Assessment of the mean erosion rate using dendrogeomorphological approaches on exposed roots along hiking and biking trails in the Bucegi Mountains, Romanian Carpathians

Abstract

Mountain hiking and biking trails are important components of the tourism infrastructure, represent opportunities for recreation, and form a network that prevents uncontrolled tourist dispersion. The erosion processes accelerate under tourist impact in the forested mountains, revealing exposed roots.The aim of our study was to estimate the mean erosion rates along two hiking trails and one mountain biking trail in the Bucegi Mountains, using dendrogeomorphological approaches.The three trails used were: Sinaia town – Cota 1400 hiking trail (SHT), Sinaia biking trail (SBT), a downhill mountain biking trail and Buşteni town – Urlătoarea Waterfall hiking trail (UHT). The following results were obtained. The mean erosion rate along SHT was between 1.7 and 19.6 mm • y−1 with an average of 6.4 ± 4.6 mm • y−1, wherein half the cases showed an erosion rate between 1 and 5 mm • y−1. The mean erosion rate along SBT was between 2.6 and 49.4 mm • y−1, with an average of 24.2 ± 14.4 mm • y−1. Values between 1 and 20 mm • y−1 represent 41.9% and the remaining 58.1% comprise values between 20 and 40 mm • y−1 or even exceeding 40 mm • y−1. In the case of UHT, the mean erosion rate was between 3.5 and 36 mm • y−1, with an average of 14 ± 8.1 mm • y−1.The differences in values between these three trails are represented in terms of trail usage time, type of use, hiking versus biking during the hot season, and the age of roots. Our study highlighted that the forested mountain environment is sensitive to tourist impact while also proving that the dendrogeomorphological approach is a useful tool for evaluating the mean erosion rates of trails based on the exposed roots.