LAND USE AND LAND COVER DYNAMICS IN LOM VALLEY FOR 60 YEARS PERIOD AS AN INDICATOR OF THE CHANGE IN THE CHEMICAL IMPACT OF AGRICULTURE ON SOILS.

The study aimed to identify land cover and land use transformations in the Lom River valley to reveal how the pressure of agriculture on the environment in the southwestern part of the Lower Danube basin has changed over the last 60 years. The classes at the fourth level of the CORINE Land Cover nomenclature were mapped using aerial photographs of 1961, 1985 and 1998, complemented with a detailed orthophoto mosaic of 2019. While the changes in the main classes were relatively small over the years, the transformations of the land cover in the lower classes reached up to 60% of the study area at the end of the investigated period. We have identified constant trends of expanding pastures and shrinking labour-intensive crops such as vegetables, fruits, and vines over the past 60 years. The land cover classes were classified into four groups according to pesticides use and the related load of heavy metals for soil. Changes in land use suggest a reduction in the use of pesticides and less intensive accumulation of contaminant metals in the soil of the southwestern part of the Lower Danube Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]