STUDIES: FROM THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU TO GERMANY

Every two years a field-based comparative watersheds study course is offered at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. During the spring semester, students spend time in the field around Sewanee identifying major characteristics of watersheds atop the Cumberland Plateau. These watersheds range in size from 50 to 200 acres and are floored by Mississippian karsted limestones and Pennsylvanian clastic rocks covered by a thin veneer of sandy loam. Students also study similar watersheds of the Kraichgau region of southwest Germany, which they then compare to the watersheds of the Cumberland Plateau. Kraichgau watersheds are built on a similar sequence of rock composed of Triassic karsted limestone, which is overlain by Triassic clastics and Pleistocene loess. The course continues in the summer with a two week, field-oriented trip to the Kraichgau area of Germany. Here students spend each day hiking from 15 to 30 kilometers in order to fully understand the nature of watersheds in the region. The course emphasizes a holistic approach to understanding watersheds, focusing on significant geologic, hydrologic, botanical, and cultural features and processes. For example, watersheds in both areas exhibit a relatively high hydrologic response, but for different reasons. Stream flashiness on the Cumberland Plateau is caused by thin soils on impermeable bedrock, while flashiness in the Kraichgau is primarily caused by intense agricultural practices and landscape alteration on thick, yet relatively impermeable loess. Students are expected to offer an explanation of the evolution of the landscape in each watershed from a geologic/hydrologic perspective as well as from a cultural landscape perspective, and to be able to identify the natural and cultural icons of each watershed.