Eemian–Weichselian Pleniglacial flu vial de pos its in southern Po land (an ex am ple of the Vistula River val ley in Kraków)
Tadeusz SOKO£OWSKI1, *, Agnieszka WACNIK2, Barbara WORONKO3 and Jacek MADEJA4
1 AGH Uni ver sity of Sci ence and Tech nol ogy, Fac ulty of Ge ol ogy, Geo phys ics and En vi ron men tal Pro tec tion, Al. A. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Po land
2 Pol ish Acad emy of Sci ences, W³adys³aw Szafer In sti tute of Bot any, Lubicz 46, 31-512 Kraków, Po land
3 Uni ver sity of War saw, Fac ulty of Ge og ra phy and Re gional Stud ies, Krakowskie Przedmieœcie 30, 00-950 Warszawa, Po land
4 Jagiellonian Uni ver sity, In sti tute of Bot any, Lubicz 46, 31-512 Kraków, Po land
Soko³owski T., Wacnik A., Woronko B. and Madeja J. (2014) Eemian–Weichselian Pleniglacial flu vial de pos its in southern Po land (an ex am ple of the Vistula River val ley in Kraków) Geo log i cal Quar terly, 58 (1): 71–84, doi: 10.7306/gq.1138 A frag ment of the mid dle ter race in the Vistula River val ley, nearby the rail way sta tion in Kraków, is formed by flu vial chan nel and overbank de pos its of the Pr¹dnik River, which bear a re cord of var i ous en vi ron ments af fected by chang ing cli ma tic con - di tions. The sed i men tary suc ces sion in cludes two com plexes that dif fer in lithofacies. The older com plex com prises fin - ing-up ward de pos its (chan nel sand and grav elly sand with me dium- and large-scale trough cross-strat i fi ca tion) and, less fre quently, sand with pla nar cross-strat i fi ca tion over lain by silt with in ter ca la tions of biogenic de pos its of aban doned chan - nels. Veg e ta tion ac com pa ny ing the de po si tion of biogenic lay ers was typ i cal of bo real co nif er ous for ests, dom i nated by Pinus sylvestris with a small ad mix ture of Larix, Pinus cembra, Picea, Betula and Populus. Pe ri od i cally, the land scape passed into open ar eas over grown by woody tun dra. The com plex de vel oped as a re sult of ac tiv ity of a me an der ing river un - der con di tions of a mod er ately cool cli mate. The youn ger com plex in cludes the sand lithofacies with hor i zon tal strat i fi ca tion and low-an gle cross-strat i fi ca tion, over lain by al ter nat ing sands and silts. The top most part is rep re sented by sands with large- and me dium-scale pla nar cross-strat i fi ca tion. Lack of biogenic de pos its and con sid er able amount of frosted quartz grains in al lu vial sed i ments in di cate ae olian pro cesses of greater in ten sity, periglacial con di tions and evo lu tion to wards a braided or tran si tional river. Pol len suc ces sions, ab so lute dat ing and stud ies of struc tural and tex tural fea tures of the sed i - ment sug gest that the time of its de po si tion may be es ti mated at a range be tween the close of the Eemian Inter gla cial and the Weichselian Mid dle Pleniglacial (OIS 5e–OIS 3).
Key words: Eemian–Weichselian, river de pos its, sedimentology, pol len anal y sis, cli mate change, southern Po land.
INTRODUCTION
Kraków is lo cated in the bor der land of sev eral large morphostructural units: the Sandomierz (Subcarpathian) Ba sin, Outer Carpathians and Kraków Pla teau (Fig. 1). Most of the city is sit u ated within the Sandomierz Ba sin, a de pres sion filled mainly with Mid dle Mio cene claystones and mudstones with less fre quent sandy sed i ments. The lat i tu di nally ori ented Vistula val ley ex tends over a large area of the ba sin. The Outer Carpathians, sep a rated by an eas ily rec og nized mor pho log i cal edge and com posed of flysch sand stones and shales (Ju ras - sic–Lower Mio cene), rise to the south. The Kraków Pla teau, an ex ten sive area com posed of hard Up per Ju ras sic lime stones with flint con cre tions, slopes down in sev eral steps from the
north. Eastwards, the pla teau is cov ered mostly by Up per Cre - ta ceous marls. All older rocks are lo cally over lain by Qua ter nary sed i ments of dif fer ent or i gin and thick ness.
Within the city, the ma jor trib u tar ies flow into the Vistula River: the left-bank Rudawa and Pr¹dnik rivers, both drain ing the south ern part of the Kraków Pla teau and erod ing the older Vistula River de pos its, and the right-bank Wilga River, drain ing the Outer Carpathians. The low est part of the val leys con sists of a two-step floodplain. Up wards, in its north ern part, the Vistula val ley is marked by ris ing steps of ter races, sandy at the top, at - tain ing the heights of 10–12 and 15–20 m and di vided into sev - eral patches by left-bank trib u tar ies of the Vistula River. One of these patches is re ferred to as the Pr¹dnik River fan and its or i - gin was dated to the Saalian Gla ci ation (Tyczyñska, 1968), Weichselian Gla ci ation (Setmajer, 1973), and then to the Weichselian Up per Pleniglacial (Rutkowski, 1987).
In the pre vi ously drilled bore holes, al lu vial de pos its were en coun tered in the Vistula val ley near the “Kraków G³ówny” rail - way sta tion. Their max i mum thick ness was nearly 27 m (Fig. 2).
A con struc tion ex ca va tion lo cated west of the rail way plat forms ex posed the up per part of sec tion, nearly 12 m in thick ness, com posed of flu vial de tri tal sed i ments (silts, sands, grav els)
* Corresponding author, e-mail: tsokol@agh.edu.pl Received: July 16, 2013; accepted: October 15, 2013; first published online: December 11, 2013
trans ported by the Pr¹dnik to the Vistula val ley, and biogenic de pos its (peat; Fig. 2). Their top, within the ex ca va tion and its near est sur round ings, is el e vated ca. 15–16 m above the pres - ent-day Vistula chan nel.
Pres ently, the Pr¹dnik River is nar row, only lo cally ex ceed - ing 5 m in width, and flows in a bed straight ened and largely channelized. The 18th and 19th cen tury maps show a me an - der ing chan nel pat tern. The catch ment cov ers an area of over 200 km2 and the mean an nual flows slightly ex ceed 1 m3/s (Pociask-Karteczka, 1994).
The pur pose of the study was to: (1) re con struct the con di - tions of sed i ment de po si tion by the Pr¹dnik in the Vistula val ley, (2) re con struct the cli ma tic changes ac com pa ny ing al lu vial ac - cu mu la tion, and (3) iden tify the age of the sed i ments.
