The Effects of Hydroelectric Flooding on a Reservoir’s Peripheral Forests and Newly Created Forested Islands

Abstract

While research shows that large water bodies can produce significant micro- and meso-climatic effects, these effects are not well documented. The flooding of large areas transforms terrestrial environments into aquatic environments, with hills becoming islands and the flooded edges dynamic shorelines. In creating these reservoirs, we expose the new shoreline forests to processes and natural hazards pertaining to lacustrine environments. The environmental transformations caused by these processes are generally limited to the immediate edges of the reservoirs. In Russia, Vendrov and Malik (1965), D’yakonov and Reteyum (1965), and Butorin et al. (1973) have shown that the effects of reservoirs in the Volga are limited to their riparian edges.