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4 results on '"the Carpathians"'

1. Assessment of Changes in a Viewshed in the Western Carpathians Landscape as a Result of Reforestation

Author

Michał Sobala, Urszula Myga-Piątek, and Bartłomiej Szypuła

Subjects
viewshed, landscape changes, reforestation, secondary succession, the Carpathians, archival maps, Agriculture
Abstract

A viewshed analysis is of great importance in mountainous areas characterized by high landscape values. The aim of this research was to determine the impact of reforestation occurring on former pasturelands on changes in the viewshed, and to quantify changes in the surface of glades. We combine a horizontal and a vertical approach to landscape analysis. The changes in non-forest areas and the viewshed from viewpoints located in glades were calculated using historical cartographic materials and a more recent Digital Elevation Model and Digital Surface Model. An analysis was conducted using a Visibility tool in ArcGIS. The non-forest areas decreased in the period 1848–2015. The viewshed in the majority of viewpoints also decreased in the period 1848–2015. In the majority of cases, the maximal viewsheds were calculated in 1879/1885 and 1933 (43.8% of the analyzed cases), whereas the minimal ones were calculated in 2015 (almost 57.5% of analyzed cases). Changes in the viewshed range from 0.2 to 23.5 km2 with half the cases analyzed being no more than 1.4 km2. The results indicate that forest succession on abandoned glades does not always cause a decline in the viewshed. Deforestation in neighboring areas may be another factor that has an influence on the decline.

Published
2020
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2. Height of Successional Vegetation Indicates Moment of Agricultural Land Abandonment

Author

Natalia Kolecka

Subjects
agricultural land abandonment, succession, forest cover, vegetation height, land use change, the Carpathians, LiDAR, Science
Abstract

One of the major land use and land cover changes in Europe is agricultural land abandonment (ALA) that particularly affects marginal mountain areas. Accurate mapping of ALA patterns and timing is important for understanding its determinants and the environmental and socio-economic consequences. In highly fragmented agricultural landscapes with small-scale farming, subtle land use changes following ALA can be detected with high resolution remotely sensed data, and successional vegetation height is a possible indicator of ALA timing. The main aim of this study was to determine the relationship between successional vegetation height and the timing of agricultural land abandonment in the Budzów community in the Polish Carpathians. Areas of vegetation succession were vectorized on 1977, 1997, and 2009 orthophotomaps, enabling the distinguishing of vegetation encroaching on abandoned fields before and after 1997. Vegetation height in 2012–2014 was determined from digital surface and terrain models that were derived from airborne laser scanning data. The median heights of successional vegetation that started development before and after 1997 were different (6.9 m and 3.2 m, respectively). No significant correlations between successional vegetation height and elevation, slope, aspect, and proximity to forest were found. Thus, the timing of agricultural land abandonment is the most important factor influencing vegetation height, whereas environmental characteristics on this scale of investigation may be neglected.

Published
2018
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3. Mountain Meadows and Glades of the Carpathians—Type or Element of Landscape? The Problem of Delimitation and Typology of Mountain Pasture Landscapes

Author

Michał Sobala

Subjects
Typology, European Landscape Convention, Geography, Planning and Development, glades, lcsh:TJ807-830, 0211 other engineering and technologies, lcsh:Renewable energy sources, pasture landscape, 02 engineering and technology, 010501 environmental sciences, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, the Beskids, 01 natural sciences, Pasture, Natural (archaeology), Type (biology), national typologies of landscape, landscape conservation, mountain meadows, the Carpathians, lcsh:Environmental sciences, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences, lcsh:GE1-350, geography.geographical_feature_category, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Agroforestry, lcsh:Environmental effects of industries and plants, 021107 urban & regional planning, Vegetation, Geography, lcsh:TD194-195, Element (criminal law), Spatial extent
Abstract

The typologies of landscapes of individual states that have ratified the European Landscape Convention do not include mountain pasture landscapes. Pasture landscapes in the Carpathians are preserved in a relatively good condition, although their spatial extent has considerably shrunk over the last few decades. The article demonstrates that mountain meadows and glades in the Carpathians meet all the conditions that allow them to be classified as a type of landscape, and thus they should be included in national typologies of landscapes. Firstly, they constitute a set of natural (non-forest vegetation) and anthropogenic (traditional shepherding buildings) objects. Secondly, they are a dynamic system in which natural, social and economic processes take place. They are also a source of stimuli, affecting different human senses and values and are a system that provides various real and potential services. The inclusion of mountain pasture landscapes in national typologies may provide a stronger basis for their protection.

Published
2020

4. Pickeringite from the Stone Town Nature Reserve in Ciężkowice (the Outer Carpathians, Poland)

Author

Adam Gaweł, Mariola Marszałek, and Adam Włodek

Subjects
ciężkowice, lcsh:QE351-399.2, Geochemistry, Weathering, the carpathians, Electron microprobe, 010501 environmental sciences, engineering.material, 010502 geochemistry & geophysics, 01 natural sciences, law.invention, chemistry.chemical_compound, Halotrichite, law, Aluminosilicate, sandstone, Crystallization, Sulfate, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences, lcsh:Mineralogy, Geology, halotrichites, Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology, pickeringite, Efflorescence, chemistry, engineering, efflorescence, poland, Pyrite
Abstract

Pickeringite, ideally MgAl2(SO4)4&middot, 22H2O, is a member of the halotrichite group minerals XAl2(SO4)4&middot, 22H2O that form extensive solid solutions along the joints of the X = Fe-Mg-Mn-Zn. The few comprehensive reports on natural halotrichites indicate their genesis to be mainly the low-pH oxidation of pyrite or other sulfides in the Al-rich environments of weathering rock-forming aluminosilicates. Pickeringite discussed here occurs within the efflorescences on sandstones from the Stone Town Nature Reserve in Ciężkowice (the Polish Outer Carpathians), being most probably the first find on such rocks in Poland. This paper presents mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of the pickeringite (based on SEM-EDS, XRPD, EPMA and RS methods) and suggests its possible origin. It belongs to the pickeringite&ndash, apjohnite (Mg-Mn joints) series and has the calculated formula Mg0.75Mn0.21Zn0.02Cu0.01Al2.02(S0.99 to 1.00O4)4&middot, 22H2O (based on 16O and 22H2O). The unit cell parameters refined for the monoclinic system space group P21/c are: a = 6.1981(28) &Aring, b= 24.2963(117) &Aring, c = 21.2517(184) &Aring, and &beta, = 100.304(65)&deg, The Raman spectra (SO4) bands are the intensive 994 cm&minus, 1 and a low-intensive 975 cm&minus, 1 (&nu, 1), low-intensive 1081, 1123 and 1145 cm&minus, 3), 524, 467 and 425cm&minus, 2), 615 cm&minus, 4), while those at 344 and 310 cm&minus, 1 are attributed to &nu, g H2O and at 223 cm&minus, 1 to the lattice modes. Crystallization of pickeringite within the particular tor resulted from a certain set of conditions: climatic (e.g., season, temperature, humidity), physicochemical (e.g., pH, concentration), mineral (the presence of pyrite), and site-related (location and efflorescence protection). The sulfate ions could have been derived from oxidation of pyrite in the Ciężkowice sandstones and possibly are related to local mineral waters.

Published
2020

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