Gábor Timár

The northern scarp of the Pinka flat – situated in the western part of the Pannonian Basin – is largely characterized by landslides and gullies. This area is a transition zone between the uplifting Eastern Alps and the subsiding Little Hungarian Plain. The interaction of the juxtaposed units results in neotectonically induced features, such as unstable slopes, gullies and landslides. These mass movements represented economical and social hazard in the 20th century. Earlier studies of this area (eg. Kecskés, 1968; Szilágyi, 1989) concentrated on regional scale, but the real nature of mass movements is still unclear. Therefore our goal was to study the landslides on smaller scales. This contribution presents an individual landslide (in the vicinity of Olad, outskirt of Szombathely) that has been examined in detail, using different geophysical and geomorphological methods. Field surveys and geomorphological measurements have been achieved several times (from 2006) to have a better view...

We introduced a new evaluation method, the classification of multiple window-size based sinuosity spectrum. If the river is long enough for the analysis, the classification could be as useful, as the sinuosity spectrum, but sometimes it is more straightforward. Furthermore, for the classification, we did not need the main parameters of the river, e.g. the bankfull discharge. Each sinuosity calculation that was performed for a given window size, has been considered as one band (one channel) of a multichannel "image". Then, the sinuosity spectrums became multichannel images are of size 1 X N where N represents the length of the actual river in pixels. Using this multichannel input unsupervised ISOCLASS classification was carried out on these data, using ER Mapper software. The requested number of classes was set to 5. The results of the sinuosity calculations are scalars. Earlier, it was a subjective decision to divide the sinuosity values into the categories (low, medium-lo...

A new evaluation method is proposed to classify the multiple window-size based sinuosity spectrum, in order to minimize the possible human interpretation error. If the river is long enough for the analysis, the classification could be similarly useful as the sinuosity spectrum is, but sometimes it is more straightforward. Furthermore, for the classification, we did not need the main parameters of the river, e.g. the bankfull discharge. The river sinuosity values were studied in the Pannonian Basin in order to reveal neotectonic influence on their abrupt changes. The map sheets of the Second Military Survey of the Habsburg Empire were used to digitize the natural, pre-regulation meandering river thalwegs. 28 rivers were studied, and the connection between the known fault lines and the river sinuosity changes was detected in 36 points, along 26 structural lines. An unsupervised ISOCLASS classification was carried out on these data, and the sinuosity values were divided into 5 classes....

The crustal thickness of the Earth’s crust/mantle boundary beneath central-southwestern Europe is strikingly similar to a meteorological cyclone: the crustal depth pattern forms two steeply dipping, arcuate zones separated by sudden horizontal changes appearing as warm and cold fronts. Considering the two systems analogous, the dynamic behaviour explains several phenomena and fits to plate tectonic reconstructions. Using this analogy, several arcuate systems are recognised as analogues of meteorological fronts termed as geovortices. By studying the geological setting from this point of view, several less understood problems become clear. With further applications of this analogy a number of tectonic situations can be revealed with a previously unavailable accuracy and provides new insights into the arcuate orogens worldwide. This similarity in the arcuate shapes of mountain chains has already attracted the attention of some researchers in the mid-1930’s. Later the idea (hereafter re...

The present watercourse and the relict meander system of the Tisza, the main river of the Great Hungarian Plain, were analyzed to draw conclusions about the vertical movements in the late Quaternary. Since the relief of the study area is extremely low (20 m in 200 km) river meander geometry bears geological information about the relative uplift and subsidence along the rivercourse (Burnett and Schumm, 1983), in addition to the climate influence (Vandenberghe et al.; 1994, Gábris, 1995). The present riverline is mostly a result of the river regulation works carried out in the second part of the 19th century. The last-original, pre-regulation rivercourse was reconstructed by transforming the content of the historical maps to the modern coordinate systems. Sinuosity (Schumm, 1963) sequence with different window lengths was calculated along the original riverline and compared to the Quaternary sediment thickness, to the results of repeated precise levelling (Joó, 1992) and to the known ...

Some sheets of the 1864 topographic map of South Romania were geo‐referred in order to be co‐analyzed with satellite‐based 2006 flood inundation map of the Bechet area (Dolj County, Romania). The rectification was based on the corners of the old map sheets as control points, using the previously gathered metadata (geodetic datum and map projection parameters, map sheet structure and labelling) of the historical cartographic material. The horizontal accuracy of the geo‐reference of the old map was well below the pixel size of the MODIS imagery. The historical map reveals that a considerable part of the croplands along the Danube River was a regularly inundated area and the result gave a hint that an old village was forced to move to a new place after 1864 because of the floods.

Source-to-sink sediment budgets are being intensively studied in fluvial systems. In contrast, sediment budget calculations are very rare for wind-transported material. This may be attributed to the fact that the exact delineation of both source and sink areas in aeolian systems can pose difficulties. In the Pannonian Basin, aeolian action by northwesterly to northerly winds exerted a thorough impact on landscape evolution during the Quaternary, testified among others by yardangs, wind corridors and numerous ventifacts as well as extensive blown sand fields. Wind erosion has been dated to be important since at least 1.5 Ma ago. Considering the sand fraction, the Pleistocene Pannonian Basin seems to be a nearly complete aeolian sedimentary system from source to sink, thus it provides a good opportunity to carry out sediment budget calculations. The largest blown sand accumulation occupies ∼10 000 km2 in the central part of the Pannonian Basin, in the area called Kiskunság, and contai...

