Recent landform evolution in the Polish Carpathians

Abstract

The key drivers of relief transformation in the Polish Carpathians (the best studied region of the Carpathians) have been local downpours, continuous rainfalls, and rapid snowmelt. Threshold values are quickly exceeded during such events and powerful morphological processes are initiated. However, due to human activities, geomorphic processes are often accelerated and intensified with serious consequences. Thus, increased human impact is a key factor in the recent geomorphic evolution of the Polish Carpathians. Over the last two centuries deforestation, intensive agriculture, mining, housing developments on slopes, channelization of streams, and construction of reservoirs all have contributed to changes in the rate of the particular geomorphic processes. The intensity of sheet erosion depends on vegetation cover, land use, and cultivation techniques (terracing, contour tillage, crop rotation, etc.). Slopes bearing poorly constructed infrastructure have become susceptible to mass movements. At higher elevations debris flows, dirty avalanches, and extreme floods are crucial in slope evolution. Over the last 20 years the ratio of agricultural land and the rate of sheet erosion and deflation have decreased, while gully erosion on slopes and the incision of river channels have intensified and the reactivation of shallow landslides has become more common. Increasingly frequent extreme weather events may reverse the stabilizing trend of landform evolution.