Geography-Geological Department of
Tbilisi State University
Vakhushti Bagrationi Institute of
Geography of Georgian Academy of Sciences
THE INTERNATIONAL ELECTRONIC CONFERENCE
NATURAL POTENTIAL OF THE MOUNTAINOUS
TERRITORIES: SITUATION, PROBLEMS, PROSPECTS
Internet/E-mail
discussion 25.05 – 25.07.2003
THE PRESENT GEOECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS IN GEORGIA AND THE PROBLEMS OF
MITIGATION THE CONSEQUANCES OF DANGEROUS GEOLOGICAL PROCESSES
E.D.Tsereteli 1, Z.K.Tatashidze 2,
O.N.Kutshniashvili 3, N.E.Tsereteli2
1 Department of Geology of Georgia; 21 Mosashvili str., Tbilisi, Georgia
2 Vakhushti Bagrationi Institute of Geography, Georgian Academy of
Sciences, 1/8 Aleksidze str., Tbilisi, Georgia
3 Technical University of Georgia; 77 Kostava str., Tbilisi, Georgia
During the last decade anthropogenic impact on environment in the
territory of Georgia has greatly increased and in many regions the rate of
consumption natural resources considerably surpassed the ability of nature to
restore. As a result there often arise critical geoecological situations not
only in separate components of environment, but in balanced structure of the
whole natural geosystem as well. Even in cases when only one component of
natural landscape is changed, there invariably occur greater or smaller changes
in the whole natural complex.
In Georgia, due to the wide spectra of inhomogeneous and unsteady natural geological components and high dynamism of the most delicate and unstable ecosystems, even the present low rate of development of mountain and piedmont territories unprecedentally disturbs the balance established in nature and. in many regions of the Republic in conditions of great economic load, qualitative and quantitative change in natural geological medium passes the limit when the process becomes uncontrollable and irreversible.
Fig. 1.
Antropogenic landscapes of the Chiatura
manganese region with separate technogene landslides
In view of insufficient substantiation of the projects of engineering economic
development of the territory, there often happen important regional changes and
intensification of geoecological situation up to a critical state. About 60% of the reclaimed lands of Colkhida (more than 40 thousand hectares) need sanitation and recultivation
and 40% of irrigated and inundated land is in conditions of secondary
salinization and marching; as a result the composition, properties and state of
soils is considerably changed. In Mukhrani-Tirifoni artesian basin underground
water level is lifted for
30-50 m,
while in Samgori-Gachiani irrigated region the process of considerable bogging
is observed. In the zone of main drain canals multiple suffusion-subsidence and
landslide manifestations are generated. The volume of the greatest landslide manifestations
(Agaiani, Kaspi, Gachiani, Gomi and others) makes 5-14 mln. m3 [9].
Most of operating water
reservoirs in Georgia is constructed prior to 1960; during this time the zone of their action had undergone
considerable changes, where about 70% of banks became subject to different
manifestations of elemental natural processes. Particularly, after filling up
of the Sioni reservoir to the designed mark (1963) and intensive flooding of the adjacent slopes, an enormous
landslide of 6 km2 in area
and up to 25 mln. m3 in
volume was formed, which resulted in moving off two large villages. In 1962 catastrophic shifting of large landslides
occurred on the Lajanuri and in
1984 - on
the Algeti reservoirs during the very first cycle of water exploitation.
Repeated displacement and stopping of separate landslide blocks were observed
on the Khrami Hydro. At present 70% of the banks of up-land reservoirs of
Georgia with total length of
600 km
are deformed and subject to different manifestations of dangerous geological
processes (DGP) [7].
Due to imperfect substantiation of engineering and geological conditions
almost 30 % of the auto-routes and gas and oil pipelines cross potentially dangerous territories and about 25% is already subject to dangerous exodynamic processes.
Industrial and civil objects have a considerable effect on the changes of all environmental complexes, because of the insufficiency of optimally usable land, designing and construction of industrial units and settlements in unfavorable and complicated engineering and geological conditions. In urban territories anthropogenic exodynamic processes have activated and soil properties changed considerably. Important changes of environment are observed in such big cities and towns of the Republic as: Tbilisi, Rustavi, Kutaisi, Sukhumi, Poti, Batumi, Borjomi and in mining regions – Chiatura (fig 1), Tkibuli, Tkvarcheli, Akhaltsikhe, Marneuli and in the area of Samgori oil field [2,9].
