Application of geomorphic change detection (GCD) on tufa digital elevation models (DEMs) of submillimeter resolution - case study National park Krka, Croatia

Interval measurements are often used to monitor geomorphological changes on different scales. Such measurements can produce interval digital elevation models (DEMs) which differenced generate distributed maps of elevation changes. One of the most popular tools for creating these models is the Geomorphic Change Detection (GCD) tool. In this paper, we aim to highlight its applicability in studying tufa formation dynamics (TFD) using tufa digital elevation models (DEMs) of submillimeter resolution. In a two-year period, TFD was monitored on seven limestone plates installed in the tufa-forming watercourses near Skradinski Buk waterfall (National park Krka, Croatia). The total error of initial, first-year, and second-year tufa DEMs was calculated from checkpoints. Results have shown that the biggest advantage of the GCD tool is manifested in the situation of low tufa growth when the combination of added uniform error values and confidence interval reduces the percentage of the area with detected elevation changes. Also, no universal pattern of tufa growth in relation to the measurement period was found. This paper has introduced a new possibility for analyzing TFD using tufa DEMs of submillimeter resolution.