Steep, rectilinear slopes are frequently considered as being controlled by structural elements. A number of studies automatically take the linearity of landforms as prove for structural, most frequently fault control. However, this logical but not unequivocal conclusion needs careful verification, because divers geomorphic process alone can also result in straight valley sides, river stretches etc. Structural control on such landforms can be difficult to prove, because of poor outcrop conditions, and the lack of adequate surface and subsurface data sets. It is particularly true for landforms within the Pannonian Basin, central Europe, which offers poor outcrops for both geological and geomorphological analyses, landforms are vegetated and sometimes anthropogenetically modified. Structural control can be derived from either inherited elements or active deformation. In the former case, the controlling structural element was formed somewhat before the time of landscape evolution steps. Di...

The Cassini map series of the 18th century France was geo-referred by other sci-entists several time. Their approach was to define as many control points (GCPs) as possible, to achieve an affordable fit to the modern cartographic products and coordinate systems, however this method claims a huge amount of work during the GCP selection. Here we suggest a different solution. The sheets have their own grid system, which is sup-posed to be a Cassini projection grid, centered at the Observatory of Paris (origin of projec-tion: φ=48d 50m 10s ; λ=2d 20m 13.95s from Greenwich), which is based on a triangulation network (Ancienne Triangulation Francaise; ATF). Instead of an ellipsoid, a spheric base sur-face was used. Length of one degree along a meridian was set to 57,060 toises (cca. 111,213 meters), therefore the radius is 6,372,056 meters. Using the original and modern (WGS84) coordinates of the Paris Observatory, combined with the geoid undulation value of Paris, the datum shift coordin...

The satellite-based inundation maps of the 2006 Danube floods in Romania were fit geometrically to the 1864 topographic map sheets covering the Romanian regions of Oltenia and Muntenia. The old maps were systematically geo-referenced using the data of the original geodetic control and cartographic details; their Cassini-Soldner projection was properly parametrized and completed by the data of the original geodetic datum. The sheets were geo-referred using ground control points only at their four corners, knowing their coordinates in their own projection. The coupled satellite data was provided by the Landsat and MODIS data, all transformed to the modern grid system of Romania. The inundation patterns in the Danube embayments of Ghidici, Bechet and Calara¸si were analyzed on the historical map content layer. The comparison was made in two aspects: (1) how the low floodplain, inundated by the recent big flood was marked in the historical sheets, reflecting its old, almost original env...

ABSTRACT: Wetlands are valuable habitats under considerable threat from human activity. Lake shore wetlands are especially suitable for aerial surveys, and aerial photogrammetry, hyperspectral imaging or airborne laser scanning are the usual methods applied. Lake Balaton is a large shallow lake with wetlands in decline since the 1970's. In August 2010, a full photogrammetric, hyperspectral and ALS survey of the shores of Lake Balaton was completed. This initial report summarizes rationale, methodology, planned processing and ...

The history of geodetic systems used in Italy from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century is complex and, in the past, this has led some researchers to misinterpretations. For this a bibliographic research on geodetic systems used in Italy in this period was executed and explained in the present work. Towards the end of the 19th century, after the unification of the country, the" Ufficio Tecnico del Corpo di Stato Maggiore"(first nucleus of the future IGM) was entrusted to unify the geodetic reference ...

Digitizing and georeferencing of the historical cadastral maps (1856-60) of Hungary Summary: In the historical Hungary, as a part of the Habsburg Empire, the first preserved and systematic cadastral survey was carried out between 1856 and 1859. Interestingly enough, this cadastral mapping, which was called in Hungary as 'Provisional' was sur-veyed simultaneously with the Stable Cadastre in the Austrian regions of the Empire. By the commission of the State Archives of Hungary, the Hungarian company Arcanum Ltd. scanned over 46,000 cadastral sheets of the Provisional Cadastre, mostly covering the pre-sent-day Hungary but also some copies covering parts of the present-day Croatia, Slovakia and Austria. The sheets were rectified by the calculated coordinates at the corner points. With the correct projection and datum parameters, the cadastral mosaic, based on the indi-vidual sheets and the digitized borders of the administrative units, is presented in any modern coordinate syste...

This contribution presents an overview on the societal aspects of active tectonic processes in the Pannonian region. Progress and problems are reported from the field of flood hazard related to ongoing vertical land motions and related surface development. The potential of late-stage reactivation of the Pannonian basin system for the petroleum industry is discussed through the processes of hydrocarbon maturation, migration and trapping. The seismic hazard of nuclear power plants, a topic of major societal concern worldwide, is discussed in the context of seismicity and seismoactive faulting in Central Europe.

The strange orientation of the map of Lazarus (1528) has been a subject of a long debate of Hungarian cartographers in the 20th century. In this map, northeast is up, instead of the normal and traditional orientation where the north is up. It was long ago supposed that this orientation is a result of the local/regional usage of the Ptolemian projection of the world maps of the age of the map construction. If a Ptolemian conic projection is defined in the GIS environment with the parameters of Ф1=0°, Ф2=64°and Λ0=90° (from Greenwich), interestingly enough, the map can be rectified and the resulted image has right angles at its corners and all sides are horizontal or vertical in the Ptolemian coordinate system but not, of course, in the modern ones. The linear rectification errors in this projection are more or less equal to the quadratic ones in fitting to modern coordinate systems eg. to a UTM zone. This suggests that the above projection can be considered at least as a substituting one or even the real projection of the Lazarus map. If we consider this projection as a Ptolemian one, it leads to a more general indication: the Ptolemian projection used also by Lazarus has two standard parallels, the Equator and the Northern Circle, which is more or less the same as the mysterious Parallel of Thule in the maps of Ptolemy. In the map, however, the main directions are rotated by 90°; the grid north points to the original left indicated by the word ’Occidens’ (west), which is considered as an error of the press preparation.

