Bank erosion as a factor of soil loss and land use changes in the Kolubara River Basin, Serbia

Abstract

The channel morphology of the Kolubara river was changed during the last century, mostly because of the lignite exploitation. In the research area, bank erosion is widespread and causes processes of soil loss and land use changes. This is an agricultural area and people used to farm their land parcels at the river banks. In the area of the three villages, which are situated on the Kolubara River banks, there are 208 land parcels at risk from the bank erosion. The changes in the area with endangered land parcels were analyzed using the cadastral maps from 1967 and aerial photographs from 2004. On the research sector, the Kolubara river length was 7.7 km in 1967 and 10.36 km in 2004. The research shows that 60.37 ha was lost and degraded by the bank erosion. The loss of land comprises 49.43% of the land parcels from 1967. The aim of this paper is to analyze the influence of the bank erosion rate on the changes of the Kolubara river course, soil loss and land use. The results of this research are important for the water and land management, as well as for the protection of intensive bank erosion.