Fabian TIMOFTE¹, Alexandru ONACA¹, Petru URDEA¹ & Tamás PRÁVETZ^2
1West University of Timișoara, Department of Geography, Blvd. V. Pârvan, no. 4, Timișoara, 300223, Romania,
²University of Szeged, Department of Physical Geography and Geoinformatics
Email: fabian.timofte87@e-uvt.ro

THE EVOLUTION OF MUREȘ CHANNEL IN THE LOWLAND SECTION BETWEEN LIPOVA AND NĂDLAC (IN THE LAST 150 YEARS), ASSESSED BY GIS ANALYSIS

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Mureș River is a natural resource both for Romania and Hungary. The lowland section of this river was influenced by regulation works in the 19th century and it is affected nowadays by other human interventions like mining activity (especially in the upper part of the study area). The aim of this work is to quantify the changes induced by humans in the last 150 years in the Romanian section (between Lipova and Nădlac). For that we have used GIS software and integrated tools to automate the analysis. After regulation works, the slope of the river has increased on some sectors and this enhanced the fluvial processes. The sinuosity coefficient (based on changing in length) dropped and the water velocity increased the erosion. The width of the course and the island’s surfaces were affected by the mines which extracted sediments directly from the channel. In the future is suitable to monitor in addition the sediment budget and the 3D profile of the river because it will for sure unveil many enigmas.