METHODS
The ob jec tives of the study were achieved with the use of struc tural, tex tural, palynological and plant macroremain anal y - ses and dat ing, ap plied for sed i ments ex posed in the ex ca va - tion in two sec tions. The in ves ti ga tions in cluded ver ti cal and lat - eral di ver sity of the sed i ments.
SEDIMENTOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
De scrip tion of sed i men tary struc tures is based on codes pro posed by Miall (1996), as mod i fied by Zieliñski (1995).
Thick ness in ter vals used to de ter mine the scale of lithofacies were as fol lows: up to 6 cm – small-scale, 6–30 cm – me - dium-scale, and over 30 cm – large-scale (see Zieliñski, 1998).
GRAIN-SIZE ANALYSIS
The sed i ment ma te rial for iden ti fi ca tion of tex tural fea tures was taken only from sandy de pos its, and sub jected to dry grain-size anal y sis us ing a set of sieves for frac tions be tween 2.0 and 0.063 mm in an in ter val of 0.5 phi. The re sults pro vided a ba sis to cal cu late the ba sic grain-size pa ram e ters (Mz, s1 and Sk1), fol low ing Folk and Ward (1957), and to plot the cu mu la tive curves on prob a bil ity plots.
ROUNDING AND FROSTING OF QUARTZ GRAINS
Quartz grains of the 0.8–1.0 mm frac tion from all sam ples were sub jected to anal y ses of sur face round ing and frost ing fol - low ing Cailleux (1942), as mod i fied by GoŸdzik (1980, 1995) and Mycielska-Dowgia³³o and Woronko (1998). The anal y sis com piles the type of grain sur face, in di cat ing the en vi ron ment of sed i ment trans port or of in situ weath er ing, with the round ing de gree, pre sented ac cord ing to a 9 de gree scale (Krumbein, 1941). Seven types of quartz grain sur faces, bear ing a re cord of Fig.1. Lo ca tion of the study area ver sus SRTM level 2 im age
Fig. 2. Geo log i cal cross-sec tion along part of the mid dle ter race of the Pr¹dnik River
the last pro cess that shaped their microrelief, were dis tin - guished in the sandy frac tion:
– RM – rounded and frosted grains (the round ing de gree 0.7–0.9), rep re sent ing an ae olian en vi ron ment. High level of sur face round ing re sults from long-last ing abra - sion (Mycielska-Dowgia³³o, 2001);
– EM/RM – grains of frosted edges and cor ners, in ter me - di ate round ing de gree (0.3–0.6) and sur face af fected by abra sion for a rel a tively short time in an ae olian en vi ron - ment;
– EL – rounded and shiny grains (0.7–0.9), formed in aquatic en vi ron ments (in clud ing flu vial and high-en ergy beach en vi ron ments; Woronko and Ostrowska, 2009;
Woronko et al., 2013);
– EM/EL – shiny grains of an in ter me di ate round ing de - gree (0.3–0.6), rep re sent ing aquatic en vi ron ments;
– NU – com pletely fresh all grain sur faces, with no traces of chem i cal weath er ing or abra sion; 0.1–0.2, af fected by dam ages in a gla cial en vi ron ment (e.g., Gomez and Small, 1983; Mahaney, 2002) or by weath er ing, e.g. frost ac tion (Woronko and Hoch, 2011; Woronko, 2012a);
– C – bro ken, with at least a 30% loss (GoŸdzik, 1995) of the orig i nal grain sur face. Only the bro ken sur face is fresh and has sharp edges, not marked by traces of post-sed i men ta tion pro cesses;
– OTHER – grains of dif fer ent round ing de grees, with a sur face formed by strong chem i cal and/or me chan i cal weath er ing and not af fected by abra sion.
For the same sam ples, per cent age val ues of quartz grains were cal cu lated, pro vid ing an in di rect mea sure ment of the du - ra tion of abra sion pro cesses (Woronko, 2001;
Mycielska-Dowgia³³o and Woronko, 2004a, b).
PALAEOBOTANICAL STUDIES
Biogenic de pos its were sub jected to pol len and plant macroremain anal y ses. Sam ples for palynological ex am i na - tions were taken in sev eral-cm in ter vals from three sed i ment lay ers: C1 (9 sam ples), C2 (6 sam ples), and C3 (10 sam ples;
Fig. 3). Sin gle pi lot sam ples were also col lected from sands sep a rat ing these lay ers. Chem i cal prep a ra tion of sam ples, with the vol ume of 1 cm3, fol lowed the mod i fied pro ce dure of
Fig. 3A – sedimentological sections related to chronostratigraphy, isotope stages and channel pattern; B – relationship between mean grain diameter (Mz) and standard deviation (s1); C – granulation; D – rounding and frosting (chronostratigraphy,
oxygen isotope stages, ages after Hammen et al., 1967; Martinson et al., 1987; Behre and Plicht, 1992; Dansgaard et al., 1993) NU, EL, RM, EM/EL, EM/RM and OTHER are ex plained in the text
Erdtman’s acetolysis (Berglund and Ralska-Jasiewiczowa, 1986). In each sam ple, an av er age of 600 grains of trees and shrubs were iden ti fied. This fig ure in cluded ter res trial, aquatic and swamp pol len as well as spores. Per cent age val ues of sporomorphs were cal cu lated with ref er ence to the sum of pol - len count for trees and shrubs (AP) and her ba ceous plants (NAP), ex clud ing lo cal taxa. For swamp, aquatic and spore plants, the to tal sum was each time in creased by the counts of re mains of par tic u lar taxa. Mor pho log i cal pol len types were de - ter mined with the use of keys of Moore et al. (1991) and Beug (2004), and the ref er ence col lec tion of the W. Szafer In sti tute of Bot any, PAS, in Kraków. Per cent age pol len di a grams were plot ted with the POLPAL soft ware for Win dows. Dis tinc tion of Pol len As sem blage Zones (PAZs) was based on the ConSLink anal y sis (Walanus and Nalepka, 1999; Nalepka and Walanus, 2003).
The ma te rial for plant macroremain anal y sis was sam pled in cor re la tion with that for palynological stud ies. Sam ples, with the vol ume of ca. 200 ml, were mac er ated in 10% KOH and sieved on sieves with the mesh di am e ter of 0.2 mm. Re mains of plants were se lected for tax o nomic iden ti fi ca tions. Carpological stud ies and de ter mi na tion of wood and char coal were per - formed by Zofia Tomczyñska.
