Geomorphological hazards. Lignite mining and newly-built relief in the North of Oltenia (Romania)

Abstract

The paper is about the new landscape born by digging works and dumping from the exploitation of lignite in the Oltenia area. Lignite mining began in the interwar period and covers 75 Km². The principal aspect of the newly-built landscape is the inversion of the relief, as diggings are situated in the hills of Southern Carpathians while dumpings in the lower terraces of Oltet river. The modelling processes of this newly-built relief have a sensible diversity and intensity of natural modelling and the present-day dynamics shows new geomorphological hazards, as rock and soil falls, debris flows, topples and downsagging and even mud-flows, slidings and sheet erosion. The top of the hazard is localized in the slope of Subcarpathian: in the 1994 April 22 18,500 c.m. of sterile sands down to the foot of the hillslope. To sum up, the newly-built reliefs of Oltenia are high by geomorphological hazards areas. In the future when the degraded landscape will be rehabilited, the attention will have to be focused on the stability of the slopes and on the rationalisation of the drainage network.