PADIŞ - A GEOMORPHOMETRIC APPROACH

This study presents a unitary morphometric analysis for one of the most spectacular karst sectors in Romania: the closed basin Padiș – Cetățile Ponorului. 2 DEMs was used for this purpose, one derived from the interpolation of level curves and altimetry quotas from topographic maps, on scale 1 : 25000, and the second (generated from LiDAR data) was taken over from the National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration (ANCPI). We have processed 6 morphometric parameters comparatively (hypsometry, slope, aspect and 3 types of curvatures : profil, plan and general curvature) to highlight the metric features of the relief in the studied area as accurately as possible. The results show that the surface relief in Padiș is mature, with an average altitude of 1268 m, in which prevail the slopes with moderate tilt (6 - 17), predominantly sunny and semi-sunny. The relation between the general curvature values and the hydrogeologic features of the area explains the distribution of the sectors with underground water loss and also the disorganized distribution of the surface hydrographic network.