Water dynamics of small water currents of the Upper Don basin and its role in the structural-dynamic organization of landscapes

Abstract

The dynamics of the annual, extremes of the maximum and minimum river runoff in the Upper Don basin is considered on the example of the small river Devitsa. It is shown that a decrease in flood volumes, a decrease in spring runoff, characteristic of rivers in European Russia, is a factor in the dynamics of water content in small rivers and, at the same time, their degradation in the upper reaches. The decrease in spring runoff is accompanied by an increase in the summer-autumn and winter runoff, i.e. there is an intra-annual redistribution of river flow volumes. The most sensitive and susceptible to changes in the hydrological regime are small streams. Climatic and hydrological changes, combined with anthropogenic impact, are reflected in the transformation of landscapes. As a result, it was found that under the influence of negative natural and anthropogenic factors, the tendencies of regressive development of landscapes of small rivers of the Upper Don basin intensify, which lead to a decrease in landscape diversity and stability. For example, R. Olshanka is a tributary of the r. Devitsa, revealed the modern transformation of the floodplain type of terrain. As a result of the reduction in the length of the river channel by 4 km for the period 1964–2008. there was a restructuring of the types of terrain and the replacement of the floodplain type by the post-floodplain. Landscapes of the slope type of terrain are more responsive to anthropogenic interference than to natural changes, and landscapes of the upland type of terrain reactively reflect water erosion processes.