Home – Home – Jornals – Geography and Natural Resources 2024 number 2

Global warming leads to an increase in the intensity of glacier melting, which affects the flow and mineralization of river water. However, these issues concerning small mountain rivers have been little studied. A study is made of the current state of the hydrological and hydrochemical characteristics of the rivers on the northern slope of the central part of the Greater Caucasus (Terek, Malka, Baksan, Cherek Balkarsky, Cherek Khulamsky, Chegem, Nalchik, and Kurkuzhin). We examine changes in the magnitude of mineralization of the main rivers within the Terek basin. The relationship between salinity and water discharge is studied. The rivers with floods during a warm period of the year are characterized by a close relationship between these characteristics (the coefficient of determination is 0.8-0.9), which makes it possible to determine river flow based on the relationship between flow and salinity. The Nalchik and Kurkuzhin Rivers, which are not fed by glaciers, are characterized by low values of the coefficient of determination: 0,4 and 0,2, respectively. A comparative analysis is made of the results we obtained for the years 2021 and 2022 with published data on the mineralization of the rivers for an earlier period (1958-1959). It was found that to date, the mineralization of rivers during low-water and high-water periods decreased on average by a factor of 1,5 and 1,8, respectively. Average long-term water flows of the rivers within the Terek basin in 2000-2022 increased by 2-9 m³/s when compared to the indicators of 1925-2013.