Influence of the Dnipro cascade of reservoirs on the current geomorphogenesis of adjoining territories

Abstract

The construction of the Dnipro cascade of reservoirs caused one of the largest transformations of natural relief in Ukraine. The result of which was the following: regional activation of land flooding (an area of over 1 million hectares); strengthening of erosion processes, abrasion of shores of reservoirs; the development of dangerous exogenous relief-forming processes (landslide, sinking and suffosion).

An increase of the water-edge in the Dnipro river has led to a sharp and significant increase of the local base level of erosion. As a result, a new coastline with a total length of about 3,5 thousand km was formed. More than a third of which is actively damaged by denudation, especially abrasive and erosive processes, and needs protection. In this area there are more than 190 settlements where more than 600 thousand inhabitants live. Such excessive anthropogenic loading on the Dnipro basin disturbed its natural balance and greatly increased the risk of developing dangerous exogenous processes, caused the ecological state crisis of many territories.

The features of the formation of the banks of reservoirs are influenced by a number of factors, the most important of which are: geomorphological conditions (confinement to certain forms of relief, dissection of the coast, slope steepness, spectrum and intensity of manifestation of exogenous processes); the lithologic composition of the rocks involved in the structure of the shores; wave mode and level reservoir regime. The combined influence of these and other factors is determined by: the local features of the reformation of the banks, the development of complexes of exogenous processes with distinctions of their activity and formation of certain forms of relief. In conditions of increasing technogenic loading on the relief monitoring and forecast of the development of exogenous processes are among the most important applied objectives of geomorphology.