Chapter
14    

Valentina I. Kravtsova and Elena G. Myalo

Geography Department
Moscow State University
Moscow, Russia

Abstract

A series of satellite images taken from 1975 to 1994 provides the opportunity to investigate impacts of sea-level rise and trends of change in the terrain and vegetation of the coastal zone of the northern Caspian Sea. Over this 20 year period, the 2-m rise of sea-level has caused noticeable changes: flooding of the shores, erosion of beach ridges, and a decrease in areas of submergent vegetation. Dynamic elements of coastal vegetation consist of alternating strips of reed, annual saline vegetation, and meadow-solonchak vegetation with tamarisk (Tamarix ramosissima) increasing landward. New vegetation strips have grown up when the old ones die off. Thus, the transgression of the sea has created a return to initial stages of ecological succession in the coastal plain.

Citation for the published article

Kravtsova, V. I., and E. G. Myalo, 2000. Changes in coastal vegetation in the northern Caspian region during sea-level rise, in Dynamic Earth Environments: Remote Sensing Observations from Shuttle-Mir Missions (K. P. Lulla and L. V. Dessinov, eds.), John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp. 181-190.

Links to Color Images

	Figure 14.1 Area of investigation, northern coast of the Caspian Sea.
	Figure 14.2 Portion of the northern Caspian coastal zone between the Volga and Ural deltas in satellite imagery: from the Salyut 4 orbital station, 1975; from the Salyut 7 orbital station, 1982; from the Kosmos satellite, 1984; from the Kosmos satellite, 1986.
	Figure 14.3 Caspian Sea northern coast on an image mosaic created from Landsat satellite images, 1992 (original in color). Box A denotes the area shown in greater detail in the lower half of the figure. Box B denotes the area of the Space Shuttle photograph STS064-101-25 shown in Figure 11.4.
	Figure 14.4 Photomosaic of the northern Caspian shore, extending from the study area toward the Ural delta, September 1994 (NASA photographs STS064-101-25, 26, and 27). The former coastline appears as bands of vegetation offshore; the shape of the new coastline close to the Ural is dominated by dams and levees.

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