Land cover and land use change in karst region Devetashko plateau

The Corine Land Cover (CLC) is a digital data about land cover which is distributed into 44 classes whereas for the territory of Bulgaria the CLC classes are 36. The minimal mapping unit is 25 hectares (for 2D objects and 100 m for linear objects). Data sets for the years 1990, 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018 are available, as well as for the changes which have occurred between each couple of years (1990–2000, 2000–2006, 2006–2012, and 2012–2018). The great data sets provide to track over a nearly 30-year period of land cover changes in model karst regions which are strongly vulnerable to anthropogenic and natural influences. This paper considers the changes in the land cover types on the Devetashko plateau – a typical karst plateau in North Bulgaria. Land cover and land use changes affect directly the processes of modern karst-genesis, the soil-vegetation cover, the quantity and quality of underground karst waters.