REGIONAL ASSESSMENT OF RIVER SYSTEMS IN KARABAKH AND EAST ZANGEZUR FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF HYDROPOWER RELEVANCE AND ECOLOGICAL SENSITIVITY

This study presents a regional comparative assessment of the river systems of Karabakh and East Zangezur from the dual perspective of hydropower relevance and ecological sensitivity. The analysis was based exclusively on secondary hydrological and hydrochemical data compiled from regional source materials, historical monitoring records, and archival hydrological and hydrochemical datasets compiled from regional monographs and monitoring materials. The dataset included river-length distribution, flow-regime classification, seasonal runoff characteristics, and station-based indicators of water discharge, mineralization, sediment load, and total material load for representative river sections. The results show that the regional river network is numerically dominated by short channels, with 1,532 of 1,669 rivers, or 91.79%, being shorter than 5 km. At the same time, hydrologically significant resources are concentrated in a relatively small number of medium and large rivers.