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Volume XXIII |
Biogeography, Geomorphology

Snow avalanche activity in the Țarcu Mountains, Southern Carpathians. Comparative analysis based on tree ring studies

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Abstract: Snow avalanches are a major natural hazard threatening human life and infrastructure in mountainous areas. They have a sudden onset and involve the rapid transport of large masses of snow and ice down on steep slopes. Thus, it is essential for risk management activities to understand avalanche activity, frequency and triggers. In this study, the dendrogeomorphic method was used to analyse an avalanche path in the Țarcu Mountains (the Southern Carpathians) in order to reconstruct the spatio-temporal activity of past snow avalanches. The reconstruction was based on the dating of growth disturbances caused by the mechanical impact of snow avalanches on trees. A total of 186 increment cores were analysed, resulting in the identification of 374 growth disturbances, including traumatic resin ducts, reaction wood, growth suppression and scars. In a chronology spanning 101 years in Picea abies, 13 events with It between 10-20% and 6 events with It between 20-40% were reconstructed over the period 1965-2021. The frequency of snow avalanche events was calculated, resulting in an average of 17.7 years. The climatic parameters were analysed for the event years exhibiting the strongest signal. The occurrence of avalanches was associated with warmer weather and rainy days. Event year 2010 is evidenced by a tragic incident in which two individuals lost their lives in the vicinity of the Țarcu weather station. Eleven events are synchronous with those analysed in other avalanche paths, while the event year 2005 is synchronous in nine other avalanche paths.

Keywords: , , ,
Full article 10.5775/fg.2024.2.3655Dates:
Received: 06-07-2024 Accepted: 15-10-2024 Printed: 30-12-2024 Online: 28-12-2024
Affiliations:
  • 1 Department of Geography, West University of Timișoara, Timișoara, Romania
  • 2 Emil Racoviță Institute of Speleology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and Stable Isotope Laboratory, Stefan cel Mare University, Suceava, Romania and Romanian Institute of Science and Technology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Corresponding author:
  • mircea.voiculescu@e-uvt.ro
Author contributions: Conceptualization: R.F., M.V., C.P.; methodology: R.F., M.V., C.P.; writing – original draft, R.F, M.V., C.P., A.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the paper.Declaration of interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Citation:
APA 6 | Harvard 2008 | Turabian 6 | MLA 7
RIS | BibTeX
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Forum geografic.
Provided under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License.
Open Access article.
Volume XXIII |
Environment, Human and economic geography

Former gas stations in Timișoara area – Inventory and analysis of recognised environmental conditions

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Abstract: In urban areas, gas stations can be classified as some of the most widespread hazardous locations. This is due to the flammable or explosive potential of the products sold here, such as gasoline, diesel, and LPG, and the impact of handling hazardous substances on the environment and public health. Closing a gas station without taking all necessary minimum measures poses a potential hazard to the surrounding environment and the population’s health and safety. The present study identifies the sites of former fuel distribution stations and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) refuelling stations in Timișoara. All publicly available information regarding their recognised environmental conditions (RECs) was analysed. Google Maps or Google Earth images were used to confirm the presence of fuel distribution or LPG activities at these locations. Nine non-functional gas stations and LPG stations were identified, some of which have long been disused with minimal physical evidence of their economic activity, while others were more recently closed but still retain their facilities or associated buildings on-site. A detailed assessment of the environmental conditions was conducted for six of these locations.

Keywords: , , , ,
Full article 10.5775/fg.2024.2.3666Dates:
Received: 08-06-2024 Accepted: 30-11-2024 Printed: 30-12-2024 Online: 28-12-2024
Affiliations:
  • 1 Department of Geography, Faculty of Chemistry, Biology, Geography, West University of Timișoara, Romania
Corresponding author:
  • raluca.vaduva@e-uvt.ro
Author contributions: The first draft of the manuscript was written by R.V. and M.V. provided feedback. Both authors reviewed the manuscript and agreed to its published version.Declaration of interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Citation:
APA 6 | Harvard 2008 | Turabian 6 | MLA 7
RIS | BibTeX
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Forum geografic.
Provided under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License.
Open Access article.
Volume XXIII |
Human and economic geography

From peasant agriculture to collectivization and forced industrializa-tion during the communist period through land dispossession: a piece of history, present status and outlook in Turceni region, Romania

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Abstract: The process of collectivization and industrialization in communist Romania that took place between 1949–1989 led to radical political, social, and economic changes. In the countryside, peasants lost their lands that became the property of the communist state. Some dispossessed lands were used for the construction of large-scale industrial projects such as coal-fired power plants. This was the case when land was needed for the construction of the Turceni Thermal Power Plant located in southern Romania.
Our study follows the general development of the historical and socio-economic situation of the communist period. In addition, we focused on the perception of dispossessed people regarding the status of owned or inherited lands, the process of restitution through the application of post-communist land reforms, the current situation of dispossessed lands, the forms of protests, and of the existence of the degree of attachment to the agricultural land.

