RESEARCH OF CHANNEL PROCESSES ON RICHKA RIVER (BLACK CHEREMOSH BASIN)

Abstract

In the article is devoted to the problem of studying channel processes on small mountain rivers of the Ukrainian Carpathians, where there are no regular observations. It is the lack of a monitoring system on such water bodies that is the main reason for the insufficient level of their study and presentation in literary sources on riverbed science. As is known, channel processes are a phenomenon based on the constant interaction of water flows (rivers) and the land surface. And the lack of real opportunities to assess the hydrological regime of the water body due to lack of information from observations, immediately negates the prospects for the study of channel processes at this site, as the only active component of the flow-channel system. But such preconditions, although a significant obstacle, cannot stop a true specialists in the fluvial processes, and the first step in filling in the gaps in the lack of information on any water body is field research to pre-gather the primary starting information. That is why, in September 2021, the author made an expedition to the river basin, followed by a survey of its course and the channels of its two hydrographic tributaries of the Chorna Richka and Bila Richka, the results of which are presented in this article. Before leaving, a preliminary assessment of the factors of channel formation for the rivers of the studied basin was carried out, which was based on the allocation of HVB (homogeneous areas of the valley bottoms) as the main limiting factor for the channel formation zone. This approach has already been tested by the author for the Upper Prut basin. The results of field research included descriptions, visual observations and measurement work at key points, on the basis of which cross-sections were constructed and channel processes were typified. At one point of the Chorna Richka river, it was possible to determine the particle size distribution of sediments and the average diameter by photogrammetric method. Based on the obtained results, the predominant types of channels according to the morphodynamic classification of R.S. Chalov, in the studied river basin, are: sculptural (to a greater extent) channels and channels with undeveloped alluvial forms. Key words: channel processes; morphodynamic classification; channel types; small mountain rivers; transverse profile.