ABSOLUTE AGE DATING
Ra dio car bon and OSL ab so lute ages of biogenic and clastic sed i ments were de ter mined at the GADAM Cen tre (Gliwice Ab - so lute Dat ing Meth ods Cen tre, Silesian Uni ver sity of Tech nol - ogy, Po land). For con ven tional ra dio car bon dat ing, two sam - ples (ca. 100 g each) of strongly de com posed peat were taken from the mid dle of C1 and C3 lay ers. For OSL datings, one sam ple from the sand layer was col lected (Fig. 3).
RESEARCH RESULTS OF DEPOSITS
The study cov ers one com plete sec tion (sec tion B – Fig. 3) and the lower part of the sec ond sec tion (sec tion A – Fig. 3).
The sec tions are sep a rated from each other by a large ar ti fi cial slump.
DETRITAL DEPOSITS
Sec tion A (Fig. 3A) is dom i nated by me dium- and coarse-grained (nearly 50% of to tal thick ness), well-sorted sand (Fig. 3D). The con tent of grav elly sand, silty sand and peat is sub or di nate.
The sec tion is dom i nated by the sand and grav elly sand lithofacies with me dium- and large-scale trough cross-strat i fi ca - tion (St and SGt – Fig. 3A). Gravel grains are rep re sented mostly by Ju ras sic lime stones. A small pro por tion of Carpathian cob bles were noted in the low er most part of the sec tion. Sand with pla nar cross-strat i fi ca tion (Sp) and hor i zon tal strat i fi ca tion (Sh) is the sec ond ary lithofacies.The fol low ing cy cles have been iden ti fied: St(SGt) ® Fh(Fm, C) or Sp ® Fh(Fm, C). The sand lithofacies at tains ca. 2 m in thick ness and is over lain by fine-grained de pos its, usu ally form ing sheet-like bod ies of mas - sive struc ture (Fm) or hor i zon tal lam i na tion (Fh). Each cy cle in - cludes peat (C) in its up per part (Fig 3A).
Re sults of round ing and frost ing anal y ses per formed on quartz grains from sec tion A show that lithofacies St and SGt (sam ple no. 8) are dom i nated by EM/RM grains, mod er ately rounded, which re sults from abra sion in an ae olian en vi ron -
ment. Their pro por tion is up to 53.6% (Fig. 3D). EM/EL grains, rep re sent ing an aquatic en vi ron ment, are abun dant as well (36.0%). “Other” (6.4%) and bro ken grains (2.4%) oc cur in mi - nor amounts (<10%). Fresh grains (NU) are also ob served, in the fre quency of 1.6% (Fig. 3D).
Sec tion B (Fig. 3A) is dom i nated by me dium-grained sand (Fig. 3B, D). In the low er most and up per most parts of sec tion B, sand with large- and me dium-scale pla nar cross-strat i fi ca tion (Sp) is the main lithofacies. In the mid dle part the sand lithofacies, Sh and oc ca sion ally Sl are pres ent. The silt, sandy silt and silty sand lithofacies (Fd, FSd and SFd) are also found in rel a tively high pro por tions. Large-scale ir reg u lar in vo lu tions (load struc tures) oc cur in few silty and silty-sandy ho ri zons, ac - count ing for nearly 25% of sec tion B. These large-scale struc - tures, >60 cm in am pli tude, rep re sent fold in vo lu tions of type 2 and 3, fol low ing Vandenberghe (2007; Fig. 4). The in ten sity of dis tur bances de creases up wards; the folds show a max i mum am pli tude slightly ex ceed ing 30 cm (type 1 ac cord ing to Vandenberghe, 2007; Fig. 5).
Re sults of grain-size anal y sis in di cate that the sed i ments are well-sorted (s1 from 0.38 to 0.58) and char ac ter ized by mean grain di am e ter (Mz) vary ing be tween 1.85 and 1.06 phi and skew ness (Sk1) rang ing from –0.27 to 0.14 (Fig. 3C, D). Ac - cord ing to round ing and frost ing anal y ses of quartz grain sur - face, fol low ing Cailleux (1942) with later mod i fi ca tions, sec tion B (sam ples nos. 1, 3–5) is no tice ably dom i nated by grains pro - cessed in an ae olian en vi ron ment. The sum of RM and EM/RM grains amounts to 93.3–98.5% (Fig. 3D), how ever gen er ally (90.4–94.7% of grains) only edges and cor ners are af fected by ae olian pro cess ing. A bed com pris ing lithofacies Sh with sin gle grav els is the only one in clud ing 15.0% of RM grains, typ i fied by a very high level of round ing and com pletely frosted sur face (sam ple no. 5; Fig. 3D).
Fig. 4. Ir reg u lar cryoturbations in sec tion B
Sam ple no. 2 is worth con sid er ation as well be cause the grains from an ae olian en vi ron ment (sum of RM and EM/RM) at tain a fre quency of 25.4%. Grains with sur faces shaped mainly in an aquatic en vi ron ment (EM/EL) and bro ken grains (C) are also found. The pro por tion of the lat ter is as much as 34%, while in the other sam ples, it does not ex ceed 3%
(Fig. 3D). They were formed as a re sult of de struc tion of grains rep re sent ing both ae olian and aquatic en vi ron ment. Such a va - ri ety of par ti cle types in di cates that they are in a sec ond ary de - posit, and the older sed i ments were de rived from dif fer ent sources (Woronko, 2012a).
BIOGENIC DEPOSITS
Biogenic de pos its, rep re sented by dark brown to al most black peat (lay ers C1 and C2) de com posed in 60–70%, and dark brown sedge peat (layer C3) de com posed in 50–60%, form three lay ers (C1, C2, C3 – Fig. 3A). They are interbedding the silt (Fh and Fm lithofacies) at the top part of fin ing-up ward cy cles. The top most layer dis played slight in vo lu tions (small-scale folded struc tures – type 1 ac cord ing to Vandenberghe, 2007).
PALAEOBOTANICAL INVESTIGATIONS
Pol len spec tra of layer C1 (Figs. 3A and 6) rep re sent com - mu ni ties of bo real co nif er ous for ests dom i nated by Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) with a small ad mix ture of spruce (Picea abies), larch (Larix), stone pine (Pinus cembra), pop lar (Populus) and birch (Betula). As larch is re corded in high amounts, they most likely in hab ited im me di ate sur round ings of the site of sed i ment sam pling. Eco log i cal re quire ments of Larix as well as low pol len pro duc tion and its lim ited dis persal (Jankovská and Pokorný, 2008) in di cate lo cal oc cur rence of patches of for est com mu ni ties with low-den sity tree stands.
Their ground layer was over grown by Vaccinium, Lycopodium annotinum, Pteridium aquilinum, Dryopteris, and other ferns.
