Tadeusz Bartkowski

Abstract

Complex landscape research enables us to identify terrain types. Theselatter units, while internally resembling each other in terms of lithology andrelief (cf the definition given by F. N. Milkov 1970), consist each of a numberof smaller units called urotshistshes (or urotshistshe complexes), tat are nonhomogeneous.In the hierarchy of natural surface units the terrain type representsan intermediate form between urotshistche and landscape.

A number of methods are in use for identifying terrain types. For example,in the Opatówka basin of the Sandomierz loess plateau, R. Czarnecki (1969)identified by his detailed mapping of the components of the geocomplex anumber of terrain types: a flat loess plateau, dry valleys and slopes of a mainvalley, areas above flood level in river valleys, flat bottoms of river valleys,and others. The main criterion applied in this identifying is morphogenesis,but the application of this criterion, though sometimes objective, is usuallysubjective and differs among authors. This is particularly the case in areasof glacial accumulation where terms like kames dead ice moraines, endmoraines, frontal moraines, outwash terraces and river terraces can be misleadingand should be avoided in identifying terrain types.

Tadeusz Bartkowski, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań