Studies of natural hazards in Kalmykia and the Caucasian forelands using aerial and space photoes

Abstract

The paper discusses possibilities to identify some natural hazards from images on topographic maps and aerial photoes. Particular meso- and micro-Iandforms produce characteristic pattern which indicate such phenomena as potential subsidence in loess, sheet and rill erosion, salinization of soils, suffusion, karst and some others. Some quantitative characteristics of dangerous processes which are important from the practical point of view may be obtained on the basis of the found functional relationships between quantitative indices of landscape pattern and the geodynamic conditions of key sites.