Reports on Environment and Urban Development for Alaverdy

GEO ALAVERDI: ENVIRONMENT AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

The summer is hot and humid. The relative humidity is rarely below 60%. The cloudy days comprise the largest percent. Fall is mild, with a more humid second half. The fi rst early frosts start in the end of October-beginning of November. The period without frosts is 200-230 days. The highest temperature was recorded in July by +30, +35 օ C, and the lowest in January and February by - 17, -18C օ . The average annual precipitation (at 721m of altitude) is 551mm. Current physico-geological processes. The area studied is characterized with various physico-geological processes. The most interesting of which are the erosion, denudation, gravity and mud fl ows. Having suf fi cient energy, the River Debed and its tributaries contribute to depth erosion, with regional characteristic depth pro fi les (up to 200m and deeper) re fl ected by erosion. By sawing the rock layers, they partially create sediments of shifted and removed splinters. The denudation processes, developed on the slopes in the valleys of Debed and its tributaries are quite powerful. The mountain ridges covered by signi fi cantly cracked and broken rocks, as well as the hydrothermal and methasomatic areas are subject to powerful denudation 1 . Due to the erosional-denudational processes, the area has gained a fractured landscape, with abruptly descending and steep ridges, gorges and deep V-form valleys. The colluvium-landslide 2 processes are more developed on the gorge slopes and lowlands by Sanahin. Mainly two areas are separated here: Sanahinmonastery and the new village, differentiated by rocky tops. Besides the active landslides, those ridges are completely located on sliding sands and belong to respective zones. The mud fl ow processes are widely spread in the area studied. During the fl ood rains, large quantities of sludge and upper soil layers are washed into the river. Control dams with a number of runoff culverts through them currently protect more active mud fl ow gorges.

1 Denudation is an exposure of rock by the erosion of the layers above . 2 Colluvium is a mixture of rock fragments from the bases of cliffs.

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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION. KEY PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ALAVERDI CITY

Environmental Knowledge for Change