The research objective was to answer the question, how and why have the patterns of the channels of the lower course of the Skawa River changed over the past 200 years? This problem is important in the context of contemporary waterway construction plans in Poland. Overall, this study shows the effects of natural restoration in the event of the destruction of bank protections. The Skawa River is a mountain tributary of the Vistula River (southern Poland). In the first step, the channels were classified in the period from the 19th to the 21st centuries. In the second step, it was checked how channelization, water damming, gravel mining, embankment construction, changes in the forest area and channel incision, determined the change of the channel patterns. There were four periods in the functioning of the Skawa riverbed. In the first period (before 1901), the reaches of a natural riverbed were sinuous, braiding, or anabranching. In the second period (1901–1943), the riverbed was completely channelized. In the third period (1943–2003), the riverbed had artificial, braiding, and sinuous reaches. In the fourth period (after 2003), the riverbed had high energy anabranching and sinuous reaches. This study shows that man led to the transformation of the Skawa River channel due to the building of the network of navigable canals and rivers. This study shows how various factors can determine changes in the channel pattern, and that the destruction of bank protections enables natural restoration and forming the braided or anabranching channel pattern.
Geotourism is a type of qualified tourism promoting geosites related to the geological outcrops and relief elements, such as river channels. Examples of these landforms with high educational values can be seen in the Białka and Skawa riverbeds. However, an important element in the description of such geosites (geomorphosites) is their educational values, which make it possible to clearly determine their suitability and possible use in geotourism. The assessment methods are the only methods of evaluating these values. But they are subjective, and the results of the analyses carried out on them largely depend on the knowledge and experience of the evaluator. In this paper, four geomorphosites have been assessed using the triangulation expert method. All described geomorphosites have received a high educational value, and the highest had the Białka Gorge.
The article presents the history and the impact of the Galician Canal project on the natural environment. In order to identify the relationship between political and economic decisions and the transformation of the natural environment, the Water System Concept was used. The canal was designed in Galicia belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The central government in Vienna decided to build a network of waterways in 1901. In Galicia, it was expected that this project would lead to economic development, which was dependent on export opportunities. The canal project assumed the construction of a canal connecting the Oder with the Vistula and theDniester. An integral element of the project was also the regulation of the rivers, which was to enable the control of the canal's supply with water and bed-load. After the collapse of the Empire, most of the canal was located in the territory of Poland.Repeated design changes meant that construction work on the canal was progressing slowly. Ultimately, the construction of the canal was abandoned, but the river regulation was completed. The canal is, therefore, an example of an unrealized project that significantly affected the natural environment. River regulation destroyed the multithread channel pattern and triggered the channel incision process. The transformation of multi-thread rivers to single-thread ones resulted in a reduction in biodiversity. The Carpathian rivers would never have been channelized to such a large extent had it not been for the canal project.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.