Investigation of the Shape of Historical Pond Dams

The landscape in the Czech Republic is very rich in fishponds. Many of them exist over centuries, which means besides others that their dams are often very old structures. The dams were built according to the technologies actual at the time of their founding which are different from present technologies. The difference consists mainly in the steepness of dam slopes. The research project NAKI II DG16P02M036 “Conservation, reparations and monitoring of historical pond dams as our cultural heritage” focuses on the investigation of historical fishpond from the viewpoint of their dams. The shape of the dams is very important characteristic as it affects both the stability and the seepage. The investigation of the dams shapes is one of the main tasks of mentioned project. The shape is investigated using different data sources. It was found out that the combination of detailed elevation data having origin in the airborne laser scanning and elevation data obtained by the application of UAV and photogrammetric techniques is very useful. In this paper, the results of the investigation of historical fishpond dams in the area east of Prague is presented. The results confirm that the slopes of historical fishponds are steeper that in case of those built according to present technologies.