Plants rep re sent ing Poaceae and less fre quently Ar te mi sia, Cichorioideae, Ranunculus, Rubiaceae and Apiaceae were
Fig. 5. Fold de for ma tions in sec tion B Pad dle is 30 cm high
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pres ent in the ground layer and woodless ar eas. Rel a tively high amounts of Cyperaceae and Filipendula pol len, as well as the pres ence of Valeriana, Thalictrum, Lych nis, and Sphag num, con firm the func tion ing of boggy, lo cally peaty hab i tats, oc ca - sion ally in clud ing Betula nana. Hu mid grass lands were com - posed of Ophioglossum and Botrychium, while ex posed grounds were cov ered by clubmosses (Selaginella selaginoides and S. helvetica). Pe ri od i cally, wa ters of the ba sin re mained open, al low ing for the de vel op ment of aquatic taxa:
Potamogeton, Sparganium and Myriophyllum verticillatum.
Pol len anal y sis per formed for the sub se quent layer (C2 – Figs. 3A and 7) in di cates a sim i lar type of veg e ta tion dur ing the ac cu mu la tion of or ganic sed i ments. The site was sur rounded by bo real co nif er ous for ests with Pinus sylvestris, ad mix ture of Larix and sin gle trees of Picea abies, Pinus cembra, Populus, Salix and Betula. In dry hab i tats, the shrub layer was over grown by Daphne and Juniperus, while in wetlands, by Betula nana.
Her ba ceous veg e ta tion was more abun dant, pos si bly due to an in crease in the sur face of nearby woodless ar eas. Pol len of plants typ i cal for dry hab i tats, such as Helianthemum, Scleranthus, Ar te mi sia, Rumex acetosella-type and Plantago me dia, was found in mi nor amounts. Taxa re quir ing fresh and hu mid grounds were re corded more fre quently and in cluded mainly Poaceae, Rumex acetosa and Cichorioideae as well as plants rep re sent ing As ter and Anthemis. One sam ple was marked by a very abun dant oc cur rence of sedges (such as Cyperis fuscus and Scirpus sylvaticus, de ter mined from macroremains), re sult ing from the in creas ing ground hu mid ity.
The pres ence of nu mer ous Cyperaceae as well as Betula nana, Thalictrum flavum, Filipendula, Valeriana, Ranunculus flammula, Polemonium, Sanguisorba officinalis, Thelypteris palustris, Sphag num, Lemna, Potamogeton and Sagittaria sagittifolia con firms the ex is tence of boggy and peaty ar eas, pe - ri od i cally cov ered by open wa ters.
Layer C3 (Figs. 3A, 8 and 9) is marked by strongly de com - posed sedge peat de pos ited in a shal low ba sin. The tax o nomic com po si tion of plant macroremains in di cates the dom i nance of Cyperaceae, in clud ing gen era such as Carex (C. dioica, C.
stricta, C. limosa, C. leporina, C. arenaria, C. canescens, C.
rostrata, C. pseudocyperus) and Scirpus (S. tabernaemontani, S. lacustris) were iden ti fied. Eleocharis palustris, Rynchospora alba, Poa sp. and Epilobium palustre (Fig. 9). The re sults of pol - len anal y sis show a dual palynological re cord (Fig. 8). Spec tra from the depth in ter val of 17–33 cm (zone C3a, Fig. 8) were very abun dant in her ba ceous plants, sedges and grasses. Veg - e ta tion of hu mid, boggy and aquatic hab i tats pro vides ev i dence for the de vel op ment of a very shal low ba sin, with pe ri od i cally opened wa ter. Patches with Sphag num, Drosera intermedia and Empetrum oc curred lo cally. Shrubs of Betula nana ap - peared oc ca sion ally. Slightly drier ar eas were over grown by Filipendula, Valeriana officinalis, Ve ron ica serphyllifolia and Cirsium, while dry hab i tats, by Juniperus, Hippophaë rhamnoides, Calluna vulgaris, Ar te mi sia, Chenopodiaceae, Achillea millefolium, Silene and Gypsophila. A nu mer ous group of plants, like Poaceae, Apiaceae, Cichorioideae and As ter, was as so ci ated with var i ous hab i tats.
The sur round ings were oc cu pied by pine for ests with an ad - mix ture of spruce, stone pine and larch. The ground layer was over grown by Juniperus. This zone is char ac ter ized by the high - est pro por tion of birch. It in hab ited both co nif er ous for ests and the shore of the ba sin, where it was ac com pa nied by sin gle spec i mens of Salix, Cornus sanguinea, and pos si bly Alnus, Populus and Corylus avellana. The pres ence of Betula, Salix and Cornus sanguinea was con firmed also by the iden ti fi ca tion of their macroremains (Fig. 9). In fre quent pol len grains of Ulmus, Tilia cordata and Quercus were most likely car ried in a
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long-dis tance trans port or re de pos ited. The pres ence of sin gle par ti cles of Quercus char coal should be con sid ered as an ef fect of redeposition, though in the li thol ogy of this sec tion, no min - eral lay ers was ob served, sug gest ing a higher in put of older allochthonous mat ter. In this area, woody tun dra, lo cally de vel - oped on grounds of high hu mid ity, may have been the dom i nant plant for ma tion.
Zone C3b (3–17 cm from the top, Fig. 8) bears a re cord of re-ex pan sion of bo real co nif er ous for ests, dom i nated by Scots pine with a small ad mix ture of spruce and larch, which pos si bly re sulted from a de crease in hu mid ity. This ob ser va tion was also con firmed by the pres ence of a 4 cm long Larix/Picea wood frag ment at the top of the layer. Pinus sylvestris showed an in - crease in pol len fre quency and was still ac com pa nied by a high ad mix ture of Picea. Larix oc curred reg u larly, while Betula de - creased its pro por tion. The val ues of her ba ceous plants, par tic - u larly Cyperaceae and Poaceae, were strongly re duced, as con firmed by the re sults of macroremain anal y sis. No re mains of aquatic plants were no ticed, ex cept for a sin gle pol len grain of Myriophyllum verticillatum. Swamp plants were rep re sented by Phragmites aus tra lis, Typha angustifolia and Carex stricta.
INTERPRETATION OF DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS
The sed i ments ex am ined are part of the ter race of the Pr¹dnik River that drains the Kraków Up land in the north. It is ev i denced by the petrographic com po si tion of the grav els, dom - i nated by Ju ras sic lime stones. Only the ad mix ture of Carpathian sand stones, found in the low est part of the in ves ti - gated out crop, may in di cate a slight in flu ence of the Vistula or Rudawa rivers (cf. Rutkowski and Soko³owski, 1984).
