National Atlas of Hungary

2. Natural environment

4. Economy

National Atlas of Hungary
Volume 2 – Natural environment

Károly Kocsis (Editor-in-Chief) 2018. National Atlas of Hungary – Natural environment. Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Geographical Institute, Budapest.

The National Atlas of Hungary (MNA) was published first in 1967, then in 1989. The new edition of the Atlas in four volumes in Hungarian and also in English wishes to present the dynamic spatial structure of nature, society and the economy not merely for Hungary, but wherever the required data are available, for the Carpatho–Pannonian Area. In favour of keeping relations with the broader public and meeting the requirements of the time, the Atlas – in addition to its impressive printed form – will be published also in digital version (e-MNA) in Hungarian and English (www.nationalatlas.hu).

A national atlas is the given country’s ’identity card,’ one of its most significant national symbols in addition to its flag, coat of arms and national anthem. It is usually a series of maps complemented with textual explanations and various illustrations, which show the given state’s natural, economic and social features through logically and proportionally constructed maps using a well-defined scale and fairly uniform cartographic iconography.

The volumes of the new Hungarian National Atlas are headed by an introduction to Hungary’s natural environment. On the one hand, this publication gives an overview of the state of the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere, as well as of the biosphere in Hungary. On the other hand, there are synthetic chapters and topics that analyse how the natural and human environments are interconnected and how they interact (e.g. landscapes, environment protection, nature conservation, and natural hazards). Leafing through the thematic maps grouped together, we are informed about such diverse themes as engineering geology, earthquakes, expected changes in the elements of the climate, weather records, groundwaters, karstic, mineral, medicinal and thermal waters, the main features of soils, land quality, types and characters of landscapes, Hungary’s amazingly rich flora and fauna, the current state of the environment and waste management, protected areas, ecotourism, and the country’s main natural hazards, namely floods, excess waters, droughts, soil erosion, the spread of invasive species and pollen allergies.

On behalf of the several hundred contributors, let us express our hope that our esteemed readers inside and outside the national borders will enjoy the pleasures and benefits of browsing the printed book (despite its large size) or reading its digital version on the Atlas webpage. We trust that it will assist in getting to know the natural environment of Hungary and the Carpatho– Pannonian Area, its present state and the processes that shape it, which our contemporary society cannot ignore.

Bibliographic information

Károly Kocsis (Editor-in-Chief) 2018. National Atlas of Hungary – Natural environment. Budapest, MTA CSFK Geographical Institute. 183 p.

ISBN 978-963-9545-56-4 (volume)
ISBN 978-963-9545-55-7ö (whole set of volumes)

The book is under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) international license.

How to cite?

Cite the whole book:

Kocsis, K. (Editor-in-Chief) 2018. National Atlas of Hungary – Natural environment. Budapest, MTA CSFK Geographical Institute. 183 p.
Cite a chapter (sample):

Gábris, Gy., Pécsi, M., Schweitzer, F., Telbisz, T. 2018. Relief. In: Kocsis, K. (Editor-in-Chief): National Atlas of Hungary – Natural environment. Budapest, MTA CSFK Geographical Institute. pp. 42-57.

Content

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Author: Károly Kocsis

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Ed. Károly Kocsis
Author: Károly Kocsis
Pages 13-15

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Eds. János Haas, Károly Brezsnyánszky
Authors: János Haas, Károly Brezsnyánszky, Tamás Budai, László Fodor, Nóra Gál, Gizella Gombárné Forgács, László Gyalog, Gábor Katona, Gábor Kovács, Szilvia Kövér, Ferenc Lesták, Annamária Nádor, ♰András Nagymarosy, Péter Prakfalvi, Ágnes Rotárné Szalkai, Péter Scharek, Ferenc Síkhegyi, Gábor Szepessy, Teodóra Szőcs, Ákos Török, József Vatai, Zsuzsanna Vikor, László Zilahi-Sebess
Pages 16-35

