A cartographical perspective to the engineering works at the Sulina mouth

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2010. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Akadémiai Kiadó for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Acta Geodaetica et Geophysica Hungarica 45 (2010): 71-79, doi:10.1556/AGeod.45.2010.1.11.From 1856 to 1939, the European Commission of the Danube (ECD), was responsible for technical surveys at the mouth of Sulina arm. During this period, ECD prepared general maps of Danube Delta as well as detailed charts for all the Danube mouths: Chilia, Sulina and Sf. Gheorghe (St. George) that were published in various reports or atlases. ECD used a local grid network benchmarked at Sulina, divided in 500 feet units. The reference point was the old lighthouse located on the right bank of Danube. After the Second World War, the Romanian authorities elaborated new cartographical products using the Gauss‐Kruger projection or Stereo‐70 like national grid. Our goal is to generate a cartographical background database necessary for refining the coastal evolution model of the Sulina mouth. To handle the large number of available maps, we chose GeoNetwork like a solution for catalog service, indexing and defining metadata. The service is operating at geo‐spatial.org

Anthropic signature on the Danube Delta evolution and Danube mouths dynamics

Recent studies on human pressure evolution on the Danube watershed highlight that forest clearances intensified during the Roman times, which after a long stagnation in Early Middle Age (which reclaimed the reforestation) have restarted since 12th and 15th centuries in the Upper, respectively Lower Danube watershed, leading to the rejuvenation of the denudation processes and the artificial increase of the river solid discharge. During these influences (last 2000 years) the delta surface area grew much faster, forming ca. 40% of the total Danube delta. Nevertheless, the human influence became critical during the second half of the 20th century when the hydrotechnical works from Danube watershed lead to a dramatic reduction of the solid discharge and changes in sedimentation rates along with the progradation and erosion pattern changes. Currently, the river mouths areas are confronted with a substantial increased influence of the marine controlling factors (waves and currents) which trigger their present morphodynamics change from river-dominated to wave-dominated delta morphology (Chilia) or from the assymetric wave-dominated to deflected lobes (Sfântu Gheorghe

River Jets Versus Wave-Driven Longshore Currents at River Mouths

National audienc

Permafrost response to the post Little Ice Age climate variability in the Romanian Carpathians

The geomorphological evidences along with the range of methods recently (since 2008) applied in the Romanian Carpathians indicate that most of the rock glaciers are relict or inactive in the present. Only a few cases of active or complex rock glaciers (active only across their upper parts) are supposed to exist in the highest granitic massifs of Southern Carpathians (Retezat and Parâng), but contemporary inactivation trends seem to take place as indicated by growth of vegetation (especially Pinus mugo) on their fronts. On the other hand, most of the inactive rock glaciers present distinct signs of activity in the recent past that followed the Little Ice Age colder period which in the Romanian Carpathians had its last maximum between 1820 and 1840 (Popa and Kern, 2008).</p

Concerns about data linking delta land gain to human action

International audienc

The evolution of Sf. Gheorghe (Danube) asymmetric deltaic lobe

The wave asymmetric Sf. Gheorghe lobe is the only active in the Danube delta where river mouth bar (and the associated barrier islands and spits) continuously deployed a cyclic development for almost two millennia. During first stage, the Sf. Gheorghe distributary had a small discharge (with an order of magnitude lower than present) which after that experienced a rapid increase in consequence of the successive avulsions of Împuţita (southern distributary of Sulina arm) and Dunavăţ distributaries. Our morphological analyses together with the newly obtained chronology, revealed the multiple ridgesets structure of Sf. Gheorghe deltaic lobe. In fact, all ridgesets (10) follow a common morphodynamic pattern characterized by the cyclic succession of three stages: i) subaqueous mouth bar development, ii) barrier island emergence, iii) barrier spit phase with several secondary spits derived from an updrift trunk ridge. The size of each ridgeset increased exponentially with every new cycle due to the constant lengthening of the coastline as the downdrift side of the lobe advances seaward through a series of progressively larger similar quadrilaterals, yielding to a constant enlargment of the delta front size. </p