Development
Sand-ridge landscape
Lake-bed polder landscape
Lake landscape
Peat landscape
River landscape
draining
lake formation
pumping
summer and winter dike
draining
lake formation
pumping
summer and winter dike
Cultural phase 19 th century
Cultural phase 18 th century peat excavation
subsiding peat
meandering river
reclamation
meandering river
Chapter 3
wind formed lake
Cultural phase 17 th century wind formed lake
Cultural phase 13 th century
Natural landscape
5 The cross sections describe the transformation process of the Dutch landscape in five phases. The natural landscape of the lowland polders would have looked much like the landscape in the previous photo.
In each of the landscapes described here, water and water levels play an important role. If natural forces of gravity no longer drain a landscape and man intervenes we refer to it as a polder landscape.