Water Resources from Apuseni Mountains—Major Coordinates

Abstract

The strong precipitation and cool climate render the Apuseni Mountains a real “water castle” with a complex, radial development of the river network. The density of the river network has an average value between 0.6 and 1.0 km/km2, higher than the values found in the Eastern and Southern Carpathians; a deviation from these values occurs in the karstic areas where the surface drainage is replaced by an underground one: 0.4–0.5 km/km2 in the Pădurea Craiului Mountains, Vaşcău Plateau and Trascău Mountains (Pascu 1983). The hydrographic network is a result of the climate; therefore, the quantitative precipitation differences between the two slopes of the Apuseni Mountains are also manifested in the specific average flow rate: 20–40 l/s km2 on the west side of the Apuseni Mountains and 10–20 1/s km2 on the eastern side. According to this parameter, the entire mountain region is among the country’s water-surplus areas. The areas with moderate water resources belong to the peripheral and depression areas, with values of 5–10 l/s km2. The water resources evaluation is done by analyzing the hydrological regime, respectively by establishing the water balance and calculating the aridity index, rated for Romania by I. Ujvari, since 1972. The introductory chapter presents aspects related to the general organization of the available water resources, followed by an assessment of the factors determining the water flow. The observations related to the water flow parameters were analyzed in the third part of the study, including details about the parameters of liquid flow.