Subchapters:
Palaeogeographic conditions and evolution of the Carpatho–Pannonian Area
Engineering geology
geothermal conditions, thermal waters
Underground drinking water sources
    Mineral waters
Mineral raw materials
    Fuels
    Ores
    Non-metallic mineral raw materials
Geology of regions of Hungary
    Alföld (Great Hungarian Plain)
    Kisalföld (Little Hungarian Plain)
    Alpokalja (Eastern Alpine Foreland
    Transdanubian Hills
    Transdanubian Range
    North Hungarian Range

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Ed. Gábor Timár
Authors: Gábor Timár, Tamás Fancsik, Attila Galsa, Péter Mónus, László Tóth
Pages 36-41

Subchapters:
The Carpatho–Pannonian Area and the plate tectonics
Crustal and litospheric thickness
Geomagnetism
Heat flow
Earthquakes
Crustal movements

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Ed. Gyula Gábris
Authors: Gyula Gábris, ♰Márton Pécsi, Ferenc Schweitzer, Tamás Telbisz
Pages 42-57

Subchapters:
Representation of relief on geomorphological maps
Relief visualization using digital terrain models
Relief visualization and geomorphometric maps
    Slope
    Aspect
    Relative relief
    Terrain types
Geomorphological districts

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Ed. Zita Bihari
Authors: Zita Bihari, György Babolcsai, Judit Bartholy, Zita Ferenczi, ♰Judit Gerhátné Kerényi, László Haszpra, Katalin Homoki-Ujváry, Tamás Kovács, Mónika Lakatos, Ákos Németh, Rita Pongrácz, Mária Putsay, Péter Szabó, Gabriella Szépszó
Pages 58-69

Subchapters:
Methods of statistical climatology
Methods of climate modelling
General characteristics of the climate
    Sunshine duration
    Temperature
    Precipitation
    Snow cover
    Wind
    Relative humidity
Climate regions
Climate extremes
    Weather records
    Heat wave days
    Precipitation extremes
    Effects of extremities on the human body
Remote sensing in climate monitoring
Typical circulation patterns determining the weather

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Ed. György Varga
Authors: György Varga, ♰László Alföldi, Gyula Gábris, Gergely Horváth, Károly Kocsis, Ildikó Lázár, János Maginecz, József Szalai, Miklós Szalay
Pages 70-81

Subchapters:
Surface water volume, water balance
Surface water network
    Rivers
    Lakes
Groundwaters
    Groundwaters
    Deep groundwaters
    Karstic water
    Mineral, medicinal and thermal waters
The Hydrological Monitoring Network

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Ed. László Pásztor
Authors: László Pásztor, Endre Dobos, Erika Michéli, György Várallyay
Pages 82-93

Subchapters:
The role of soil and soil functions
Soil forming factors and processes
Classification and characterization of soils
Spatial characterization of soil mantle and soil mapping
The soils of the Carpathian Basin
The main environmental and economic characteristics of soils

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Eds. Zsolt Molnár, Gergely Király, ♰Gábor Fekete
Authors: Zsolt Molnár, Gergely Király, ♰Gábor Fekete, Réka Aszalós, Zoltán Barina, Dénes Bartha, Marianna Biró, Attila Borhidi, János Bölöni, Bálint Czúcz, János Csiky, István Dancza, Laura Dobor, Edit Farkas, Sándor Farkas, Ferenc Horváth, Balázs Kevey, László Lőkös, Enikő Magyari, Attila Molnár V., Csaba Németh, Beáta Papp, Gyula Pinke, Dávid Schmidt, András Schmotzer, Anna Solt, Pál Sümegi, Ferenc Szmorad, Erzsébet Szurdoki, Viktor Tiborcz, Zoltán Varga, András Vojtkó
Pages 94-103

Subchapters:
Vegetation and flora of the Pannonian region
History of the Pannonian vegetation region since the Würm glacial maximum
Floristic division and floristic elements of Hungary
Endemic species
Regularities, deviations and unique features of the Pannonian vegetation
The current state of flora and its changes over the last centuries
The current state of vegetation and its transformations over past centuries
Impact of agriculture
Vegetation-based natural capital
The regenerative capacity and future prospects of flora and vegetation

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Eds. Zoltán Varga, Mária Szabó
Author: Varga Zoltán
Pages 104-111