Quartz grains in sec tion B (ex cept in sam ple no. 2) are very ho mo ge neous in their type and are clearly dom i nated by grains af fected by pro cess ing in an ae olian en vi ron ment (RM and EM/RM types – over 95%; Fig. 3A, D). It ev i dences the im por - tance of ae olian pro cesses oc cur ring in the en vi ron ment dur ing ac cu mu la tion of the se ries. In Kraków, sim i lar amounts of this grain type were re corded in de pos its of the lower ter race and orig i nate in the Weichselian Late Pleniglacial (Soko³owski et al., 2008). The de po si tion of lithofacies Sh and Sl over ly ing the silt sed i ments (sec tion B – sam ples nos. 1–6) was pre ceded by slight in ci sions vis i ble in some roof parts of these silt sed i ments.
Af ter the in ci sions, an abun dant sup ply of ae olian sand to the river sys tem may show its changes from me an der ing to sandy braided.
Nev er the less, it should be em pha sized that traces of ae - olian pro cesses are eas ily rec og nized only at the edges and cor ners of grains, there fore they were ei ther sub ject to abra sion for a rel a tively short time or the sed i ments were trans ported over a short dis tance (Mycielska-Dowgia³³o, 1993; Woronko, 2001, 2012a). The slight in crease in the pro por tion of ae olian grains, mainly of the RM type, ob served up wards sec tion B, is likely to ev i dence the syn chro nous oc cur rence of ae olian pro - cesses and ac cu mu la tion of the ex am ined de pos its (GoŸdzik, 2001; Woronko, 2012a). The cool ing caused an in crease in bedload and a ten dency to braid ing of the river. In the bot tom of the val ley, aggradation has oc curred.
The de pos its rep re sent var i ous flu vial subenvironments.
Lithofacies St and SGt rep re sent mi gra tion of 3D (lunate or linguoid) dunes and in di cate deeper chan nel zones, whereas lithofacies Sp rep re sents 2D (straight-crested) dunes or small trans verse bars, be ing as so ci ated with straight and shal lower inter-me an der seg ments (McGowen and Gar ner, 1970; Jack -
3C reyal ,st iso ped cinegoib morf mar g aid ne lloP .8 .giF
son, 1976; Stew art, 1981; Bridge and Gordon, 1985).
Lithofacies Sh and Sl are likely to in di cate the pres ence of very shal low chan nels with plane-bed mor phol ogy and low re lief bars, how ever, may be also linked to cre vasse splays (cf.
Teisseyre, 1988; Gêbica and Soko³owski, 2001). Fine-grained lithofacies (Fh and Fm) rep re sent the dis tal part of floodplain
and, if peat oc curs, rep re sents aban doned chan nels. De pos its of the prox i mal floodplain are rep re sented by sandy-silty al ter - na tions (lithofacies Fd, FSd, Sd, and SFd – Fig. 3A).
The sed i men ta tion, par tic u larly in the lower part, should be at trib uted to a me an der ing river sys tem. This con clu sion can be sup ported by fol low ing fac tors: (1) con sid er able fre quency (about 50%) of fine-grained lithofacies (Fh, Fm), biogenic de - pos its (peat) and sandy-silty al ter na tions, (2) the oc cur rence of fin ing up ward cy cles St(SGt) ® Fh(Fm, C) or Sp ® Fh(Fm, C) in clude the suc ces sion of: chan nel fill ing ® chan nel aban don - ing, (3) the oc cur rence of peat (aban don ment stage) in di cate bo real co nif er ous for ests and pe ri od i cally woody tun dra and (4) rel a tively in con sid er able con tent of ae olian grains.
In the mid dle and up per parts of the suc ces sion (sec tion B), biogenic de pos its are ab sent. A high pro por tion of ae olian grains and the pres ence of lithofacies Sh and Sl (plane bed and low re lief bars) may sug gest pass ing into a tran si tional (thresh - old-type) river or into a sandy braided river.
CHRONOSTRATIGRAPHY AND RIVER DEVELOPMENT IN RELATION TO CLIMATE
AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
EEMIAN AND WEICHSELIAN EARLY GLACIAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
The in ves ti gated sec tions (lay ers C1, C2 and C3b; Figs. 3, 6–9) bear a re cord of tree stands com posed mainly of Scots pine with a small ad mix ture of larch, stone pine, spruce, pop lar and birch (Ta ble 1). The re con structed veg e ta tion shows the dom i nance of bo real co nif er ous for est. Zone C3a is the only one marked by the de vel op ment of woody tun dra veg e ta tion, Fig. 9. Di a gram of plant macrofossils from layer C3
ch – char coal par ti cles, f – fruits, s – seeds, sc – scales, w – wood frag ment
Chronostratigraphy
(Behre and Lade, 1986) Layer Re sults of pol len anal y sis
Eemian–Weichselian Early Gla cial
C3
71 taxa were identified from pollen and spores. Percentage values of trees attain an average of ca. 50%
at the basal part and increase to ca. 90% in the top part. Pinus sylvestris is dominant, with a frequency between 20 and 81% at the top. Continuous curve of Picea (up to 10.6%). High proportion of Betula, amounting to 10% at the base, shows a decreasing trend accompanied by falling values of Populus, Corylus, Quercus, Alnus, and herbaceous plants. Nearly continuous presence of Pinus cembra-type and Larix. Single pollen grains of shrubs: Juniperus, Betula nana-type and Hippophaë. Dwarf shrubs are represented by a nearly continuous curve for Calluna and single records of Empetrum and Vaccinium.
Highest Cyperaceae values (up to 53%) are characteristic for the zone. Stable, several-percent high frequency of Poaceae (up to 10%). Constant occurrence of Artemisia (up to 3.3%). Pollen of Aster-type, Cichorioideae, Chenopodiaceae, Thalictrum, Apiaceae, Valeriana, Silene, and Gypsophila recorded several times. Greater diversity of aquatic and swamp plants, with infrequent Lemna, Nuphar, Sparganium-type, Potamogeton, Myriophyllum verticilatum-type, and Phragmites. Sphagnum and Drosera intermedia found at the basal part. Spores of Pteridium aquilinum, Selaginella selaginoides, Huperzia selago, Filicales monolete and Dryopteris-type mainly in top samples.
