Ecological-geomorphological analysis of surface processes in the Kura-Araz lowland and adjacent territories on the base of remote sensing data

Abstract

The relief of the earth’s surface is the result of a continuous interaction of endogenous and exogenous forces. This law follows from the general provisions of materialistic dialectics about the unity and conflict of opposites and expresses the basic axiom of geomorphology about the joint action of the main forces of morphogenesis. The purpose of the study is to analyze the distribution and dynamics of exodynamic processes that form ecogeomorphological conditions under the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors. Natural factors include endogenous, such as mud volcanism, modern tectonic movements, buried high, tectonic faults on sediments and the crystalline basement of the territory, exogenous, such as linear and planar erosion, deflation and eolian accumulation, waterlogging, salinization, abrasion, floods, anthropogenic, such as irrigation erosion, intensive grazing, exploitation of oil and gas fields, production of building materials, accelerating unfavorable exodynamic processes.In the study, land use and land cover maps were composed using supervised and unsupervised classification, and different normalized vegetation, humidity, salinity and erosion indices were built using a combination of red, infrared, shortwave infrared spectral channels of the Landsat space image taken in 1976-2017 on the base of aerospace methods and GIS technologies. Based on the interpretation of satellite images and a digital terrain model, the flood process on the Kura and Araz rivers in May 2010, which caused serious damage to the country's economy, was analyzed in detail. The total area of flooding was calculated and the degree of flooding of settlements was assessed. In different years (1976-2017), reductions in the areas of fluvial, arid-denudation and accumulative processes (linear and surface erosion, salinization, deflation and aeolian accumulation, etc.) were revealed based on the analysis of compiled maps of land use and land cover and the construction of normalized vegetation, humidity, salinity and erosion indices. This was due to the expansion of arable land due to anthropogenic activities.