Geomorphological and Hydrological Effects of Subsidence and Land use Change in Industrial and Urban Areas

Abstract

Land subsidence caused by mining activities is an example of human transformation of the natural environment and leads to changes in land use. The study covers an area of 958 ha in the Silesian Upland, southern Poland. Records from the period 1890–1990 document the presence of subsidence effects in 82.9% of the study area and the maximum displacement figure is more than 30 m which translates to an average rate of 0.3 m per year. It was found that subsidence basins serve as the new local erosion base and new sedimentation basins. They are filled with sediments whose level of pollution ranges from moderate to heavy and extremely heavy. Subsidence has caused a dramatic change in the local hydrology, including the quality and quantity of the water. The specifics involve: the emergence of new closed drainage catchments with a total area of 651.1 ha; an increase in the total watercourse length (from 0.9 to 5.7 km); an increase in the river network density (from 0.09 to 0.56 km km−2); a decrease in the number (from 81 to 48) and an increase in the area (from 23.8 to 58.4 ha) of lakes and ponds; an increase in the lake coverage ratio (from 2.5% to 6.1%) and in water pollution. Subsidence has limited the potential land uses, which led to a decrease in arable land from 619.0 to 122.5 ha that gave way to other land uses, including those equivalent to wasteland. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The ice phenomena dynamics of small anthropogenic water bodies in the Silesian Upland, Poland

“…The water body stored 21.4 dam 3 water. The other one was the Żabie Doły S water body of which the basin was formed as a result of ground subsidence as a consequence of underground coal mining (MACHOWSKI, 2010;MACHOWSKI ET AL. 2016).…”

Groundwater vulnerability assessment in degraded coal mining areas using the AHP–Modified DRASTIC model

“…Despite existence of numerous strategies to control and extenuate the impacts of land degradation, successful implementation of these strategies is challenging (Lechner, Baumgartl, Matthew, & Glenn, ). Surface and underground coal mining activities degrade the land permanently and severely affect the ecosystem including the hydrological processes at scales ranging from small plots to large watersheds (Eshleman, ; Machowski, Rzetala, Rzetala, & Solarski, ). Removal of vegetation and topsoil enhances the process of withering and contaminant transport through the degraded areas.…”

Soil Organic Carbon Accumulation in Abandoned Croplands on the Loess Plateau

“…This phenomenon is also widespread across the Loess Plateau due to implementation of the 'Grain for Green' Programme since 1999, which converts cropland on steep slopes to forest and grassland by providing farmers with grain and cash subsidies (Deng et al, 2013). Changes in land use disturb natural ecosystems and consequently may alter the soil carbon budget (Guo & Gifford, 2002;Lal, 2004;Novara et al, 2015;Machowski et al, 2016). In the global carbon cycle, land use changes are responsible for 12.5% of the anthropogenic carbon emissions and are expected to remain the second largest contribution to global greenhouse emissions (Houghton et al, 2012).…”