Subchapters:
Zoogeographical units and basic concepts
The zoogeographical position of the Carpathian Basin
Endemic taxa and autochthonous evolution in the carpathian Basin
Relict species in the Carpathian Basin
Historical biogeography and phylogeography
Short review of the zoogeographical regionalisation of the Carpathian Basin
Diversity of the fauna of Hungary

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Ed. Péter Csorba
Authors: Péter Csorba, Szilvia Ádám, Zsombor Bartos-Elekes, Teodóra Bata , Ákos Bede-Fazekas, Bálint Czúcz, Péter Csima, Gábor Csüllög, Nándor Fodor, Sándor Frisnyák, Gergely Horváth, Gábor Illés, Gábor Kiss, Károly Kocsis, László Kollányi, Éva Konkoly-Gyuró, Nikolett Lepesi, Dénes Lóczy, Ákos Malatinszky, Gábor Mezősi, Gábor Mikesy, Zsolt Molnár, László Pásztor, Imelda Somodi, Sándor Szegedi, Péter Szilassi, László Tamás, Ágnes Tirászi, Mária Vasvári
Pages 112-129

Subchapters:
Historcal landscape types in the Carpathian Basin from the 11th to the 16th centuries
Landscape typology and landscape character analysis
    Landscape types according to the origin of the surface
    Landscape types according to function
    Landscape types according to land use
    Landscape character analysis
    Landscape character types in the Fertő–Hanság region
Land cover changes
    Causes of land cover change in Hungary
The intensity of landscape transformation by human activity (hemeroby)
Landscape protection
    Legal background to landscape protection in Hungary
    The European landscape Convention and the protection of landscape character
    Landscape protection
Landscape rehabilitation
    Main types of landscape rehabilitation in Hungary
Changing climate - changing landscapes
    Prediction of the vulnerability of vegetation cover due to climate change till 2100
The delineation and hierarchy of geographical landscapes
    Landscape boundaries on old Hungarian maps and landscape mapping of novel approach

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Ed. Attila Kerényi
Authors: Attila Kerényi, Zita Bihari, István Fazekas, László Pásztor, Ágnes Tahy, Zoltán Túri, György Várallyay, Tünde Andrea Zagyva
Pages 130-143

Subchapters:
Effects of our natural conditions on the state of the environment
State and protection of air
    Ambient air pollution
    Emissions of the main air pollutants
    Urban air quality
Water quality
    Surface waters
    Groundwaters
Environmental state and protection of soils
    Influence of human activities on soil deterioration (degradation)processes
    The role of soil database in soil conservation
Waste treatment
    Quantity and composition of waste
    Waste treatment
    Waste management facilities

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Ed. János Tardy
Authors: János Tardy, András Schmidt, István Csepregi, Zita Zsembery
Pages 144-155

Subchapters:
Protected natural areas in Hungary
Protected natural assets
The types of protected natural areas
Natural areas and networks with international designations
The nature conservation significance of the Pannonian biogeographical region and its Natura 2000 network
The conservation status of habitat types and species
Ecotourism, environmental education and awareness-raising in protected areas

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Eds. József Szabó, Ferenc Schweitzer, Gergely Horváth
Authors: József Szabó, Ferenc Schweitzer, Gergely Horváth, Zita Bihari, Szabolcs Czigány, Szabolcs Fábián, Gyula Gábris, Krisztina Iványi, Attila Kerényi, József Lóki, Donát Magyar, Gergely Mányoki, Zsolt Molnár, Gábor Négyesi, László Pásztor, György Pátzay, Ervin Pirkhoffer, Mária Szabó, Árpád Szentiványi, Gergely Szövényi, László Tóth, Orsolya Udvardy, Gábor Varga, György Varga
Pages 156-167

Subchapters:
Natural hazards associated with the litosphere
    Earthquakes
    Mass movements
Atmospheric natural hazards
    Extreme weather events
    Drought
    Wind erosion
    Soil erosion
    Wildfire
Natural hazards related to the hydrosphere
    Floods
    Excess water
Hazards caused by plants and animals
Natural hazards: summary assessment

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