This paper summarizes and overviews the scientific, technical and legal background of the rectifying project of the Habsburg Military Survey sheets at the Hungarian firm Arcanum. Rectified versions of the whole First, Second and Third Surveys are completed, however, till this moment, only the Hungarian part of the First and Second Surveys (in 1:28800 scale) were published together with the full Third Survey (in 1:75000 scale) because of legal issues. The rectification errors are quite high in case of the First Survey; this accuracy fits only for settlement finding applications. Accuracy of the Second Survey is surprisingly good in most parts of the Empire, the maximum error is cca. 200 meters, the same value that characterizes the Third Survey, too. This new, electronic cartographic version of the old map systems offers excellent possibilities to follow the changes of the natural and built environment of Central Europe in the last two and a half centuries.

The Turkish part of the Balkan Peninsula was an area of extensive geodetic surveys between 1854 and 1875. These works were carried out by the Austro-Hungarian authorities, partially in the frame of the International Arc Measurements (International Gradmessung). These activities were made in the present territories of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro, southern Serbia and Kosovo, Bulgaria, southern Romania, Macedonia and also northern Greece. Astronomical points were measured throughout the area, mainly along travel routes of the surveying parties, and then other points, mainly mountain peaks, were determined by triangulation (intersection) from the astronomical points. No geodetic network adjustment was applied to the point sets. Based on these geodetic base point data, 1:75,000 scale maps of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was issued from the 1880s to WWI, as well as local Serbian maps after the independency of the state. The existing geodetic datasets formed the base of the utilization of the Hermannskogel datum in the later Yugoslavia, even the territories that were not part of the Habsburg Empire. For present GIS applications it should be underlined, that the Yugoslav version of the Hermannskogel datum used a different Ferro-Greenwich longitude shift, thus the datum description parameters differ from the ones used in Austria.

Prírodná rezervácia Ostrov Kopáč (k. ú. Podunajské Biskupice), súčasť nedávno zriadenej CHKO Dunajské luhy, bola vyhlásená za štátnu prírodnú rezerváciu v r. 1976. Rezervácia je známa a charakteristická najmä svojou vegetáciou (JURKO 1958; MAGDOLENOVÁ et al. 1980). Hlavným predmetom ochrany sú lesostepné porasty tzv. dunajskej hložiny (Crataegetum danubiale JURKO 1958, dnes Asparago-Crataegetum (JURKO 1958) MUCINA & MAGLOCKÝ 1985).

The cadastral surveys of Budapest started in 1785 with the core of Pest and its surroundings, the eastern part of the twin cities. Other parts (the later discticts) of the city have been surveyed and high-scale maps of them issued in the first part of the 19th century. Systematic surveys were made and cadastral sheet series were compiled in 1871 and 1872, separately in Buda and Pest (the city parts in the western and eastern bank of the Danube). The scale of these sheets were 1:720. The city has been unified in 1873 and shortly after it a unified cadastral series has been issued in 1878, which was the very first map in Hungary in metric system. Overview cadastral maps in scale of 1:5000 have been issued later in 1895, 1908 and 1937, respectively. The early cadastral maps show the near natural watercourse network of Budapest in striking details. The old creeks were later filled and replaced by the artificial city drainage. Natural pools and contemporary lakes were mapped in the plains of Pest and the old water sources were displayed in detail in the Buda Hills. These datasets to be presented in the poster, are important basic data for the urban geologist. Moreover, in some cases, they provide explanations to hydrological „events" occurring in association with the new underground constructions in Budapest.

The area around the Lake Neudsiedlersee (Lake Fertő in Hungarian) was analysed to understand its neotectonic activity and gather possible explanations of the features of the topography and microtopography. The area consists of two, considerably different parts in terms of topography and geomorphology. The western and north-western shores of the lake are connected to the Leitha Mts., a low ridge (its relative height is about 300 meters) that connects the Alpine orogen in the SW with the Carpathians to NE bounded by active strike-slip faulting. In this part of the area, several outcrops were investigated, of which the one at St. Margarethen was systematically measured by multielectric sounding and GPR, and an other one at St. Georgen, north of Eisenstadt, was used for auxiliary data gathering. The eastern and southern shores, belonging to the Pannonian Basin, are mostly flatlands, parts of the Little Hungarian Plain with extremely low relief and no real natural drainage. The small variations of the surface altitude (less than ten meters), referred to as microtopography here, are due to elongated ridges and extremely shallow perennial or temporal playa lakes. In order to understand better the subsurface structure, a multimethod approach has been applied. Geophysical survey methods (vertical electric sounding, land seismics, gravity measurements) were carried out to describe the layer structure of this area, especially a zone, north of Illmitz, connected to interesting elements of microtopography. The identification of microtopographic features were carried out using high resolution digital elevation datasets, derived from Aerial Laser Scannings (ALS). Seismic measurements were carried out also in the lake itself to understand the structural geological settings of the lake bottom to the depth of ca. 50 meters. All of these measurements were made in the framework of a common student fieldwork of the Eötvös University, the University of Leeds and the University of Vienna. Fault lines that can be interpreted active in neotectonic point of view were found below the lake by water seismic. These faults displaced young sediments as well. Similar patterns were found at the outcrop of St. Margarethen near to the western shore of the lake and were followed underground by the geophysics. However, in the eastern shore the geophysics showed no sign of active tectonics in the upper fifty meters of the sediment. Changes in physical characteristics (resistivity, wave propagation velocity) were mapped in 3D and were connected to the ALS microtopographic features. The material of the small elevated zones occurred to be gravel and coarse sand and the basement of this layer was a low-resistivity clay. Previously these structures were interpreted as large-scale deformations bands; this solution is still feasible in the light of the results. A further possible interpretation of this structure is that the topographic undulations are connected to the former alluvial fan of the Paleo-Danube River, sedimented from north. ELTE-Leeds-UniWien Workgroup team: M. Al-Dakheel, H. Al-Nasser, M. Al-Shaks, M. Bolton, D. Cornwall, A. Deák, S. Devlin, M. Diel, Á. Domján, P. Dövényi, J. Elgenes, U. Exner, N. Foks, Z. Hámori, M. Hashim, F. Horváth, L. Jackson, T. Katona, K. Kelevitz, A. Kelly, E. Király, M. Kóbor, G. Kocsis, A. Kovács, G. Kovács, I. Kudó, P. Lőrinczy, E. Marinov, J. Mound, L. Pál, D. Palotás, T. Roome, Zs. Sári, G. Surányi, É. Szántó, V. Szabó, G. Taller, A. Weedon, V. Werovszky

