The routine of landform geodiversity map design for the Polish Carpathian Mts.

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to present a method for deriving a map of landform geodiversity in GIS environment. Three maps: a map of landform energy derived from SRTM-3 digital elevation model, a map of landform fragmentation created from geomorphological map and a map of contemporary landform preservation derived from CORINE Land Cover database are processed for the construction of a map of landform geodiversity. The paper presents a workflow for the map compilation procedure. The final map of landform geodiversity is created in the course of spatial analysis in GIS in two steps: first three input maps are combined in an overlay and next the overlay results are reclassified into the map of landform geodiversity with the following descriptions: very high, high, medium, low, and very low landform geodiversity. The study uses GIS to trace the patterns and changes of the natural landscapes and man-made transformations of natural landforms in the Polish Carpathians.