Behind the scenes of the struggle between rock control and tectonic forces - reading the geologic past through morphometric analysis of valley network

The Stołowe Mountains in the Sudetes are an area of ​​complex structure, located at the junction of three tectonic units, the boundaries of which show contemporary activity within the study area. While the escape of surface waters into the Stołowe Mountains massif along deep fractures of bedrock associated with the presence of fault zones was already recognised in the 1980s, only in recent years more attention has been paid to the geomorphological effects of this phenomenon.

This study aimed to quantitatively characterize the drainage network of the study area by: (1) Objective delimitation of individual valleys, including valleys in various stages of development and located in areas with different lithology, carried out using hydrological modeling tools, based on a high-resolution DTM. The result, in the form of a vector model of the valley network, became the input data for the subsequent stages of the research plan implementation; (2) Quantitative characterization of the catchment area of ​​the Stołowe Mountains as the basic reference areas in the studies on the heterogeneity, conditions, and development of the drainage network, using indicators related to the shape, asymmetry, and slope of the catchment area and the density of the valley network; (3) Identification of areas most dissected due to increased erosion, using the cluster analysis method, based on multifactorial, geomorphometric characteristics of the entire study area; (4) Indication of the main drainage directions in relation to a) the entire study area, b) main lithological units, c) catchments, d) main drainage areas, e) morphogenetic domains, and f) zones of increased erosion.

The driving force of the geomorphic processes of the valley-slope systems in the studied area is the destabilization of the balance between erosion forces and uplift. That imbalance is expressed by drainage divide migration. The progress of local disequilibrium reduction is recorded in the geometric features of individual valleys.

The study reveals that the valley network of the Stołowe Mountains was created by the interaction of surface and subsurface processes of varying intensity. The genetic diversity of valley forms is manifested in their specific geomorphometric features.