3.1.4. Danube river systematics

The Danube River Basin is one of the highest risk areas of Europe. The environment of this river basin, which itself is subject to significant natural hazards such as earthquakes and flooding, is increasingly stressed owing to human activities. Modernization and intensification of agricultural practices at local, regional and transnational levels, as well as waste disposal, cause soil, water and air pollution, and thus lead to a serious deterioration of environmental conditions, particularly in the active Black Sea sink. Process-level studies are required to improve our understanding of mechanisms that determine the present-day sediment supply to this basin and its ongoing changes. An integrated and strategic management of interdisciplinary research activities is crucial for the sustainable development of regional natural resources. Key areas of the carrier system in the Pannonian-Carpathian domain are the Danube gorges in the South Carpathians (e.g. Clauzon et al., 2005) (Fig. 34), catchment barriers in Transdanubia (Ruszkiczay-Rudiger et al., 2005) (Fig. 35) and the Danube Delta interaction point with the active Black Sea sink (e.g. Ballard et al., 2000; Panin, 2003) (Fig. 36), which is characterized by large lateral wetland variations and mobility in response to active geo-processes (Popescu et al., 2001). In this context, quantitative analysis of the sediment budget and quantification of flooding hazards inherent to a dynamic fluvial system are of greatest importance. This can be resolved by mapping the architecture, facies development and thickness of Pliocene to Quaternary deposits on the basis of available reflection seismic lines, and by carrying out quantitative subsidence analyses, with emphasis on Holocene eustatically induced shoreline variations (e.g. Wong et al., 1994).