Using depression deposits to reconstruct human impact on sediment yields from a small karst catchment over the past 600 years

•First attempt to examine the long-term (600 year) sediment yield in a karst setting.•137Cs, 210Pbex, and 14C tracers were used to date a cultivated karst depression.•Sediment yield from 1351 to 1962 was higher than that thereafter.•Temporal pattern of sediment yield reflects the history of human impact on soil loss.