Chemical Denudation on the Azerbaijan Mountain Territory

Abstract

Chemical denudation (dissolved matter runoff) in mountain rivers in comparison with mechanical denudation (sediments runoff) has not yet been properly investigated and remains one of the poorly studied issues of hydrology. Assessment of the chemical denudation intensity in the Azerbaijan mountain regions has been carried out on the basis of the summed up material on ions runoff over the 1980-2013 period. Value of the average annual wash-out from the catchment area (relation of the average annual ions runoff volume to the catchment area) has been used as an indicator of the chemical denudation intensity. The chemical denudation intensity has been made on the basis of the data on the ions runoff transferred by the rivers. The river water ion runoff module dependence on the catchment average height has been obtained. It has been found that the chemical denudation intensity at the Greater and the Lower Caucasus is increasing with altitude. In contrast, in Talysh the chemical denudation intensity is decreasing with altitude. It has been stated that the role of chemical denudation on the territory under study is substantial (22.6 %), its intensity is nearly six times higher the average world value.