Search

Search Results

• Possible reduction of environmental impacts of geothermal energy extraction in a theoritical spa

  68-75

  Tamás Buday

  Views:

  168

  Sustainable thermal water production involves the protection of the used reservoirs, as well as the minimizing of the environmental impact (caused by heat, gas and dissolved solid). Four water extraction models are discussed in which the water and heat demand of the theoretical spa are supplied using different sources. The most environmental friendly variation contains three wells with different depths of screening. In this case the dissolved gas and solid content became the lowest, as well as the radius of influence based on drawdown calculations. Beyond the environmental impact the owner have to consider other economic aspects, such as the number of wells, the possibility of independence from gas services, which force the owner to choose not the most environment friendly way. Optimizing the various factors, thermal water extraction for medical and wellness purposes could be feasible and appropriate for sustainable operation.

• Boundless settlements – tendencies and future of urban sprawl in the agglomeration of Budapest

  75-88

  Zsuzsanna Illyés

  Éva Pádárné Török

  László Nádasy

  Zsófia Földi

  Vilja Vaszócsik

  Eszter Kató

  Views:

  408

  The Budapest agglomeration is a rapidly changing environment. Urban sprawl has been a prominent process in municipalities around the Hungarian capital, and its pace has significantly increased since the change of regimes. In our paper, we analyse the tendencies of urban development, the role of territorial protection and the types of land use mostly threatened by urban sprawl in two study areas within the Budapest agglomeration. A significant part of the Northern study area – located on Szentendre Island – is under territorial protection, while the Southern study area – located on Csepel Island – has a considerably lower amount of protected areas. We found that the settlements of the Northern study area have been expanding at a much slower pace than their Southern counterparts, where in the absence of effective restrictions, extensive areas – mostly former agricultural fields – have been converted into built-up areas. In addition, the Spatial Plan of the agglomeration allows the same tendencies to continue in both areas in the future as well.

• Heavy metal content of flood sediments and plants near the River Tisza

  120-131

  Szilárd Szabó

  József Posta

  Gyöngyi Gosztonyi

  Ilona Mészáros

  József Prokisch

  Views:

  177

  The River Tisza is Hungary’s especially important river. It is significant not only because of the source of energy and the value insured by water (hydraulical power, shipping route, stock of fish, aquatic environment etc.) but the active floodplain between levees as well. Ploughlands, orchards, pastures, forests and oxbow lakes can be found here. They play a significant role in the life of the people living near the river and depend considerably on the quality of the sediments settled by the river. Several sources of pollution can be found in the catchment area of the River Tisza and some of them significantly contribute to the pollution of the river and its active floodplain. In this paper we study the concentration of zinc, copper, nickel and cobalt in sediments settled in the active floodplain and the ratio of these metals taken up by plants. Furthermore, our aim was to study the vertical distribution of these elements by the examination of soil profiles. The metal content of the studied area does not exceed the critical contamination level, except in the case of nickel, and the ratio of metals taken up by plants does not endanger the living organisms. The vertical distribution of metals in the soil is heterogeneous, depending on the ratio of pollution coming from abroad and the quality of flood.