Landscape-geomorphological factors of the development of mudflow centres in the Goychay River basin

Abstract

In recent decades, as a result of global warming and increased development of mountain areas, which are highly sensitive to anthropogenic impacts, there has been a rapid increase in the number and scale of natural disasters accompanied by material damage and even death of people. An increase in anthropogenic impact on the mid- and high-mountain geosystems is also characteristic of the mountainous territories of Azerbaijan, especially, because this is pronounced within the southern slope of the Greater Caucasus. Here, along with such dangerous processes as avalanches, landslides, etc., mudflows are intensively manifested. New methods of dealing with them should be developed to mitigate their effects. In this regard, the problems of studying the development and mapping of mudflow centres become very relevant. On the southern slope of the Greater Caucasus, the basin of the Goychay River is one of the most subject to mudflow processes, which in recent years has caused significant economic and social losses. The article gives a complete description of the landscape-geomorphological factor as one of the main factors in the formation of mudflow centres and traces their development dynamics. In the course of the study, with the aim of using the ArcGİS software for 2018, the area was calculated and the dynamics of the development of a number of mudflow centres was revealed. In addition, a land use map of the Goychay River basin was compiled with the help of statistical, cartographic (digital topographic and maps of the use of past years) and remote sensing (RS) data (interpretation of aerospace images (ASS) 2002–2019 from the Landsat satellite (scale: 1: 60,000). On the basis of field research and landscape mapping in the “key areas”, the influence of mudflow processes on the differentiation of landscapes in the basin of the Goychay River was studied.