Landscape Functioning as a Basis for Establishing Sustainable Intervention: Soils and Groundwater Flows

The ecosystems and the introduced production systems of a region are distributed in a dynamic mosaic of operations. Ecosystems regulate and are a consequence of the presence of groundwater. However, in general, interventions in the landscape are carried out without considering how the elements that integrate it (soil, water, vegetation, geomorphology) are linked, and without establishing the cause–effect relationships of the natural and anthropic processes that generate land degradation and prevent the sustainability of production systems. Regarding the soil, its study is carried out without establishing the origin of its properties and without defining the quality and nature of groundwater in environments where groundwater is shallow. The theory of groundwater flow systems and its regional hydraulic continuity allows an understanding of how the elements of the landscape are linked and provides a basis to be able to decide sustainable interventions. In this chapter, the consequences and limitations of soil studies according to current procedures are analyzed. In addition, the need to incorporate study and interpretation criteria that considers the inescapable relation between local soil in a regional context is exposed, thus having an integral vision of landscape functioning. This is demonstrated by a case study, in northwest Buenos Aires province, Argentina, where soil, groundwater, and vegetation relationships have been studied.