Mining units, the
general number of which in the Republic exceeds 5000, have particularly great effect on the upper zone of
lithosphere. In many deposits the coefficient of technogenic load goes up to 0,7-0,9. In Chiatura mining region, where manganese
deposit has been exploited over
100
years already, total area of man-made relief exceeds 150 km2. Sharp change of natural relief greatly
affected the redistribution of surface run-off and the alteration of
hydrogeological conditions, causing unprecedented occurrence of landslides, downfalls
and other deformations.
Among the problems set forth before modern geoecological science in
Georgia, socio-economic after-effects of DGP, enveloping all branches of
national economy should be attributed to the most urgent ones.
Socio-psychological factors are also very important as they result in mass
migration of people from historical homes. DGP are often accompanied with
deaths, which is the most tragic, e.g. natural calamity after 1987 took over 350 lives.
At present the lands subject to DGP in many regions of the Republic
reached such amount when their development with a view of agriculture or
national economy is impossible without special engineering preparation of the
territory.
Practically the whole fund of agricultural lands, to this or that extent, is subject to different
dangerous geological processes.
During the past decades the tendency of considerable growth of DGP is observed. Thus, for example, in 1968 in the Republic there were registered about 5 thousand landslide manifestations; in 1980 - up to 15 thousand; in 1985 - 20 thousand and in 1995 number of landslides affected plots reached 50 thousand. Before 1960 there were registered 208 mudflow hazard basins, in 1970 their number increased to 700; at the beginning 1980ies - to
1000; in 1989 up to 2500 and in 1998 their number reached to 2700.
In the zone of DGP there are 3 mln. hectare lands, about 3 thousand settlements with more than 70 thousands of population. Approximately 12% of agricultural lands is intensively subject to these
processes and is left out of cultivation, while 14% of lands need urgent
sanitation [7,8].
Fig.
3. Huge mudflow channel dividing the village of Mleta into two parts
Annual damage from DGP during the years of their manifestation makes US$ 40-50 mln. while every 3-5 or
8-11
years during extreme activation of DGP it amounts to hundreds of million
dollars. In particular, by approximated calculations direct damage from
landslide processes in 1967-68 made approximately 500 mln. dollars; damage from
mudflow processes in 1977 was more than 200 mln. dollars, in 1982 - US $ 500 mln. and damage from natural calamity of 1987-89 exceeded 1
mld. dollars, and for 1991-1992 years reached
10 mld. dollars [7].
The designs with weakly substantiated aspects showing the active
influence of the man on environment and disregarding the separate components
of natural geosystem and their rehabilitation energy together with excessive technogenic overload
has a great negative effect on activation of geological processes often leading
to considerable change and critical geoecological condition of surroundings.
Notwithstanding that, lithosphere
is the most moderate and steady
subsystem of geographical mantle, in up-land regions, in the presence of
the most active and high-energy geodynamic potentials, its upper coating changes
very rapidly, followed by considerable irreversibility of separate
environmental components [4,6].
In spite of that lithomonitoring is a practical means of rational use and
protection of environment, its purpose, way of
organization, methodological contents
and investigators differently understand functions. Most of them include in
lithomonitoring the observations of the factors of action and physical state of
geological medium, as well as prognosis on its future changes in conditions of
different loads of engineering and economic activity.
Undoubtedly, anthropogenic action upon environment practically in any forms of its manifestation
effects and changes its natural state, which is
unstable dynamically
particularly in mountain
ecosystems.
In our opinion, the function of lithomonitoring should imply
not only the control of geological medium changes caused by anthropogenic
influence, but objective information on natural medium condition and prognosis,
and scientifically substantiated organization of its monitoring as well.
Proceeding from the above said, under lithomonitoring we understand provision of observation systems, control
and prognosis of the changes of geological medium in natural conditions and
under the action of economical activity of man, development of measures on
environment monitoring and protection, supervision of regional schemes and concrete
projects of engineering protection of territories from dangerous geological
processes, estimation of efficiency of carried out measures.