The historical region of Bukovina is one of the most forested areas of Romania. The name itself, beech land, suggest the high wood resources located here. The systematic wood exploitation started in Bukovina during the Austrian rule (1775 - 1918). To fully asses the region's wood potential and to make the exploitation and replantation processes more efficient, the Austrian engineers developed a dedicated mapping system. The result was a series of maps, surveyed for each forest district. In the first editions, we can find maps crafted at different scales (e.g. 1:50 000, 1: 20 000, 1: 25 000). Later on (after 1900), the map sheets scale was standardized to 1: 25 000. Each sheet was accompanied by a register with information regarding the forest parcels. The system was kept after 1918, when Bukovina become a part of Romania. For another 20 years, the forest districts were periodically surveyed and the maps updated. The basemap content also changed during time. For most of the maps, the background was compiled from the Austrian Third Military Survey maps. After the Second World War, the Romanian military maps ("planurile directoare de tragere") were also used. The forest surveys were positioned using the Austrian triangulation network with the closest baseline at Rădăuţi. Considered lost after WWII, an important part of this maps were recently recovered by a fortunate and accidental finding. Such informations are highly valuable for the today forest planners. By careful studying this kind of documents, a modern forest manager can better understand the way forests were managed in the past and the implications of that management in today's forest reality. In order to do that, the maps should be first georeferenced into a known coordinate system of the Third Survey and integrated with recent geospatial datasets using a GIS environment. The paper presents the challenges of finding and applying the right informations regarding the datum and projection used by the Austrian and Romanian forest surveyors, to correctly georeference the maps. A case study, demonstrating the usefulness of such old cartographic informations in understanding the forest landscape evolution is also included. The georeferenced map sheets provide an excellent basis of the paleo-environmental researches. Assessing the changes of the forest cover ratio is important for the analysis of the recent flash flood events at the eastern slopes of the Carpathian Mts.

We present the results of an interdisciplinary structural study on the multiphase tectonic evolution of the Miocene Derecske pull-apart basin located in the north-eastern part of the Pannonian basin system. Our research aims at the reconstruction of the development of a classical pull-apart basin from basin formation through subsequent tectonic reactivation and inversion. A special emphasis is put on the analysis of structures of neotectonic origin and active deformation. Seismic activity related to ongoing tectonic processes effected large areas in the form of destructive earthquakes resulting in major societal threat in this area. Another aim is to provide further constraints on the mechanism of the fault reactivation in an actively inverting sedimentary basin. The area has been investigated with the aid of a set of geophysical and geological data obtained mainly during intense hydrocarbon research. Data include a dense network of reflection seismic profiles, stratigraphic and well log data of over 100 wells, seismo- acoustic data, borehole breakout stress data, digital terrain model, and gravity and magnetic anomaly maps. Seismic sections, well log and seismo-acoustic data established the framework to image the stratigraphic architecture and structural style of the Derecske trough. First-order stratigraphic horizons, such as basement morphology, base of Upper Miocene and Quaternary strata have been mapped and the thickness of related sedimentary packages was determined. The recent horizontal stress directions, derived from breakout analysis, assists to predict the displacement along the pre-existing fault zones. The morphotectonic analysis of digital terrain models helped tracing the link between subsurface tectonic processes and landscape development. Our results show that the rhomboid shape Derecske basin was formed in a transtensional setting in the Early Miocene. Fault activity was concentrated along re-existing thrust faults and nappe boundaries of Cretaceous age. These structures were subsequently reactivated again in Pliocene through Quaternary times as a result of the ongoing inversion of the Pannonian basin. The master faults of the basin are now part of a large-scale shear zone that crosscuts the entire basin system running from the contact zone of the Dinarides and Alps in Slovenia towards the Eastern Carpathians in Romania.

