Exploring Relationships Between Karst Terrains and Social Features by the Example of Gömör-Torna Karst (Hungary-Slovakia)

Abstract

IzvlečekUDK 911.5:551.435.8(439+437.6) Tamás Telbisz, Zsolt Bottlik, László Mari & Alena Petrvalská: Raziskovanje odnosov med kraško pokrajino in socialnimi funkcijami: Primer kraškega območja Gömör-Torna (Madžarska-Slovaška) Odnosi med človekom in okoljem imajo v primeru kraških okolij nekatere posebne značilnosti. Ta so običajno manj gosto naseljena predvsem zaradi hidroloških, topografskih in pedoloških posebnosti. Vendar pa je vpliv naravnih dejavnikov kraških pokrajin na družbeno-gospodarski razvoj redko proučevan, vplivi pa so običajno pojasnjeni v kvalitativnem smislu. Zato je cilj tega prispevka kot sodobnega pristopa znotraj geografskega posibilizma raziskati neposreden in posreden količinski vpliv obravnavanega naravnega okolja na družbeno-gospodarski razvoj z uporabo-GIS orodij in statističnih metod. Študija je bila opravljena na primeru kraškega območja Gömör-Torna (na Madžarskem znan kot kras Aggteleka oziroma na Slovaškem kot Slovaški kras). Razmerja med naravnimi dejavniki (nadmorska višina, naklon, relativna višina, oddaljenost od pomembnih rek) in pokrovnostjo tal, kot tudi med naravnimi dejavniki in socialnimi podatki (gostota prebivalstva, gostota poselitve, povprečno število prebivalcev v naselju, spremembe prebivalstva, gostota cestnega omrežja) smo proučevali z regresijsko analizo. želeli smo ugotoviti, kako močno zgoraj navedeni naravni dejavniki vplivajo na socialne parametre. V nekaterih primerih (pokrovnost tal, cestno omrežje) je naklon najboljši pokazatelj, medtem ko v Human-environment relations have some special characteristics on karst terrains, and karstlands are usually less densely inhabited areas principally due to hydrologic, topographic and pedologic reasons. However, the natural factors of karst terrains and socio-economic development are rarely discussed together, and the relationships are usually expressed in qualitative terms. Therefore the aim of this paper is to explore the direct and indirect quantitative impact of natural settings on socio-economic development of karst terrains using GISaided, statistical methods as a modern approach within geographic possibilism by the case study of Gömör-Torna Karst (whose Hungarian part is known as Aggtelek Karst, while the Slovakian part as Slovak Karst). Relationships between natural factors (elevation, slope, relative height, distance from significant rivers) and land cover as well as between natural factors and social data (population density, settlement density, mean settlement population, population change, road network density) have been studied by regression analysis in order to determine how strongly these social parameters are influenced by the above natural factors. In certain cases (land cover categories, road network) slope is the best estimator, while in other cases (population density, longterm population change), the ACTA CARSOLOGICA 44/1-2015 122 TAMÁS TELBISZ, ZSOLT BOTTLIK, LÁSZLÓ MARI & ALENA PETRVALSKÁ distance from significant river provides the best correlation. Many karstlands are depopulating and ageing are...

Geological and Geomorphological Characteristics of Vikos Gorge and Tymphi Mountain (Northern Pindos National Park, Greece) and Karst-Related Social Processes of the Region

“…The next decade was also characterized by a significant decrease (2435 people), but the rate of decrease was smaller (27%). Since that time, there is an even smaller rate but permanent decrease that led to the present situation of 3.6 p/km 2 population density, which is very low, similarly to other karst terrains (Telbisz et al 2015). The dramatic depopulation can be also characterized by the fact that while in 1928 there were only 3 settlements with less than 100 inhabitants (out of 45), there are now (in 2011) 32.…”

“…The present study, in turn, examines the effect of karst on social processes, based on the following thesis: due to the unfavourable natural conditions (poor soils, lack of water, special relief conditions), karst terrains have always been relatively sparsely populated, and they have been severely affected by recent depopulation processes. Naturally, there are exceptions, but the validity of the above statement has been demonstrated for several karst areas in the Carpathian Basin (Telbisz et al 2015(Telbisz et al , 2016, or in the Balkan (Pejnović & Husanović-Pejnović 2008;Milošević et al 2010;Telbisz et al 2014), and this trend is generally valid for a large part of the Mediterranean region (McNeill 1992;Vogiatzakis 2012). It is noted that the effects of karst and of the mountainous environment are often intermingled and in most cases it is not possible to discriminate them.…”

Geological Heritage, Geotourism and Local Development in Aggtelek National Park (NE Hungary)

“…As for the microregion, the Aggtelek Karst has always been a sparsely inhabited area due to the relatively harsh natural settings of the karst terrain, and its population stagnated or even slightly decreased during the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, one can observe a moderate increase until 1970, but since that time there has been a strong downward trend (Telbisz et al 2015;Fig. 5).…”

“…Recently, geoparks have become the flagships of geoconservation, and sustainable development is one of the main aims of geoparks (Zouros and McKeever 2004;McKeever and Zouros 2005;Farsani et al 2011;Lazzari and Aloia 2014;Han et al 2018). In many cases, karst terrains are economically underdeveloped areas (Telbisz et al 2014(Telbisz et al , 2015(Telbisz et al , 2016a(Telbisz et al , 2019, but they have varied attractions from the perspective of geotourism (Dowling and Newsome 2006). As Cigna and Forti (2013) stated, caves are the most important geotouristic features in the world.…”

Topographic and lithologic controls behind mountain depopulation in Zlatibor District (Western Serbia)

“…The theory of possibilism states that the environment sets certain constraints or limitations, but culture is otherwise determined by social conditions. The study of statistical relationships between topographic factors and the spatial distribution of population is called "hypsographic demography" by some authors (Small and Cohen 2004;Patterson and Doyle 2011), and we also applied this approach in our previous studies (Telbisz et al 2014(Telbisz et al , 2015(Telbisz et al , 2016(Telbisz et al , 2019. Several researchers demonstrated that in many cases, there exist statistically significant correlations between depopulation and topographic factors like elevation or slope (Kohler et al 2017;Latocha et al 2018).…”