A suburban inter-dike river reach of a large river: Modern morphological and sedimentary changes (the Bratislava reach of the Danube River, Slovakia)

Abstract

The paper outlines contemporary geomorphic and sedimentary changes (1949–2007) in the suburban inter-dike reach of the Danube River in Bratislava underpinning requirements of its management. The studied river reach represents the right bank inter-dike area of a tectonically determined bend of the Danube River which is about 5 km long with a radius of 1.5 km. The landform and floodplain roughness classification schemes show variations in hydraulic and depositional conditions during flooding. Investigation of landform and floodplain roughness changes and the bank retreat rate is based on the multitemporal interpretation of aerial photographs. Sedimentological analysis of 10 borings and 20 pit exposures helped to delimit the morphostratigraphic units. The process and the rate of the vertical accretion of the modern floodplain were investigated by sedimentological and dendrochronological methods. The behaviour of the study reach is dependent on upstream dams in Austria. Dams produce changes in the suspended load regime and a steady riverbed erosion of 2 to 3.5 cm occurs upstream of the study river reach near the Slovak–Austrian border. The Čunovo dam downstream expediates upstream channel filling in spite of the ongoing channel gravel mining in the Danube channel. This has resulted in channel bed aggradation of about 1 m since 1992. The bank retreat of about 100 m during 1949–2007 was caused by the natural bank erosion processes as well as by channel straightening as a flood control measure for Bratislava. The bank shift resulted in the development of the new levee. The current overbank deposits differ from the older gravels, consisting of a fine-grained alluvium varying in thickness from 0.5 m to 1 m. The lithofacies of three flood deposits (March 2002, August 2002, and September 2007) were examined. Overbank sediments differentiate with distance from the bank and vertically. Suburban settings of the study reach and the flood control measures along with the external forcing (dams) induced changes in channel morphology as well as in floodplain roughness variability. This has resulted in changes in the present floodplain sedimentary conditions, channel forms and biodiversity. The landscape evolved through three distinct evolutionary phases.