Anthropogenic Transformation of the River Basins of the Northwestern Slope of the Crimean Mountains (The Crimean Peninsula)

Abstract

The territory of the Crimean Peninsula is extensively subject to economic activities. In this connection, there is an ever-increasing impact on the environment. The present paper presents an analysis of the transformation of the area of the largest river basins of the northwestern slope of the Crimean Mountains (basins of the Zapadnyy Bulganak, Alma, Kacha, Belbek, and Chernaya rivers). For this purpose, various indicators characterizing the transformation of the area were calculated: coefficient of anthropogenic transformation; land degradation index; urbanity index; level of anthropogenic transformation; coefficient of absolute and relative intensities of ecological and economic land use distribution. The results show that the anthropogenic transformation of the area defined by the basins of the Zapadnyy Bulganak, Alma, Kacha, Belbek, and Chernaya rivers increases from the southeast to the northwest as the absolute height decreases, and when moving from river source to mouth. Among the basins under consideration, anthropogenic transformation is greatest In the Zapadnyy Bulganak River basin and lowest in the Chernaya River basin. Among the basins under consideration, anthropogenic transformation decreases from north to south in the following order: Zapadnyy Bulganak River basin, Alma River basin, Kacha River basin, Belbek River basin, Chernaya River basin. This is due to reduced impacts of economic activity within each respective basin.