Defining the Geographical Boundary between Curvature Carpathians and Subcarpathians. A Multi-Criteria Analysis

Abstract

The geographical boundary or limit outlines the spatial expansion of a specific feature, being a scale dependent notion. In geography, there are different types of boundaries, such as natural and artificial, physical and political, clearly-positioned defined lines or fuzzy and complex belts, determined through traditional methods or quantitative approaches. Clear delineation of the boundary is important for fully reveal and representation of the feature area. The aim of our study is to propose a GISbased multi-criteria analysis in order to define the boundary at fine scale between two landform units: Curvature Carpathians and Subcarpathians placed between Prahova and Teleajen rivers. Various natural and anthropic criteria are selected, reclassified, homogenized and quantified, and then combined and converted into a spatial model providing a qualitative-quantitative integrated approach for boundary delineation. The resulted spatial model is classified in five gradually classes from Subcarpathians to Carpathians, allowing the drawing of boundary at high spatial resolution. This approach represents a good example for landform boundary delimitation and the variables number and type can be adjusted according to the specificity of the study area.

Keywords

• geographical boundary
• multi-criteria approach
• gis
• spatial analysis
• spatial limits delineation