In order to provide organization and functional operation of
lithomonitoring on the territory of Georgia there exists a well prepared
informational base of engineering-geological conditions on different scales and
contents (from 1:200000 - 1:25000 to 1:10000 - 1:2000), and also results of regime
observations embracing practically all natural geological areas of
anthropogenic action [2].
Factors directly affecting the character of dangerous geological processes’
development and the changes of geological medium as a whole are included as
basic components of geological medium into the sphere of lithomonitoring
activity.
The problems connected with functional action of lithomonitoring
combining the most diversified natural geological and economic activities are
very wide and varied. However, due to high infection of the territory of
Georgia with dangerous geological processes, their considerable time-spatial
activation and danger for life and activity of the man, the role of lithomonitoring is the provision with up
to date scientific-technical projects of population and land protection from
DGP hazards, operation and steady development of national economy.
The solution of this problem is achieved by special
engineering-geological investigations carried out within the limits of regional
permanent engineering-geological service (PEGS) organized in 1987 actually enbracing the whole territory of the
Republic and by creation of DGP monitoring system.
The complex of problems solved by introduction of permanent services
comprise:
- determination of
spatial boundaries of development of all DGP and phenomena encountered within
the limits of the observed territory and of the stipulating factors;
- estimation of the
extent of affect of DGP on lands,
populated places and national economy units to DGP, hazard and economic damage
determination;
- methodical supervision
of the regime of DGP development in time and space, variation of geological medium components'
state and properties with consideration of natural as well as anthropogenic
action;
- tp notify the local
governmental bodies about places and scales of developing and activation of the most dangerous elemental geological
processes;
- presentation of
scientifically substantiated recommendations on urgent measures for
liquidation and allaying of possible negative consequences and provision of
steady development of settlements, for decreasing of economic damage in case
of elemental and ecological calamities;
- construction of
engineering-geological maps on 50000- 1
25000 scale, for each administrative region of the Republic of Georgia estimating how much are the territories, populated areas and national
economy units subject to DGP.
- annual renovation of
geodynamic situation maps;
- making the maps of all newly developed or activated processes and
determination of the limits of admissible human load on geological medium;
- presentation of DGP
prognosis with consideration of natural and technogenic action;
- estimation of the
efficiency of the existing nature
protection engineering measures, giving scientifically substantiated,
recommendations on urgent preventive and capital measures for population and
land protection from DGP and supervision of their realization;
-
working out standard documents on substantiation of
complex schemes of engineering protection of territories and on improvement of
the forms of up-land agriculture management.
REFERENCES
1. Geoecological foundations of territorial design and
planning. Moscow, "Nauka", 1989, 140 pp.
2. Gogitidze I.K.,
Kharatishvili L.A. and Tsereteli E.D. Problems of optimization of rational use and
protection of geological medium of Georgia, Materials of I Republican
Conference dedicated to 70-th. anniversary of Tbilisi State University
(geography, geology, geophysics) Tbilisi, 1986, pp. 142-145.
3. Epishin V.K. and
Trofimov V.G. Lithomonitoring - a system of geological medium control and management. In:
Theoretical foundations of engineering geology. Socio-economical aspects. Moscow,
"Nedra",1985, 260 pp.
4. Kotlov P.V. Change of geological
environment under man activity. Moscow,
"Nedra", 1978, 260 pp.
5. Methods of study and
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"Nedra", 1988, 215 pp.
6. Sergeev E.M. Protection and rational
use of geological medium. In: Engineering geology and geological medium, MGK, XXVIII session, reports of Soviet
geologists, Moscow, 1989, pp. 3-10.
7. Tatashidze Z.K., Tsereteli E.D., Khazaradze P.D. Elemental natural processes. In: Geography of Georgia, part 1, "Metsniereba", Tbilisi: 2000, pp. 69-90.
8. Tatashidze Z.K., Bondyrev I.V., Tsereteli E.D. Some problems of geoecology in mountain regions of Georgia // Geoecology, 2002, N3. pp. 249-259
9. Chkheidze D.V., Tsereteli E.D.
and Varazashvili L.I. Rational use of geological medium in mountain
regions (on example of Georgia). In: Engineering geology and geological medium,
MGK, XXVIII session, reports of soviet geologists, Moscow, 1989, pp. 78-86.
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