Geographia Polonica (2011) vol. 84, iss. Special Issue Part 1

Influence of man and climate changes on relief and geological structure transformation in central Poland since the Neolithic

Juliusz Twardy

Geographia Polonica (2011) vol. 84, iss. Special Issue Part 1, pp. 163-178 | Full text
doi: https://doi.org/GPol.2011.S1.11

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a study of relief transformation in central Poland(Fig. 1), which took place in the Neoholocene in the context of growing human impact andclimate fluctuations. Standard methods used in Quaternary geology and geomorphology wereemployed to examine Neoholocene aeolian, slope and fluvial deposits. Seven major stages anda few short-term episodes (Fig. 2), during which the process of relief transformation accelerated,have been distinguished. These stages are characterized by their varying length (from 160to 480 years) while their duration became gradually longer at the expense of those periods, duringwhich the relief transformation was slow. Major geomorphological processes in each stageand their consequences for relief transformation are briefly discussed. The results obtained arelinked to the development of prehistoric cultures in central Poland and to the periods of unstableclimate.

Keywords: human impact, aeolian deposits, slope deposits, fluvial deposits, Neoholocene, central Poland

Juliusz Twardy, Department of Quaternary Studies, Institute of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geographical Sciences, University of Łódź, ul. Narutowicza 88, 90-139 Łódź, Poland