Keywords: , , , , ,
Full article 10.5775/fg.2024.1.3619Dates:
Received: 30-03-2024 Accepted: 07-06-2024 Printed: 30-07-2024 Online: 07-08-2024
Affiliations:
  • 1 West University of Timişoara, Bdul Vasile Pârvan, 4, 300223, Timişoara, Romania
Corresponding author:
  • mircea.voiculescu@e-uvt.ro
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to this work.Declaration of interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Citation:
APA 6 | Harvard 2008 | Turabian 6 | MLA 7
RIS | BibTeX
Acknowledgements: The authors express their gratitude to all those who, in one form or another, helped us with anonymously obtaining information on the process of land dispossession and land recovery. We would also like to thank some offi-cials of the town hall in Turceni for their kindness in speaking with us, the anonymous reviewers for their welcomed comments on the previous version of this study, as well as the members of the editorial board of the journal.
Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Forum geografic.
Provided under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License.
Open Access article.
Volume XX |
Environment

Role of media in managing environmental conflicts in Rovinari Thermal Power Plant area, Gorj County, Romania

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Abstract: Thermal power plants currently contribute significantly to global energy production. However, they cause a series of environmental conflicts through pollution and environmental degradation processes. In this context, people, as well as a number of environmental organisations, NGOs, and mainly the media play an important role in managing these conflicts. In this study, we aimed to analyse how the media can contribute to the management of environmental conflicts generated by the Rovinari thermal power plant in Gorj County, Romania. Its impact is highly visible in the village of Rogojel (Farcăşeşti township), which is located in the immediate vicinity of the thermal power plant, owing to the noise produced by the conveyor belts and excavators, as well as the air pollution generated by the coal dust. Residents have submitted a series of complaints to the Environmental Guard, the Government, and the European Commission. As a method of investigating the situation, both local and national media, which have become a real agora where citizens express their dissatisfaction were chosen. Ziare.com was chosen as a news archive, where 20 volunteers read 24 news articles. When asked if the article reflects concerns regarding the environment, a total of 276 affirmative answers were obtained. In addition, when volunteers were asked how much violence and tension does the article convey, a total of 136 responses were obtained for maximum violence and 160 for high violence. The Cronbach Alpha index had values of 0.73 and 0.66 in the first and second cases, respectively. The articles and strong words of the volunteers were analysed using NVivo software to calculate their frequency and the degree of correct results. Currently, the situation is still open to debate, beyond the unlikely solution of relocating the entire locality or closing the thermal power plant.

Keywords: , , , , ,
Full article 10.5775/fg.2021.011.iDates:
Received: 06-02-2021 Accepted: 20-05-2021 Printed: 30-06-2021 Online: 13-09-2021
Affiliations:
  • 1 West University of Timişoara, Department of Geography, B-dul Vasile Pârvan, 4, 300223, Romania
Corresponding author:
  • mircea.voiculescu@e-uvt.ro
Citation:
APA 6 | Harvard 2008 | Turabian 6 | MLA 7
RIS | BibTeX
Acknowledgements: I would like to thank the management of the Târgu-Jiu County Library for providing me with rich journalistic materials. The authors also acknowledge comments from anonymous reviewers for their comments as well as the other members of the editorial board of the journal.
Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Forum geografic.
Provided under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License.
Open Access article.
Volume XIV |
Geomorphology

Snow avalanche tracks mapping within Bâlea glacial valley (the Făgăraș Mountains) using semi-automated detection methods

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Abstract: Mapping of snow avalanche tracks based on topographic maps, aerophotos and field data to achieve inventories for the whole mountaineous areas in Romania is an important step in snow avalanche risk assessment and other related geomorphic processes. This requires experience and it is a time consuming process. In the absence of field data, the process of snow avalanche tracks mapping is influenced by the subjectivity of those who digitize. Thus, we propose a semi-automated method for detection of snow avalanche tracks based mainly on geomorphometric parameters that can be extracted from the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) like slope gradient, plan and profile curvature, mean curvature, runoff.In this study we used an object based analysis to detect snow avalanche tracks in central part of the Făgăraș Mts. This approach has two steps, segmentation and classification. First, we segmented the area based on plan curvature (which is the most important parameter that describes these snow avalanche tracks) in order to obtain objects. In the process of classification we added other conditions such as fuzzy function for slope gradient, thresholds for altitude and runoff and a shape index of objects. The results obtained were very close to the mapped tracks using digitizing techniques. The maps resulted from the classification were compared to the those resulted from digitizing in both number of objects and spatial agreement of the class of objects. There was a very good fit in case of the number of objects and total area of objects. The method could be improved if we apply on high resolution DEMs and also on more case studies with different topography and existing vector database.

Keywords: , , ,
Full article 10.5775/fg.2067-4635.2015.041.dDates:
Received: 20-09-2015 Accepted: 25-11-2015 Printed: 30-12-2015 Online: 06-02-2016
Affiliations:
  • 1 West University of Timişoara, Department of Geography, V. Pîrvan , No. 4, 300223
Corresponding author:
  • florina.ardelean@e-uvt.ro
Citation:
APA 6 | Harvard 2008 | Turabian 6 | MLA 7
RIS | BibTeX
Acknowledgements: This work has been supported by the the strategic grant POSDRU/159/1.5/S/133391, Project “Doctoral and Post-doctoral programs of excellence for highly qualified human resources training for research in the field of Life sciences, Environment and Earth Science” co-financed by the European Social Fund within the Sectorial Operational Program Human Resources Development 2007 – 2013”.
Copyright: © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Forum geografic.
Provided under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License.
Open Access article.
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