The mining landscape of the Ostrava-Karviná coalfield: Processes of landscape change from the 1830s to the beginning of the 21st century

The paper is focused on identifying and evaluation of the processes in the cadastral areas forming a large part of the Ostrava-Karviná coalfield in the Czech Republic. Seven basic processes, that reflect the trends in the landscape changes in the area of interest, are traced at three levels: across the entire study area, on the level of three smaller parts of the coalfield, and in more detail on the level of individual cadastral areas. The most frequently occurring processes (urbanization and abandonment in each period; deforestation, intensification of agriculture and afforestation in one period) are described in more details. The research was based on the evaluation of temporal-spatial land cover changes over a long period of time, from the 1830s to the beginning of the 21st century. The multitemporal analysis of land cover in the study area was based on stable cadastral maps, historical aerial photographs and orthophotos.