Relief transformation along footpaths in the Rila, Pirin, and Western Tatra Mountains

High mountain areas are characterized by substantial geodiversity and different morphogenetic processes play a key role in shaping their relief. One of the most transformed landforms within the high mountain areas affected by such processes today are footpaths and tourist trails. For this reason, this issue needs to be closely examined for a variety of mountains ranges. The main aim of the research was to characterize effects of changes in relief experienced by footpaths and their vicinity in three different high-mountain regions: the Rila Mts., the Pirin Mts, and the Western Tatra Mts. Geomorphological mapping was used to study the erosive relief in details. The comparative analysis of geomorphological effects of relief transformation along surveyed footpaths allow for the determination of regularities in landform formation. In the Tatra Mountains, the footpaths experiencing the highest degree of physical transformation are those running along the slope gradient and across eroded rock debris zones, with little or no turf. Such paths create favourable conditions for erosion to produce deep incisions, the depth of which can reach one metre. In the case of the Rila and Pirin Mountains, the deepest incisions reach 1.8 m. Research has shown that among the different forms of human impact the great amount of pressure on relief in high mountain areas is exerted by pastoral activity and forest management practices.