Abstract
Recent decades in the north of the East European Plain have been characterized by significant changes in climate and land use/cover, especially after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. At the same time, the hydrological consequences of these changes, especially changes in erosion processes and river sediment load, have been studied insufficiently. This paper partially covers this existing knowledge gap using the example of the Vyatka River basin. Draining an area of 129,000 km2, the Vyatka River is among the largest rivers in the boreal forest zone of European Russia. Cultivated land occupies about one-fifth of the river basin area; about three-fourths is covered by taiga forest vegetation. The results of state long-term hydrometeorological monitoring and information on land use/cover made it possible to reveal contemporary (since the 1960s) hydrological and erosion-intensity trends and their drivers within the greater (96%) part of the river basin. There has been a statistically insignificant increase in water discharge in the Vyatka River basin during recent decades. This is due to a statistically insignificant increase (for the entire basin studied) in the spring snowmelt-induced floodwater flow and a statistically significant rise in the discharge in the year’s warm and cold seasons. The main reason for the detected trends is increased precipitation, including heavy rainfall during the warm season. In contrast to this, the total annual suspended sediment load of the river (especially that which was snowmelt-induced) and, consequently, soil/gully erosion intensity have experienced a significant decrease in recent decades (up to 58% between 1960–1980 and 2010–2018). Land-use/-cover changes (a reduction of cultivated land area and agricultural machinery, a decline of livestock in pastures) following the collapse of the Soviet Union are considered the main reasons for this decrease. The most noticeable changes in water discharge, suspended sediment load, and erosion intensity were observed in the most agriculturally developed southwest and south parts of the Vyatka River basin. All the above trends may be considered with a high probability to be representative for the south sector of the taiga zone of the East European Plain.
Highlights
Recent decades in the western part of Northern Eurasia have been characterized by noticeable climate change [1,2,3,4,5,6,7], which influenced, among other things, the inter- and intra-annual distribution of the region’s river water flow [8,9,10,11,12,13]
Recent decades in the north of the East European Plain have been characterized by significant changes in climate and land use/cover, especially after the collapse of the USSR in 1991
Draining an area of 129,000 km2, the Vyatka River is among the largest rivers in the boreal forest zone of European Russia
Summary
Recent decades in the western part of Northern Eurasia (within the former USSR— the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) have been characterized by noticeable climate change [1,2,3,4,5,6,7], which influenced, among other things, the inter- and intra-annual distribution of the region’s river water flow [8,9,10,11,12,13]. Since the beginning of the 1980s, there has been a considerable reduction in spring (snowmelt-induced) floodwater flow as a phase of the hydrological regime in most of the East European Plain This reduction has been caused by an increase in winter air temperatures and the number and duration of thaws, as well as a decline in the depth of soil freezing by the end of winter. TToo aasssseessss ccoonntteemmppoorraarryy ttrreennddss iinn rriivveerr WWDD aanndd SSSSLL,, aass wweellll aass tthhee iinntteennssiittyy ooffoovveerraallll eerroossiioonnpprroocceesssseesswwiitthhiinntthheeVVyyaattkkaa RRiivveerr bbaassiinn,, tthhee ssttuuddyy uusseedd tthhee rreessuullttss ooff lloonngg--tteerrmm mmoonniittoorriinngg aatt ttwwoo hhyyddrroollooggiiccaall ((ggaauuggiinngg))ssttaattiioonnssaatt tthhee cciittyy ooff KKiirroovv aanndd tthhee ttoowwnn ooff VVyyaattsskkiiyyee PPoollyyaannyy,, llooccaatteedd aalloonngg tthhee mmiiddddllee aanndd lloowweerr ccoouurrsseess ooff tthhee rriivveerr,, rreessppeeccttiivveellyy ((sseeee FFiigguurree 11,, TTaabbllee 11)). AAnnaallyyzzeedd ggaauuggiinngg ssttaattiioonnss iinn tthhee VVyyaattkkaa RRiivveerr bbaassiinn. The large gap from 1981 to 2013 is due to the lack of available data
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