C2
74 taxa were identified. Spectra dominated by AP pollen, particularly of Pinus sylvestris (max. 75%), accompanied by a constant, several-percent high content of Picea (up to 4.6%), Larix (up to 3.3%) and Betula (up to 8.7%). Continuous curve of Populus. Taxa such as Salix, Alnus, Quercus, Pinus cembra-type and Corylus avellana recorded several times. Shrubs represented by Juniperus, Betula nana-type and Daphne. Within herbaceous plants, culmination of Cyperaceae (max. 44.3%) at the beginning of the zone. Frequency of Poaceae stable, attains max. 9.7%. Continuous curves for Artemisia, Filipendula and Valeriana and regularly recorded Plantago media-type, Rumex acetosella-type, Aster-type, Anthemis-type, Thalictrum, Rubiaceae and Apiaceae. Aquatic and swamp plants recorded as single specimens (Lemna, Potamogeton, Sparganium-type, Sagittaria sagittifolia, Thelypteris palustris). Spores of Filicales monolete and Sphagnum constantly present in spectra, occasionally accompanied by Lycopodium annotinum, Ophioglossum and Pteridium.
C1
61 taxa were identified. Total dominance of AP pollen. Very high amounts of Pinus sylvestris (up to 93%). Abundant Larix (up to 6.4%). Constant, except for the top sample, occurrence of Picea (max.
4.4%) and Betula (max. 6%). Populus, Pinus cembra-type and Quercus recorded several times. Single pollen grains of Betula nana-type and Rubus arcticus-type. Relatively infrequent appearance of NAP taxa, with Poaceae, Cyperaceae and Filipendula as most important ones. Artemisia, Apiaceae, Rubiaceae, Polygonum bistorta, Ranunculus acris-type, and Aconitum determined several times.
Pollen of aquatic plants found occasionally. Presence of spores of, i.a., Filicales monolete, Selaginella selaginoides, Selaginella helvetica, Dryopteris-type, Ophioglossum and Sphagnum.
T a b l e 1 Chronostratigraphy and de scrip tion of the pol len as sem blage from the Kraków rail way sta tion
char ac ter ized by the co ex is tence of cold cli mate in di ca tors, such as Pinus cembra, Larix, Betula nana, Rubus arcticus and Selaginella selaginoides, and in fre quent re mains of plants with higher tem per a ture re quire ments, i.e. Myriophyllum verticilla - tum, Nuphar, Pteridium aquilinum, Sanguisorba officinalis and Drosera intermedia (Ta ble 1). Its sed i ments were de pos ited in an in creas ingly hu mid hab i tat. Pol len suc ces sion from the Œwinna Porêba site (West ern Outer Carpathians), Brörup or older in age (Biñka and Grzybowski, 2002), re vealed sim i lar i ties in a gen eral char ac ter of veg e ta tion with a high fre quency of Pinus sylvestris, Picea, Larix in lo cal woods, but also dif fer - ences: e.g. more open wood land com mu ni ties with pine, higher rep re sen ta tion of Alnus, reg u lar pres ence of Picea omoricoides type and Bruckenthallia spiculifolia as well as Syringa, not found in our ma te rial.
The oc cur rence of pol len of both spruce and larch in di cates a tem per a ture of the cold est month rang ing from –5 to –2°C. The pres ence of only Larix re mains sug gests mean tem per a tures of the warm est month likely to at tain +17°C (e.g., Dahl, 1998;
Granoszewski, 2003; Kupryjanowicz, 2008), with a min i mum mean July tem per a ture of 14°C, as ev i denced by the ap pear - ance of pol len of Typha angustifolia (Kolstrup, 1979). The oc cur - rence of Betula nana al lows for es ti mat ing the max i mum tem per - a ture of the cold est month as not ex ceed ing 0°C, while the mean an nual tem per a ture de ter mined for the taxon var ies be tween –13.4 and 3.7°C (Tobolski, 1991; Granoszewski, 2003;
Ballantyne et al., 2010). Selaginnella selaginoides, an Arc tic-Al - pine el e ment, sug gests tem per a tures of the warm est month fall - ing be low 17°C (Tobolski, 1991; Zarzycki et al., 2002). Fol low ing Mamakowa (1970), a range of 10–14°C should be ac cepted as the mean June tem per a ture. It is spec i fied to 13°C by the pres - ence of Myriophyllum verticillatum.
CHRONOSTRATIGRAPHY
The Weichselian pol len suc ces sions so far de scribed for Kraków and south ern Po land are rep re sented mostly by tun dra and woody tun dra veg e ta tion, dif fer ent from the one re corded in the ex am ined sec tion and gen er ally rep re sent ing the Weichselian Mid dle Pleniglacial, par tic u larly the Hengelo and Denekamp interstadials (e.g., Mamakowa and Œrodoñ, 1977;
Mamakowa and Rutkowski, 1989a, b).
The ob tained re sults, de spite some dif fer ences, can be as - so ci ated with the out come of stud ies of plant as so ci a tions and cli ma tic re con struc tions for the close of the Eemian and Early Weichselian interstadials in East ern, Cen tral and West ern Eu - rope (e.g., Behre and Lade, 1986; Bos et al., 2001; Velichko et al., 2005; Kühl et al., 2007; Brewer et al., 2008), in clud ing Po - land (e.g., Mamakowa, 1989; Biñka and Grzybowski, 2002;
Biñka and Nitychoruk, 2003; Granoszewski, 2003;
Kupryjanowicz, 2008; Komar et al., 2009; Malkiewicz, 2010;
Ro man and Balwierz, 2010; Kuszell et al., 2012).
The sec tions known from Kraków and its im me di ate sur - round ings do not pro vide a con tin u ous re cord of veg e ta tion de - vel op ment in the Eemian Inter gla cial and the Early Weichselian. The ex am ined biogenic de pos its do not bear such a re cord ei ther, there fore their chronostratigraphic po si tion is ar gu able. The ab so lute age ob tained from OSL for de tri tal sed i - ments found in the up per part of the sec tions is 53.1 ± 2.5 ka BP (Gd-1394). To some ex tent, this date is con firmed by the 14C age of the low est and up per most layer of biogenic de pos its, that ap peared to be “in fi nite” (Gd-15733, >36.3 ka BP; Gd-12730,
>37.78 ka BP). As there are no sig nif i cant dif fer ences in the types of veg e ta tion re corded in par tic u lar lay ers of biogenic de - pos its, they can not be un equiv o cally cor re lated with any of the above-men tioned chronostratigraphic units. There fore, it is also
pos si ble that all peat lay ers might have been de pos ited in the same pe riod. How ever, the pres ence of three peat lay ers sep a - rated by de tri tal sed i ments may sug gests that the lay ers, from the low est one up wards, rep re sent the close of the Eemian (OIS 5e) and the Brörup and Odderade interstadials, while the de tri tal sed i ments cor re spond to the Herning and Rederstall stadials (OIS 5a–d, Fig. 3). Al though cryoturbations de vel oped in the Early Gla cial stadials in many places in Ger many (e.g., Mol, 1997; Mol et al., 2000; Bos et al., 2001; Kasse et al., 2003), their ab sence in this site may be a re sult of a mild cli mate. The study area is, af ter all, lo cated a few hun dred kilo metres south of the de scribed places. How ever, the doubts re gard ing the age of the de pos its due to the lack of a ref er ence palaeobotanical site for com par i son in this part of Po land re quire fur ther stud ies.
RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES
The pro posed in ter pre ta tion of sed i ment age is sup ported by the tex ture of sand. Dur ing the Early Weichselian, ae olian ac tiv ity was low in West ern Eu rope (e.g., Kasse et al., 2003). In Po land, the for ma tion of loess or dunes was not ob served, and the low im pact of ae olian pro cesses is con firmed by the lack of RM grains (sam ple no. 8) and mi nor amounts of EM/RM grains (Fig. 3D). In West ern Eu rope, the Early Weichselian was marked by the oc cur rence of periglacial phe nom ena, ev i denced by cryoturbations and ice-wedge casts (e.g., Bos et al., 2001;
Kasse et al., 2003). As sum ing that the small-am pli tude folds ob served in sec tion A (type 1 ac cord ing to Vandenberghe, 2007) rep re sent cryoturbations and the lack of ice-wedges casts, it may be con cluded that sea sonal frost was ep i sodic and rel a tively shal low in the study area.
Dur ing the Late Eemian and Weichselian Early Pleniglacial (OIS 5e–OIS 5a–d), the Pr¹dnik River had a me an der ing chan - nel pat tern. Low-en ergy (me an der ing and/or anastomosing) chan nel pat terns con trolled by tem per ate cli ma tic con di tions in this pe riod have been re ported from many Eu ro pean re gions (e.g., Mol, 1997; Huissteden et al., 2001; Zieliñski and GoŸdzik, 2001; Kasse et al., 2003; Zieliñski, 2007; Soko³owski et al., 2009).
WEICHSELIAN EARLY–MIDDLE PLENIGLACIAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATIC CONDITIONS
Lack of biogenic de pos its, high pro por tion of ae olian grains and the pos si ble pres ence of in vo lu tions in the up per part of the de pos its, may in di cate cli mate cool ing. A palynological re cord of veg e ta tion near Kraków, from Polanów Samborzecki (Sandomierz Up land, ca. 140 km NE of Kraków), cov er ing, i.a., vegetational changes un til the Weichselian Early Gla cial, in - cludes open hab i tats with in fre quent patches of pine-birch open for ests. It is clearly dom i nated by NAP pol len ev i denc ing mean tem per a tures be tween –13 and –16°C in the cold est month and be tween 16.5 and 17.5°C in the warm est month (Komar et al., 2009). Com pared with ear lier pe ri ods, this one was char ac ter - ized by no tice ably lower tem per a tures of the cold est months.
Cli ma tic con di tions may also be in di cated by the oc cur rence of large-scale in vo lu tions. Al though their or i gin is still un der dis - cus sion (cf. Vandenberghe, 1988; Neuwerth et al., 2006; Loon, 2009), their pres ence to gether with tex tural fea tures ev i denc ing frost weath er ing sug gests that they may have de vel oped due to dif fer en tial frost heave and periglacial load ing. They are as so ci - ated with per ma frost and deg ra da tion of its top (Huijzer and Isarin, 1997; Kasse et al., 2007; Vandenberghe, 2007;
Vliet-Lanoë, 2010). To be formed, they re quire mean an nual air
tem per a tures (MAAT) of –8°C (up to –6°C), how ever, their de - vel op ment in sandy-silty al ter na tions is likely to sug gest a slightly higher MAAT of –4°C (Vandenberghe and Pissart, 1993).
CHRONOSTRATIGRAPHY
Con sid er ing the dat ing of the up per most seg ment of the de - pos its (Gd-1394, 53.1 ± 2.5 ka BP), it may be as sumed that sed i ments form ing this part of sec tion B de vel oped in the Weichselian Early Pleniglacial and in the ini tial phase of the Weichselian Mid dle Pleniglacial (OIS 4–OIS 3). Dur ing the for - mer pe riod (Shalkholz Stadial), en tire West ern and Cen tral Eu - rope was af fected by strong cool ing (e.g., Huijzer and Vandenberghe, 1998).
RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES
En vi ron men tal changes are def i nitely con firmed by fea tures of de pos its re corded in the up per part of sec tion B. The Weichselian Early Pleniglacial (OIS 4) was marked by ae olian pro cesses pro ceed ing in the con di tions of cold and dry cli mate in var i ous re gions of Po land (Dylik, 1969; GoŸdzik, 1981;
Buraczyñski, 1994; Dzier¿ek and Stañczuk, 2006). Strong wind ac tiv ity was also re corded in West ern Eu rope (Vandenberghe, 1985; Huijzer and Vandenberghe, 1998) and re sulted in the for - ma tion of fluvio-ae olian de pos its (Vandenberghe and Huiss - teden, 1988; Mol et al., 1993).
The up per part of the al lu vial de pos its is typ i fied by a no tice - able in crease in the amount of grains af fected by ae olian pro - cess ing. Grains trans ported by wind ac tion may have been de - pos ited di rectly in river chan nels (Huissteden et al., 2000; Mol et al., 2000; Kasse et al., 2003) or on floodplains (Kotarbiñski et al., 2000; Huissteden et al., 2000; Mycielska-Dowgia³³o and Woronko, 2001, 2004a, b; Woronko, 2012a). As hu mid sed i - ments are highly co he sive, such grains could not be reincluded in ae olian trans port. Con di tions for the de vel op ment of ae olian pro cesses were par tic u larly ad van ta geous in the win ter sea son (Isarin et al., 1997), mainly due to higher wind ve loc ity than in the sum mer (Seppälä, 2004) and the re lease of sand grains from frozen ground in sub li ma tion (McKenna and Neumann, 2004). In con di tions of periglacial cli mate, ae olian ma te rial pre - vi ously de pos ited in the val ley bot tom was in cor po rated into flu - vial trans port dur ing short-last ing spring melts, re mark ably in - creas ing river flows (Kasse et al., 2007). Pres ently, sim i lar events are ob served in the zone of arc tic or sub arc tic cli mate, e.g. in Alaska, in val ley bot toms of snowmelt rivers (Lewkowicz and Young, 1991), Ice land (Moutney and Rus sell, 2004) and Can ada (Good and Bryant, 1985). The re sults of grain-size anal y sis in di cate that dur ing their trans port the de pos its were not sub jected to rapid de po si tion but to quite op po site pro - cesses of seg re ga tion and sort ing, as ev i denced by the very well-sorted sal ta tion seg ment (Fig. 3C, D), in clud ing mi nor amounts of grains trans ported in solid sus pen sion as well as dragged or rolled. How ever, com par i son of the mean grain di - am e ter (Mz) and the de gree of sort ing (s1; Fig. 3) shows that the sed i ments rep re sent a pat tern typ i cal of pres ently form ing ac - tive par a bolic dunes (Mycielska-Dowgia³³o, 1995; Mycielska- Dow gia³³o and Ludwikowska-Kêdzia, 2011; Woronko, 2012a). It in di cates that, in the flu vial en vi ron ment, the sed i ments were trans ported over a short dis tance (Mycielska-Dowgia³³o, 1993), in which their tex tural fea tures, char ac ter is tic for the ae olian en - vi ron ment (i.e. grain size), could not be com pletely re moved (Woronko et al., 2013).