Starting with 1975, the North-West part of the Moldavia Principality was occupied by the Habsburg Monarchy and become known as Duchy of Bukovina. During the 143 years of Austrian rule (1775 - 1918), this territory was the subject of several topographic and cadastral surveys. The paper will focus on the cadastral maps produced under the Stabile cadaster (also known as Franciscan cadastre). In the Habsburg Empire, this cadastral survey was started in 1817, at an order of the Emperor Francis I of Austria, as a base for his land taxation reform. In Bukovina, the land registration system was introduced in 1832. The base maps, known as Katastralmappe or Parzellenplan, were drawn under the 1:2880 scale, using Viennese Klafter (fathom) as length unit (1 Viennese Klafter = 1.89648 meters). Each taxation parish (usually centered on the most important cities/villages) was surveyed and mapped individually. The map sheets were accompanied by several registers (e.g. register of building plots, register of land plots) with informations regarding the cadastral parcels. Today, such documents represent a valuable resource in reconstructing the natural and built environment. The study presents the way this maps can be georeferenced and integrated into modern GIS applications, for precise digitization, spatial analysis and 3D reconstruction. The base of the georeference is the knowledge of the projection and datum parameters of the survey in Bukovina as well as the sheet labeling system.

After the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami of Sumatra, December 2004, several issues have been published mainly in the daily news, describing that the quake has altered the position of the rotation axis and the length of the day as well. Using the database of the rotational parameters published by the IERS (International Earth Rotation and Reference System Service), the background of these statements was analised. From 1957, the IERS publishes daily the LOD (length of the day) by microsecond accuracy, and the position of the actual rotation axis with respect to the IRP (IERS Reference Pole) by 10^-5 arc second (0,3 millimeter) accuracy. These figures are completed by the parameters of the actual precession and nutation models. In the present study only the data of the LOD and the position of the rotation axis were used. On the time series of the position of the axis, the interference of the Chandler and the annual periods is shown. This study is partly a review paper and partly shows a model calculation to support the figures obtained from the literature. The study does not support the sudden variations of the rotation axis position simultaneously with the earthquakes. Using the LOD and axis variation data and the date of the quakes, upper estimations are given to the maximum values of the influence of the earthquakes. These values are maximum 0,1 millisecond in the LOD and maximum 3 millimeters in the axis position. As these figures are very rough estimations, a model computation was carried out, using parameters of a simulated earthquake and its resulted variations to the mass density of the Earth. The result is that this large but simulated quake cause only nanosecond order variation in the LOD data. Studying the effects of the earthquakes to the rotation characteristics, the location of the quakes can be important, as well as the focal mechanism of them. The compressional directions, its angles to and distance from the rotation axis can be of great importance to the variations. These data have been unavaiable for the authors, so it is defines that as a possible continuation direcetion of the present study.

16 of the all 29 channels of the MODIS instrument with 1 square km surface resolution are measuring in the 3.5-15 micron wavelength interval, where the emitted terrestrial radiation is dominating. The regions of 3-5 microns and 8-12 microns are atmospheric windows, where radiation has little interaction with atmospheric gas particles. The amount of emitted radiation of an ideal black body can be calculated using the Planck's function. In the reverse case, measuring the emitted radiation in a certain wavelength region we can calculate the temperature of a black body. An important parameter of this heat transmission system is the soil moisture. Estimating all parameters to a MODIS pixel, such as the aerosol optical depth, land surface temperature, vegetation density (namely the leaf area index) and the soil moisture, we can compile maps of these parameters. Mapping of soil moisture from MODIS data is based in this approach in our method. The research was supported by the Ministry of Informatics and Communication and the Hungarian Space Office projects TP198 and TP277.

The strange orientation of the map of Lazarus (1528) has been a subject of a long debate of Hungarian cartographers in the 20th century. In this map, northeast is up, instead of the normal and traditional orientation where the north is up. It was long ago supposed that this orientation is a result of the local/regional usage of the Ptolemian projection of the world maps of the age of the map construction. If a Ptolemian conic projection is defined in the GIS environment with the parameters of Ф1=0°, Ф2=64°and Λ0=90° (from Greenwich), interestingly enough, the map can be rectified and the resulted image has right angles at its corners and all sides are horizontal or vertical in the Ptolemian coordinate system but not, of course, in the modern ones. The linear rectification errors in this projection are more or less equal to the quadratic ones in fitting to modern coordinate systems eg. to a UTM zone. It implies that the above projection can be considered at least as a substituting one or even the real projection of the Lazarus map. If we consider this projection as a Ptolemian one, it can be deduced that Lazarus used the equidistant conic projection with two standard parallels: the Equator and the Northern Circle, which is more or less the same as the mysterious Parallel of Thule in the maps of Ptolemy. In the map, however, the main directions are rotated by 90°; the grid north points to the original left indicated by the word 'Occidens' (west), which is considered as an error of the press preparation.

The usage of the georeferenced map in GIS applications provides the possibility to apply the geological maps in real-time GPS-navigation. In these tasks, both historical and modern geological maps can be applied. A georeferenced raster file of the geological map can be rendered as a background image in a GPS software on a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). The software shows the actual position provided by the GPS on this background. Thus, the information of the geological map can be interpreted directly on the field at our position. Using this procedure using modern maps, it provides interesting new application for the users. The usage of historical maps is a possible application for the mapping geologists, too. In the present work, we give an algorithm of such an application and tackle the problem of the characteristic errors of this application.

