Małgorzata KIJOWSKA-STRUGAŁA¹ & Piotr DEMCZUK^2
1Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Research Station in Szymbark
38-311 Szymbark 430, Poland, phone/fax: +48183513170, e-mail: mkijowska@zg.pan.krakow.pl
²Maria Curie Skłodowska University, Al. Kraśnicka 2cd/209, 20-718 Lublin, Poland, phone: (+48) (81) 537 68 92, e-mail: demczuk@poczta.umcs.lublin.pl

IMPACT OF LAND USE CHANGES ON SOIL EROSION AND DEPOSITION IN A SMALL POLISH CARPATHIANS CATCHMENT IN LAST 40 YEARS

Full text

Over the last 40 years, many changes have been observed in the catchment in Polish Carpathians in terms of land use, i.e., a decrease in arable land area (from 48% in 1969 to 14% in 2010) and an increase in grasslands area (from 3% in 1969 to 30% in 2010). These changes have been resulted primarily from socio-economic transformations in Poland, after 1989. In this study, two models (RUSLE and USPED) were used to determine erosion and deposition processes in the small Carpathian catchment (Bystrzanka catchment, 13 km²) in 4 different time periods associated with different land use. The area of arable land where a high risk of erosion was recorded amounted to 47% in 1969, and in 2003, it was 30% lower in the RUSLE model and 13% lower in the USPED model. Moreover, a percentage increase in grasslands (meadows) and decrease in arable land on which deposition was recorded was also observed. This is directly associated with a change in land use. The average value of erosion estimated in the catchment area decreased from 8.27 t•ha^-1 in 1969 to 2.89 t·ha^-1 in 2003 in relation to land use and reduction in the area occupied by arable land. The values obtained as a result of erosion size modelling are similar to the measurements conducted in the experimental plots in Research Station in Szymbark.