Abstract
Natural and Man-Induced Hazards Along the Danube, between Rast and Gighera Settlements, with a Special View on the 2006 Flood The paper discusses the natural and man-induced hazards in the Rast-Gighera sector of the Danube Floodplain, an area displaying asymmetric character, with the high and steep slopes of the Prebalcanic Tableland dominating the low Romanian floodplain. The subject regards an acute present problem, the necessity to improve the management of dangerous phenomena included among the objectives for this millennium. Moreover, the paper regards a space with an exceptional natural heritage that has been seriously transformed by man, the natural-human opposition becoming the key-element of the region. The complexity of the subject is given by the plurality of causes that lead to the genesis of hazards. Their nature, frequency and intensity, along with other factors of psychological or economic nature imply different answers from the part of the affected population. In the past, the region was characterised by the significant presence of swampy areas, lakes and ponds connected to the Danube through secondary branches, being under the influence of the level oscillations of the river. The relief was strongly modified, especially during the last hundred years, the human factor exerting an important influence, mainly through flood-control dykes and dams, networks of irrigation and drainage channels, deforestation, so that extended surfaces that had been naturally covered by waters and forests were converted to agriculture.
Highlights
IntroductionRelief The area under study is located between Rast settlement in the west and Gighera settlement in the east, entirely on the Danube Floodplain, on a sector having asymmetric character, with the high and steep slopes of the Prebalcanic Tableland, dominating the low Romanian floodplain of the river
Natural ResourcesRelief The area under study is located between Rast settlement in the west and Gighera settlement in the east, entirely on the Danube Floodplain, on a sector having asymmetric character, with the high and steep slopes of the Prebalcanic Tableland, dominating the low Romanian floodplain of the river.The southern limit is clear, while the northern one has a sinuous aspect, marked by the chain of settlements situated at the floodplain – terrace contact or on the surface of the neighbouring terrace, i.e.: Rast, Negoi, Catane, Bistreţ, Cârna, Măceşu de Jos, and Gighera.The floodplain shows a diversity of microrelief features and is generally characterised by the presence of longitudinal zones: the sandbank located near the riverbed, the middle alluvial plain and the depressions
The agricultural fields, very much extended during the past century, as well as the presence of settlements, were the main elements that led to the achievement of hydrological regilation works of great dimensions; their purpose was to reduce the hydrological risk related to the excess of moisture and especially to floods or, on the contrary, to the dry and drought phenomena
Summary
Relief The area under study is located between Rast settlement in the west and Gighera settlement in the east, entirely on the Danube Floodplain, on a sector having asymmetric character, with the high and steep slopes of the Prebalcanic Tableland, dominating the low Romanian floodplain of the river. There is a 54 km long sector, featuring the same morphometric characteristics; it is more extended eastward (maximum width: 11 km, south of Cârna settlement) than westward (minimum width: 3 km south of Rast settlement, Fig. 1) This extension is entirely due to the lateral action of the Danube, to the separation that took place in the riverbed and to the general Holocene tendency to shift towards the right. The accentuated aging phenomenon and the negative natural growth represent the essential demographic features of the region Under these circumstances, the general density of the population is much under the national value, often even under the limit of 40 people km–2 (Gighera – 27.6 people km–2)
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