Georeferenced historic maps provide a useful tool to derive geomorphologic landscape elements largely uninfluenced by anthropogenic activity, thus allowing the study of natural changes in the landscape evolution of increasingly densely populated areas. The study area, the Little Hungarian Plain (LHP), is located at the geologically and geomorphologically highly interesting region at the transition between the mountain chains of the Eastern Alps and the Carpathians. The area, as transport route and exchange zone of goods has had its specific importance since the Neolithic times. Consequently, the environment has been subject to human influence, especially since the onset of the industrial age. Geographically the LHP lies in the vicinity of major settlement areas (Vienna, Bratislava, Sopron, Győr) and stretches from the Leithagebirge, a mountainous area in Eastern Austria, to the City of Győr in Western Hungary. The political division of the area into two separate countries occurred after World War I. Thus, historic mapping in the Habsburg Empire and later in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy that was organized and conducted before World War I allows a comprehensive overview of the study area. Map sheets of the 2nd Military Survey of the whole Monarchy were mapped in the time from 1807 to 1873 in the area of the entire Empire (Kretschmer et al., 2004). The Kingdom of Hungary, as part of the Empire was mapped in a homogenous campaign in the time from 1819 - 1869. Beside the increasing human impact the area is characterized by active surface processes. The geologic evolution of the Little Hungarian Plain is dominated by tectonic processes related to the lateral extrusion of the Eastern Alps and the acceleration of northward movement of the Carpathians. Subsidence is accommodated mainly along high- and low angle normal faults with a high vertical movement component. Strike-slip movements at these faults are very rare. Most of these processes have been active also in the Holocene and recent as well. Joó (1992) measured recent vertical crustal movements with values up to -2.2 mm/a in the northern and with -0.6 mm/a in the southern part of the LHP, interpreting this as an evidence for ongoing faulting. The relative vertical movements occur along reactivated Neogene basement structures. This differential subsidence affects the planform of river courses. The channel geometry of the Leitha, Répce, Rábca, Ikva and Wulka rivers running through the study area were extracted from the map sheets of the 2nd Military Survey that record the channel patterns and geomorphologic situation around 1840. The drainage pattern was analysed in order to detect a possible relation between channel geometry and on-going tectonic activity. Calculated indices (e.g. river sinuosity) show surprisingly strong local variations, considering the low relief and lithologic homogeneity of the area.Locations of the pronounced sinuosity variations coincide with projected surface traces of aforementioned Neogene faults, well-known from seismic sections. Neotectonic reactivation of these faults is further indicated by the local earthquake record and geomorphic features. Additional data, such as high-resolution digital elevation models (e.g. ALS DTM data) allow detection of micro-topographic changes at the surface that are probably related to neotectonic features. The combined analysis of information derived from historic maps, geomorphologic analysis and data derived from high-resolution digital elevation models improve the mapping of the faults at the surface. Joó, I. (1992): Recent vertical surface movements in the Carpathian Basin. Tectonophysics 202, 129-134. Kretschmer, I., Dörflinger, J., Wawrick, F. (2004): Österreichische Kartographie. Wiener Schiften zur Geographie und Kartographie - Band 15. Inst. für Geographie und Regionalforschung, Universität Wien, Wien.

In the map sheets of the Second Military Survey of the Habsburg Empire, Lombardia, Parma, Modena and Venice also can be seen (Timár et al., 2006). This area was surveyed between 1818 and 1829. In these map sheets, we can also follow the river Po from Vaccarizza to the delta. This river reach is about 350 km long. This river reach was digitized and sinuosity values were calculated with different window sizes, and displayed in a spectrum-like diagram (sinuosity spectra; after van Balen et al., 2008). At Cremona, a significante sinuosity change were identified. The sinuosity increasing, and we have high sinuosity values. In the summarizing geological map of Italy (Compagnoni and Calluzzo, 2004), at this place, a tectonic line was identified. So probably this fault line invokes the sinuosity change on the river. The vertical movements indicated on the maps are just the opposite like they would be according to the flume experiments of Ouchi (1985). In the case of the Po River at Cremona, the decrease of the channel slope results higher sinuosity. The reason is that the rate of the slope and water discharge is higher than it is required by the self-organized meandering and the river parameters fell to the range of the unorganized meandering (cf. Timár, 2003). Another possible explanation could be that the northern tributary, the Adda River has significant sediment load that lowers the sinuosity of the trunk river at the confluence. Compagnoni, B., Galluzzo, F. (eds., 2004): Geological Map of Italy. Agenzia per la Protezione dell'Ambiente per I Servizi Tecnici - Dipartimento Difesa del Suolo, Servizio Geologico d'Italia, Rome-Florence-Genoa. Map, scale=1:1250000, especially printed for the 32nd International Geological Congress. Ouchi, S. (1985): Response of alluvial rivers to slow active tectonic movement. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 96: 504-515. Timár, G. (2003): Controls on channel sinuosity changes: a case study of the Tisza River, the Great Hungarian Plain. Quaternary Science Reviews 22: 2199-2207. Timár, G., Molnár, G., Székely, B., Biszak, S., Varga, J., Jankó, A. (2006): Digitized maps of the Habsburg Empire - The map sheets of the second military survey and their georeferenced version. Arcanum, Budapest, 59 p. van Balen, R. T., Kasse, C., Moor, J. (2008): Impact of groundwater flow on meandering; example from the Geul river, the Netherlands. Earth Surf. Process. and Landf. 33(13): 2010-2028.

