Geomorphological Risk and Denudational Index (Land Erodability) in Karstic Terrain of Anina Mining Area (Banat Mountains, Romania)

Abstract

Anina Mining Area was defined by Vasile Sencu in 1977 as the area that is surrounding Anina town and may be exploited by mining activities. The aim of this paper is to present two parameters regarding geomorphometry in Anina Mining Area, naming here Geomorphological Risk and Denudational Index (Land Erodability Index). These two morphometric parameters are obtained using geomorphological parameters that we obtained in previous works, as slope, hypsometry, drainage density, depth drainage and morphodynamic potential. The methodology to derive Geomorphological risk and Denudational index (Land Erodability Index) is based on GIS techniques. The results we obtained point out that the study area of this paper is a region where parameters such as geomorphological risk and denudational index have small incidence. This fact is due to the large homogeneous areas from the standpoint of geology and land cover, but also as an effect of large surfaces with a planar aspect as karstic plateaus. From the analysis of these two parameters we must conclude that Anina Mining Area represents a space with small surfaces which are prone to risks associated with geomorphological process and also with small areas where denudation may have high rates due to the large areas where vegetation is present and also due to large plateaus where the primary processes are related to karstification, and these ones are very slow processes.