NIRAJ RIVER’S CHANNEL MIGRATION: A RESPONSE TO HYDRO-CLIMATIC VARIABILITY
SANDA, ROȘCA, DĂNUȚ, PETREA, IONUȚ, IACOB
ABSTRACT. – Niraj River’s channel migration: a response to hydro-climatic variability. Morphometric variables that are specific to Niraj River bear changes along its length due to a series of factors: liquid and solid discharge variation, river slope, the riverbed deposits type, land use changes and engineering works carried out on the riverbed. It can be seen an asymmetric evolution overtime concerning the meanders changing rate in concordance with environmental changes (precipitation quantity, debit, land use). Nevertheless, the lack of annual cartographic materials by comparison with the debit and precipitation data is a barrier in making a direct correspondence between altitude, erosion rate, precipitation and flow. For highlighting the flow variability in time and space of the Niraj catchment we used monthly mean and maximum discharges recordered at Cinta and Gălesti hydrometric stations as well as pluviometric data from stations across studied hydrographic basin between 1970-2009.
Keywords: Channel migration, maximum discharge, floods, trend analysis, Niraj River.