The Great Hungarian Plain (GHP), the central part of the Pannonian Basin, is one of the world’s most developed flatlands. The relief differences remain under 20 meters in the central area of the plain, especially in the wide floodplain of the Tisza River. After the flood control measurements of the river (1846-1930), newly built dykes cut the wider floodplain from the actual narrow floodway. Common knowledge of the historical inundation patterns has been almost lost. To obtain pieces of information about the possible flood extents, usage of high-resolution elevation models is a valuable option, as well as application of rectified historical topographic maps. The best available elevation model of the GHP is based on the vectorized 1:10,000 scale topographic maps of the Institute of Geodesy, Cartography and Remote Sensing of Hungary (FÃ-MI). The base contour interval is 1 meter but according to the very flat characteristics of the area, halving contours are commonly used. This contour density is definitely needed to get better elevaition models than the one of the SRTM, which shows only the general features of the flatland with remarkable errors at the forests. Historical topographic datasets, such as the ones compiled directly for the water control measures (triangulation: 1833-34; mapping until 1842 by Sámuel Lányi), as well as the First (1783-86) and Second (1857-61) Military Surveys can be rectified easiliy after understanding their geodetic basis. They show in surprising precisity the fine vertical structure of the river terraces and the historical inundation levels. These cartographic elements are of great value also for the necessary re-assessment of the flood control system.

The Institute of Military Geography in Vienna has completed the mapping of central Europe in the scale of 1:200,000 in the first decade of the 20th century. The map sheets cover a one degree (latitude) by one degree (longitude) extent piece of the terrain, that's why these sheets are referred to as 'degree maps'. The longitude is shown with respect to the Ferro prime meridian. The integer degree lines are the horizontal and vertical central lines of the sheets. The map sheets has no uniform projections, not even inside one sheet. The basic units of these maps were the 1:75,000 scale sheets of the cartography of the Habsburg Monarchy, each covering a half degree (longitude) by quarter degree (latitude) piece of terrain. Each 1:75,000 sheets have their own oblique Stereographic projection, with the projection centre at the geometric centre of the sheet. The set of these Stereographic systems is called Lichtenstern-type polyedric projection system. Each degree maps contains eight of the 1:75,000 sheets, without reprojection but simply drawn them in an approximate mosaic. Thus, the exact method of the georeference would be to cut these degree maps into eight pieces along the borders of the 1:75,000 sheets and rectify them separately in their own Stereographic systems. As it raises a huge work, we suggest to define substituting projections. Namely, a sinusoidal projection for each degree column should be defined with a projection center at the crossing of the central meridian and the Equator. The degree maps can be rectified using their corners as control points in the respective sinusoidal projection. After the rectification, we can crop the map content of the sheets and reproject them to any selected projection to make a real map mosaic. Using the georeference, we can provide combinations of these sheets and the modern databases or elevation models.

In the historical Hungary, as a part of the Habsburg Empire, the first preserved and systematic cadastral survey was carried out between 1856 and 1859. Interestingly enough, this cadastral mapping, which was called in Hungary as 'Provisional' was surveyed simultaneously with the Stable Cadastre in the Austrian regions of the Empire. By the commission of the State Archives of Hungary, the Hungarian company Arcanum Ltd. scanned over 46,000 cadastral sheets of the Provisional Cadastre, mostly covering the present-day Hungary but also some copies covering parts of the present-day Croatia, Slovakia and Austria. The base ellipsoid was the Zach-Oriani hybrid (a=6376130 m; f=1/310). The fundamental point of the geodetic datum was the eastern pillar of the later destroyed astronomical observatory on the Gellérthegy, Budapest and the abridging Molodensky parameters from this datum to WGS84 are: dX=+1763 m; dY=+282 m; dZ=+568 m. The Cassini projection can be used for GIS integration with a projection center at the Gellérthegy with longitude=19d 3m 5.55s east of Greenwich; latitude=49d 29m 15.97s. The sheets were rectified by the calculated coordinates at the corner points. With the above given projection and datum parameters, the cadastral mosaic, based on the individual sheets and the digitized borders of the administrative units, is presented in any modern coordinate systems in GIS. Using this feature, the product is published as a DVD series by old counties as well as the distribution in the Internet.

The Second Military Survey was carried out between 1806 and 1869 in the continuously changing territory of the Habsburg Empire. More than 4000 tiles of the 1:28,800 scale survey sheets cover the Empire, which was the second in territorial extents in Europe after Russia. In the terms of the cartography, the Empire has been divided into eight zones; each zones had its own Cassini-type projection with a center at a geodetically defined fundamental point. The points were the following: - Wien-Stephansdom (valid for Lower and Upper Austria, Hungary, Dalmacy, Moravia and Vorarlberg; latitude=48,20910N; longitude=16,37655E on local datum). - Gusterberg (valid for Bohemia; latitude=48,03903N; longitude=14,13976E). - Schöcklberg (valid for Styria; latitude=47,19899N; longitude=15,46902E). - Krimberg (valid for Illyria and Coastal Land; latitude=45,92903N; longitude=14,47423E). - Löwenberg (valid for Galizia and Bukovina; latitude=49,84889N; longitude=24,04639E). - Hermannstadt (valid for Transylvania; latitude=45,84031N; longitude=24,11297). - Ivanić (valid for Croatia; latitude=45,73924N; longitude=16,42309). - Milano, Duomo San Salvatore (valid for Lombardy, Venezia, Parma and Modena; latitude=45,45944N; longitude=9,18757E) - a simulated fundametal point for Tyrol and Salzburg, several hundred miles north of the territories. The poster shows systematically the fundamental points, their topographic settings and the present situation of the geodetic point sites.