In beds dis turbed with in vo lu tions (Fig. 3 A, D, sam ple no. 2), sands have a very high con tent of bro ken grains (C), oc -
cur rence of which may re sult from in tense frost weath er ing in con di tions of fre quent freeze-thaw pro cesses (e.g., Kowalkowski and Mycielska-Dowgia³³o, 1985; Wright, 2000;
Dietzel, 2005; Woronko and Hoch, 2011; Woronko, 2012b).
Quartz is a more sen si tive min eral to this type of weath er ing than, e.g., unweathered feld spar (Konishchev, 1982;
Konishchev and Rogov, 1993; French and Guglielmin, 2000) due to the pres ence of gas-liq uid in clu sions (Rogov, 1982;
Konishchev and Rogov, 1993; French and Guglielmin, 2000;
Barczuk and Koz³owski, 2004; French, 2007; Woronko, 2012b).
Dur ing freez ing, so lu tion found in the in clu sions in creases its vol ume, which re sults in the break ing of quartz grains. It should be also em pha sized that the re sults of anal y ses, with later mod - i fi ca tions, pro vide ev i dence for a change in the source of ma te - rial in flu vial sed i ments, from only ae olian (sam ple no. 3) to orig - i nat ing from var i ous en vi ron ments. The oc cur rence of bro ken grains (C) shows an in ter rup tion in the floodplain de po si tion, last ing long enough to en able the for ma tion of in vo lu tions and, first of all, pro duc tion of bro ken grains. This event was likely to re sult from the pro gres sive in crease in cli mate arid ity or flu vial down-cut ting.
Struc tural fea tures of de pos its form ing the up per seg ments of the sec tion al low for var i ous in ter pre ta tions, how ever, to some ex tent, they sug gest a change in the chan nel pat tern to - wards a braided river, sup ported e.g., by open plant hab i tats dom i nant in the Weichselian Early Pleniglacial. High-en ergy braided chan nel pat terns were re corded for this pe riod at nu - mer ous sites in Eu rope (Mol et al., 2000). How ever, the Velyky Lukavets River in the Ukrai nian Carpathians Fore land did not change its chan nel pat tern in this pe riod (Soko³owski and Stachowicz-Rybka, 2009). Tex tural fea tures of the al lu vial de - pos its in di cate here that the Pr¹dnik River changed the chan nel pat tern from me an der ing to braided.The change of chan nel pat - tern was pre ceded by the in ci sion of older de pos its. Phases dessections dat ing for the end of the Early Weichselian and the be gin ning of the Weichselian Early Pleniglacial or the be gin ning Weichselian Mid dle Pleniglacial are re corded in dif fer ent re - gions of Eu rope (e.g., Mol et al., 2000; Huissteden et al., 2001;
Soko³owski et al., 2009). The ver ti cal range of the in ci sion is not pre cisely known, as the up per part of sec tion A has not been ex - am ined.
CONCLUSIONS
In this re gion, the dis cussed site is the first one in clud ing al - lu vial de pos its as signed to the Late Eemian–Weichselian Mid - dle Pleniglacial (MIS 5e–MIS 3).
Flu vial sed i ments of the Pr¹dnik in Kraków, ex posed in a con struc tional ex ca va tion near the Kraków G³ówny rail way sta - tion, bear a re cord of fluc tu a tions in cli mate and cli mate-con - trolled plant as so ci a tions. The pol len anal y sis of peat was sup - ple mented by the re sults of iden ti fi ca tion of mac ro scopic plant re mains. The Eemian–Early Weichselian (MIS 5e–MIS 5a–d) sed i men ta tion pro ceeded in the en vi ron ment of bo real co nif er - ous for ests dom i nated by com mon pine with a small ad mix ture of Larix, Pinus cembra, Picea, Betula and Populus. The stands were of high den sity, how ever, the com mu ni ties pe ri od i cally passed into woody tun dra most likely due to an in crease in ground hu mid ity. Among the three lay ers of biogenic de pos its (C1, C2 and C3), sep a rated by de tri tal sed i ments, the low est one (C1) was prob a bly de pos ited in the Late Eemian, while the two oth ers, in the Brörup and Odderade interstadials, re spec - tively, rep re sent ing the Early Weichselian. How ever, it can not be ex cluded that all of them were de pos ited in the same warm
pe riod. The cli ma tic con di tion dur ing the sed i men ta tion of peat lay ers were typ i fied by a mod er ate cli mate with mean tem per a - tures of the warm est month likely to at tain even +17°C. Mean tem per a tures of the cold est month were pre sum ably of sev eral de grees be low 0°C.
Such con di tions sup ported the ex is tence of me an der ing chan nels, filled with fin ing-up ward de pos its of point-bars, with lithofacies St and SGt over lain by silt with biogenic de pos its (aban doned phase). Straight, inter-me an der chan nel seg ments in cluded lithofacies Sp.
This sed i men tary se ries is marked by an in ci sion, dated at the close of the Early Weichselian. It is fol lowed by a no tice able cool ing of cli mate in the Weichselian Early Pleniglacial (Shalkholz Stadial), marked in the pres ence of abun dant
well-rounded and mat-sur face ae olian grains in flu vial de pos its.
The con tent of ae olian grains in creases up wards in the suc ces - sion. Si mul ta neously, the chan nel pat tern had changed. The Pr¹dnik be came a braided river. There fore, the for ma tion of this seg ment of the Pr¹dnik River gen er ally co in cides with the de - vel op ment of Eu ro pean rivers and their re sponse to en vi ron - men tal changes.
Ac knowl edg ments. We thank M. Komar, W. Granoszew - ski, R. Stachowicz-Rybka, and two anon y mous re view ers for their per cep tive com ments and sug ges tions. Thanks are due to J. Olszak for his kind as sis tance in the field work. Fi nan cial sup - port from the grant No. 11.11.140.175 is kindly ac knowl edged.
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