Relief development of the Babia Góra massif, Western Carpathian Mountains

The paper discusses structural considerations relating to landform development on Mt. Babia Góra (1,725 m a.s.l.), the highest massif in the flysch section of the Western Carpathian Mountains. The Babia Góra massif consists of folded Palaeogene-age sediments, including resistant Magura sandstone and less resistant sub-Magura layers, with numerous tectonic faults. The area has inverse-type geomorphology. The monoclinal ridge of the massif itself consists of the resistant Magura sandstone dipping southwards. Since the Miocene, the development of the massif’s relief has involved a number of processes, including: tectonic uplifting, removal of a thick layer of rocks, exposure of sub-Magura layers over a large area, the staged development of valleys dissecting the pediments surrounding the ever higher ridge, and slope retreat due to deep landsliding. Axes of linear terrain forms, escarpments of landslide scars and of headwater areas follow two main intersecting fracture lines present within the massif. Large quantities of colluvial material are transported away from the massif along these lines. The development of the land relief has led to the elongation of slopes as local elevation differences increased. Landsliding has developed in an uphill direction, which means that the youngest relief is observed on the highest sections of steep slopes. The development of the massif’s northern slope, which has formed a high and precipitous cuesta, began to accelerate only after a nearly complete exposure of the sub-Magura layers at its foot. Following this exposure the profile of the massif’s N-S cross-section has begun to become asymmetrical. With time, the degree of general remodelling of the massif has tended to decrease. As a result, the geomorphological contrast between the northern and southern sides of the massif has become well established. The description of the probable development of the Babia Góra relief is based on the author’s fieldwork, an analysis of geological maps and aerial photos, and on literature

Differentiation of vertical limit of forest at the Babia Góra Mt., the Western Carpathian Mountains

The work contains quantitative analysis of differentiation of altitudinal position and sinuosity of two lines determining the course of forest limit, i.e. timberline and treeline within Babia Góra Mt. (1725 m a.s.l.) homoclinal flysch ridge (the Western Carpathians). The course of the empiric timberline was delimited basing on aerial photographs with details from spatial data of Aerial Laser Scanning conducted in 2012. On the N slope, the course of timberline is exclusively conditioned by natural factors, whereas on the S slope this line was shifted downwards as a result of sheep and cattle grazing (however it has shown progression for the last 80 years). In the course of theoretical treeline conditioned by macrotopography and local climate, the mass-elevation effect is visible, and on the N slope, additionally, a sub-summit downward shift (the Diablak effect) occurs. The sequence of natural factors, according to their positive or negative influence on timberline and treeline courses was determined

River training vs. flood risk in the upper Vistula basin, Poland

This paper assesses the effect of river training in the 20th century on the evolution of flood risk in the middle and lower courses of certain Polish mountain and upland rivers, and in the lowland Carpathian foreland. The overall anthropogenic impact on the flood risk is a combination of two contradictory trends: (a) the shortening of the floodplain inundation time (between the levees) as a result of the deepening of the trained channel; and (b) the increasing height of the flood water and frequency of flood culminations, a result of the flood wave transformation. The author, in his flood risk analysis, regards the former trend as the more influential. The highest levels of all types of flood risks were found along the valley reaches with unembanked channels that displayed a tendency to reduce both their depth and gradient. This type of reach occurs immediately downstream of embanked reaches with a deepened channel. The author also addresses ways to mitigate flood risk levels, taking into account limitations stemming from local land development and legal conservation status

The new features of landslide relief discovered using LiDAR – case study from Babia Góra massif, Western Carpathian Mountains

Basing on LiDAR data, the re-interpretation of the limit and distribution of the selected landslide forms in 9 test areas were carried out. The forms are located at the slopes of the monoclinal ridge of Babia Góra Mt. (1,725 m a.s.l.) in the flysch Western Carpathians. The earlier knowledge on these landforms is shown in the unpublished map at the scale of 1:5,000 which was prepared basing on geomorphological mapping. Basing on the newest information source, subtle geomorphic signatures of landslides were found, the dynamics of these forms and directions of their further development were determined. Local differentiation of deep-seated landslides was indicated according to the relation between the sandstone layer dip and slope inclination, slope length, and altitude of the location of headwaters. An attention was paid to polycyclic relief of the highest located landslide forms, which contain the elements of glacial and nival morphology, and some are modelled by debris flows

The timberline in the Azau Valley in the central Caucasus Mountains in the context of landforms and the geomorphological processes modelling the area

This brief study depicts the Azau Valley in the central Caucasus Mountains in the context of landforms and the geomorphological processes modelling the area. The attached Plate shows the location of timberline and the distribution and extent of landforms of different origin

The 2002 debris flow in the Babia Góra massif - implications for the interpretation of mountainous geomorphic systems

In summer 2002 a debris flow of unusually large extent and dimensions occurred on the steepnorthern slope of the Babia Góra massif, West Carpathians. The failure zone was located above the tim-berline and the track continued for about 700 m down the slope, ending within the upper montane fo-rest belt. During the last 100 years no similar event was recorded in the uppermost part of the massif. The2002 flow prompts a modified approach to the recognition of mountain geomorphic systems. It providesclear evidence that a few years, or even a few tens of years of observations may be insufficient to recordall important components of the Holocene geomorphic system. The recognition of this gap bears onapproaches to hazard and risk mapping. The absence of high magnitude slope processes within the li-mited observation period must not be taken as the evidence that these cannot occur in the current envir-onmental conditions, and the worst-case scenario needs therefore to be adopted

Geographical characteristics of the timberline in the Carpathians

The pattern of timberline distribution on mountain ranges world-wide is related to global factors. The basic factor is temperature and the amount of radiation, which falls with increasing distance from the equator. Additionally, this basic relationship is overlaid by the specific features of the type of climate on the massif (degree of continentality or oceanity) and the mass-elevation effect. In the Carpathians, the mass elevation effect seems to have bigger impact on the location of timberline (R2 = 0.71, p = 0.00) than their latitudinal location (R2 = 0.56, p = 0.00). The timberline altitude changes by 70 m a.s.l. (±20 m) with each degree of latitude. The influence of the type of the climate is complex and it is not clearly visible due to past and recent human impact

The influence of snow avalanches on the timberline in the Babia Góra Massif, Western Carpathians

Avalanches are one of the most important abiotic factors influencing the timberline on a worldwide scale. In the case of Babia Góra, avalanches are found to affect more than ¹⁄³ of the length of the timberline, locally lowering it by as much as 350 m in distance. The timberline under the influence of avalanche processes is associated with steep slopes (>30°), with 90% of this being located on the massif’s northern slope. In the long run (1964-2009), around the whole massif the timberline shows a high degree of stability along 79% of its length. It proved possible to reconstruct avalanche events along the largest avalanche path in the examined massif, the Szeroki Żleb gully. Nine such events are seen to have occurred over the past 120 years, with seven of these characterising the last 50 years. The avalanche(s) occurring in winter 1975/1976 had the greatest impact on the timberline in the Szeroki Żleb gully over the examined period