Summary: The sheets of the Danube Mappation were surveyed between 1823 and 1845, leading by the Management of Water and Construction. The leader-engineers were Mátyás Huszár, Pál Vásárhelyi and finally Ottó Ferenc Hieronymi. It shows the Danube River and its riverside very accurately from Dévény (now Devín in Slovakia) to Pétervárad (now Petrovaradin in Serbia).

A 2003 vége óta hozzáférhető SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) magassági adatbázist a belső-kárpáti vulkáni vonulat két tagjának: a késő miocén–negyedidőszaki Kelemen (Călimani)–Görgényi (Gurghiu)–Hargita (Harghita) tűzhányólánc (KGH) és a késő miocén korú Eperjes-Tokaji avagy Szalánci (Slánské)–Tokaji hegység (ST) térfogatszámításához használtuk fel.

Summary: In the historical Hungary, as a part of the Habsburg Empire, the first preserved and systematic cadastral survey was carried out between 1856 and 1859. Interestingly enough, this cadastral mapping, which was called in Hungary as' Provisional'was surveyed simultaneously with the Stable Cadastre in the Austrian regions of the Empire. By the commission of the State Archives of Hungary, the Hungarian company Arcanum Ltd.

The Little Hungarian Plain is situated at the western margin of the Pannonian Basin and can be divided into two geomorphologically distinct parts: the Gyor Basin to the North and the Marcal Basin to the South. In the northwestern area of the Little Hungarian Plain the Variscan, weakly metamorphic basement is directly overlain by Miocene and Pannonian marine sediments in the northwestern area of the Little Hungarian Plain.

The area of the eastern embayment of the Lake Balaton, Hungary is a very interesting region for several reasons. The lake itself is a very young feature: the earliest lake sediments are dated as young as ca. 15,000 years old, while the underlying strata are of Pannonian (Late Miocene) age separated by a complex shaped unconformity suggesting considerable erosional gap in the sedimentary sequence. Next to the lake Post-Pannonian volcanic tuffs can be found, showing the complex Quaternary evolution of the area.

The crustal thickness of the Earth's crust/mantle boundary beneath centralsouthwestern Europe is strikingly similar to a meteorological cyclone: the crustal depth pattern forms two steeply dipping, arcuate zones separated by sudden horizontal changes appearing as warm and cold fronts. Considering the two systems analogous, the dynamic behaviour explains several phenomena and fits to plate tectonic reconstructions.

The geoid is the theoretical model of the Earth, defined as an equipotential surface. Typically it corresponds to a mean ocean surface and is extended through the continents. Elevations are measured above “sea level” based on the fact that the surface of water in equilibrium closely follows this equipotential surface. On dry land, the geoid can be determined from gravimetric measurements, and interpolation methods are used to represent variations of gravity in a regular grid model.

The Second (also known as Franciscan) Military Survey is a masterpiece of the map series representing the territory of Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is outstanding in quality regarding its data content, drawing features and aesthetic appearance. Although the series is not uniform in its content and in its implementation due to the extended period of time of the mapping (1806-1869), according to recent experience in its present-day usage, its map sheets are fairly well applicable even today.

The Great Hungarian Plain (GHP), the central part of the Pannonian Basin, has been mapped geomorphologically for decades (most recently eg. Gábris et al. 2001; Vandenberghe et al., 2003). Although digital elevation models (DEMs) provides very useful auxiliary information for such mapping, they are used in the geomorphologic studies of the GHP just in the last few years.

THE EFFECTS OF GEOLOGICAL PROCESSES ON THE CHANNEL PLANFORM OF THE TISZA RIVER, THE GREAT HUNGARIAN PLAIN

As a main goal, the neotectonic determination of the pre-regulation planform of the Tisza River has been analyzed. A short introduction to the river dynamics describes the river pattern types and their environmental controls. As the studied river is a meandering one, the description of the meandering pattern and its constraints are detailed along with the explaining the river meandering as a self-organizing criticality.

The geological and geographical description of the Tisza catchment contains the geodynamical settings, the physical geographic picture is shown followed by the depicting of the Quaternary climate changes and the lateral river shifts on the Great Hungarian Plain. A short review is given on the hydrological settings of the Tisza River, its regulation measures. From the Quaternary to the present subsidence history of the Great Hungarian Plain is shown and the causes of the temporally and spatially uneven subsidence are described.

The last natural, pre-regulation river course has been reconstructed using historical maps. For this reconstruction, the projection and geodetic datum parameters of the map sections of the 2nd military survey of the Habsburg Empire have been defined. A new automatic and semi-automatic method is described to fit those maps to the modern ones. The pre-regulation river course is shown in the Appendix as a map series.

For the river planform analysis the pre-regulation sinuosity has been used. It has been computed for the study section (between the cities of Tokaj and Szeged) with the characteristic window-size of 50 km. The sinuosity changes have been analyzed and the most significant one has been identified as a result of the neotectonic activity of the Mid-Hungarian Shear Zone.

The effect of the uneven and in the last decades quickening subsidence on the flood characteristics has been analyzed. The effect of the long-profile distortion due to the subsidence anomalies has been described in the Szolnok area. The resulted decrease of the flood-conducting capacity of the river has been estimated. At the end of the work a long-term sustainable river economic régime is depicted that is conform with the described hydrological and geological processes.

The results are illustrated by high resolution digital elevation models constructed mostly by myself, presenting the usage of these models in the geomorphic analyses and also in supporting the water control measures.