SAND DUNES ALONG THE BULGARIAN BLACK SEA COAST

The main goal of the present study was to develop an inventory of the sand dunes along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast in an attempt to identify dune locations and distribution, as well as to describe various types, their genesis and current morphodynamical state. For this purpose an indicative GIS-based map of sand dune locations along the coast was produced using a data derived from 1:25 000 scale topographic maps and filed observations/surveys. Thus, an initial GIS database for sand dune fields situated at the Bulgarian coast has been provided and this could be further easily updated with new coastal data and spatial information. Based on the results obtained from the study and the produced GIS map about 20 locations of different types of dune fields were identified around the Bulgarian coast: some at the northern part, partially at the middle one, but the numerous dune complexes exist along the southern coastline. In the near past sand dune formations were widely distributed around the coast, however, at present the remaining dune landscape comprises only 10% of the entire coastline and it is continuing to decrease. Although sand dunes are unique priority habitats and protected sites they are presently under increasing pressure and overuse due to constantly growing population and expanded human activities in the coastal zone of Bulgaria. In the context of current problems there is an increased demand to inventory the coastal dune systems and to identify those areas most sensitive to natural hazards and human impacts. Thereby, preservation and proper management of the sand dunes first require understanding their behaviour and identifying the major factors responsible for dune degradation.