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A Unique Braided-Wandering River in Slovakia: Recent Development and Future of the Belá River

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Landscapes and Landforms of Slovakia

Part of the book series: World Geomorphological Landscapes ((WGLC))

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Abstract

The Belá River represents a reference braided-wandering river system to observe natural, or semi-natural, forms and processes in the mountain environment. In this chapter, human impact and spatio-temporal bio-morphological evolution of the Belá River from the second half of the twentieth century are described. For the high-energy Belá River, new gravel bar formation as well as their re-formation due to frequent channel avulsion is typical. An overall trend of simplification of the braided and wandering river planform, narrowing of the river active zone and vegetation succession on in-channel landforms with an increased island area was registered. However, in-channel landforms and processes typical for the braided rivers are still prevailing in some river reaches, and these represent unique natural entities. Additionally, the Belá River is included in the network of protected areas Natura 2000, with habitats of European importance.

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Acknowledgements

The research was supported by the Science Grant Agency (VEGA) of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Sciences; 02/0086/21.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Geography, Geomorphology and Natural Hazards, Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Štefánikova 49, 814 73, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Anna Kidová, Milan Lehotský, Miloš Rusnák & Peter Labaš

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  1. Anna Kidová
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  2. Milan Lehotský
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  3. Miloš Rusnák
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  4. Peter Labaš
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Correspondence to Anna Kidová .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Geography, Geomorphology and Natural Hazards, Institute of Geography Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Milan Lehotský

  2. Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Regional Development, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Constantine The Philosopher University in Nitra, Nitra, Slovakia

    Martin Boltižiar

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Kidová, A., Lehotský, M., Rusnák, M., Labaš, P. (2022). A Unique Braided-Wandering River in Slovakia: Recent Development and Future of the Belá River. In: Lehotský, M., Boltižiar, M. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of Slovakia. World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89293-7_15

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