Paweł Prokop
Articles
Geographia Polonica (2023) vol. 96, iss. 1, pp. 5-11 | 
Full text
doi: https://doi.org/10.7163/GPol.0242
Abstract
This paper is an introduction to a collection of nine studies that are intended to fill the gap in the literature associated with landform development and landscape changes related to natural forces and human activities in the Central European Mountains and their close forelands. The papers are grouped into four general categories that describe the influence of climate on glacial landforms and snow avalanches, the evolution of slopes in high mountains, the development of mid-mountain relief, and changes in fluvial systems in mountains and their forelands. This paper summarises the contributions of these studies to this special issue and attempts to outline possible avenues of future research on landforms and landscapes in mountainous areas.
Keywords: mountains, geomorphological processes, human impact, landforms, landscapes
[pawel@zg.pan.krakow.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences Jana 22, 31-018 Kraków: Poland
[mkijowska@zg.pan.krakow.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences 38-311 Szymbark 430: Poland e-mail: mkijowska@zg.pan.krakow.pl
[wieja@zg.pan.krakow.pl], Instytut Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania PAN
Geographia Polonica (2020) vol. 93, iss. 4, pp. 505-523 | Full text
doi: https://doi.org/10.7163/GPol.0185
Abstract
The aims of this study were to review human-environment interactions during the Meghalayan and to search for the stratigraphic boundary of a new epoch, informally termed the Anthropocene, as well as to determine whether the stratigraphic signals of human activity on the Meghalaya Plateau in Northeast India can be correlated globally. This plateau is the base of the Meghalayan Age that was determined from a speleothemin a cave located on it. Review indicates that study region developed on the periphery of ancient Indian civilisation, with stratigraphic signals of human activity being apparent in only the last few thousand years; that is, substantially later than the neighbouring ancient Indian civilisation. The stratigraphic signals are heterogeneous and diachronous, not only as a result of various human activities, but also in the effect of the diverse sensitivities of the environment to anthropogenic disturbances. A discrete and visible cultural layer that relates to the development of settlements and the production of new materials is still being formed and reworked.The only synchronous stratigraphic signal with a global range seems to be associated with the artificial radionuclide fallout from nuclear weapons testing, which covers a topsoil layer of up to tens of centimetres thick.
Keywords: stratigraphy, Holocene, Anthropocene, Meghalaya, human impact
[pawel@zg.pan.krakow.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences Jana 22, 31-018 Kraków: Poland
Poland on maps
The first medium-scale topographic map of Galicia (1779-1783) – survey, availability and importance
Geographia Polonica (2017) vol. 90, iss. 1, pp. 97-104 | Full text
doi: https://doi.org/10.7163/GPol.0081
Abstract
Known in Poland as the “Mieg Map”, the first topographic map of Galicia, at a scale of 1:28,800 represented one result of The First Military Survey of the Habsburg Empire in the late 18th century. This paper discusses the history of that survey in brief, and describes the map’s content and first edition in Poland. Attention is also paid to the Galicia map’s status as a unique historical source suitable for GIS analysis and evaluation of developmental trends in the landscape.
Keywords: landscape changes, land use, historical maps, GIS
[pawel@zg.pan.krakow.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences Jana 22, 31-018 Kraków: Poland