Jacek Bogusław Szmańda, Piotr Jacek Gierszewski, Michał Habel, Małgorzata Luc, Karol Witkowski, Sergii Bortnyk, Oleksandr Obodovskyi, Response of the Dnieper river fluvial system to the river erosion caused by the operation of the Kaniv hydro-electric power plant (Ukraine), Catena - 2021, Vol. 202, art. no 105265, Punktacja całkowita MEiN: 140.000

W artykule zaprezentowano opis wpływu zmian morfologicznych i hydrologicznych na ewolucję systemu rzecznego Dniepru na przykładzie odcinka poniżej zaporyw Kaniewie. Eksploatacja elektrowni wodnej znacząco wpłynęła tam na erozję i akumulację osadów na dnie doliny, a tym samym zmieniła system rzeczny Dniepru poniżej zapory. W badaniu wykorzystano wskaźniki zmian hydrologicznych (IHA), archiwalne mapy topograficzne i batymetryczne, terenowe badania hydrologiczne i sedymentologiczne oraz zdjęcia satelitarne, aby ocenić, w jaki sposób wielkość i czas trwania zmian reżimu przepływu wpłynęły na procesy erozji i akumulacji na korycie rzeki i zmienił układ kanałów oraz ukształtowanie terenu wysp rozdzielających koryto. W wyniku badań ustalono również, że eksploatacja zapory wpłynełą na modyfikację naturalnych procesów ewolucji systemu rzecznego Dniepru.

Abstrakt:

The commission of the Kaniv dam in 1973, as the last of the six dams on the lower Dnieper River cascade, changed the river regime completely. A description of these changes and their impact on the evolution of the fluvial anastomosing system form the aims of the study. The operation of the hydroelectric power plant (HPP) in Kaniv significantly affected the erosion and accumulation of sediment on valley floor and thus changed the fluvial system of the Dnieper River below the dam. The HPP initially operated on a hydropeaking system (until the early 1990s) and then on a run-of-river system. This study used the indicators of hydrologic alteration (IHA), the RB flashiness index, archival topographic and bathymetric maps, hydrological and sedimentological field studies, and satellite images to assess how the magnitude and duration of changes in the flow regime affected erosion and accumulation processes on the river bed and changed the pattern of channels as well as the landforms separating them.

Until the commission of the dam in Kaniv, the fluvial system of the Dnieper River in its undisturbed state was a sand-bed channel but was then transformed from a braiding to an anastomosing river system. This was achieved by bars where consolidation of vegetation on fine clastic deposits created interchannel areas and islands. During the operation of the hydropeaking system, characterised by frequent artificial flows of short duration, channels became incised and narrowed. Interchannel areas were divided up into islands. Then, after the HPP switched to working a run-of-river system, the islands began to merge again into interchannel areas. This happened as a result of intensified erosion processes in both the main and the side channels. The operation of the HPP, by changing the flow regime and sedimentation processes in the river valley, modified the natural process of evolution of the fluvial system of the Dnieper River.

Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2021.105265