Re cord of en vi ron men tal changes and flu vial phases in the Late Ho lo cene within the area of Podhale (the Carpathians, south ern Po land):
stud ies in the Falsztyñski val ley
Witold Pawe³ ALEXANDROWICZ1, *
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 ment Pro tec tion, Chair of Gen - eral Ge ol ogy and Geotourism, al. A. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
Alexandrowicz, W.P., 2019. Re cord of en vi ron men tal changes and flu vial phases in the Late Ho lo cene within the area of Podhale (the Carpathians, south ern Po land). Stud ies in the Falsztyñski val ley. Geo log i cal Quar terly, 63 (4): 629–642, doi:
10.7306/gq.1466
The Falsztyñski val ley, in the east ern part of Podhale, Po land in cludes a low ter race span ning the stream chan nel, the struc - ture of which has been stud ied in nine pro files. Five gravel lev els and five mud lev els with plant and abun dant mol lusc re - mains are de scribed, tem po rally con strained by ten ra dio car bon dates. The ter race de pos its rep re sent the ter mi nal part of the At lan tic Phase and all of the Late Ho lo cene. The mol lusc anal y sis helped iden tify phases of en vi ron men tal change, no ta - bly one in the Mid dle Ages con nected with in ten sive set tle ment ac tiv i ties in the area of Podhale. These in clude de for es ta tion, af fect ing mol lusc com mu ni ties with re place ment of for est as sem blages by open-coun try spe cies. The gravel lev els re cords in creased flu vial ac tiv ity pe ri ods cor re lated with hu mid cli mate phases. It is pos si ble to dis tin guish five such pe ri ods cor re - spond ing to the tran si tion of the At lan tic and Subboreal phases, the mid dle part of the Subboreal Phase, the tran si tion of the Subboreal and Subatlantic phases, the youn ger part of the Subatlantic Phase, and the last 200 years. These cor re spond to the pe ri ods of in creased flu vial ac tiv ity in the val leys of other Carpathian rivers.
Key words: en vi ron men tal changes, molluscs, flood phases, Late Ho lo cene, Podhale Ba sin, South ern Po land.
INTRODUCTION
The Ho lo cene rep re sents an inter gla cial phase that fol - lowed the re ces sion of con ti nen tal gla ciers from Eu rope some 10,000 years ago. It is a phase of rel a tively warm cli mate fa - vour ing the ex pan sion of for est com mu ni ties, ini tially co nif er - ous, later mixed and de cid u ous, into the area of Cen tral Eu rope.
It is also the in ter val of the de vel op ment of hu man econ omy and the pro gres sion of anthropogenic pres sure as so ci ated with it.
Hu man ac tiv i ties left their mark in var i ous parts of the area and with dif fer ent in ten si ties. In gen eral, the moun tain ar eas pro - vided more dif fi cult con di tions for colo nis ation and eco nomic ac tiv i ties than the low land and up land parts. There fore, hu man im pact in the moun tains ap pears sig nif i cantly later, of ten even dur ing the most re cent cen tu ries. Dur ing the Ho lo cene, the warmer cli ma tic phases were interspaced with cooler phases, and more hu mid pe ri ods with drier ones. Those fluc tu a tions sig - nif i cantly af fected the course and in ten sity of geo log i cal pro - cesses. The cooler and more hu mid pe ri ods were marked by phases of gla cier in va sions in the Alps (e.g., Patzelt, 1977;
Bortenschlager, 1982; Nussbaumer et al., 2011) and in Scan di -
na via (Karlén, 1988; Nesje, 2009), by el e vated wa ter lev els in both in moun tain lakes (e.g., Magny, 1993, 2004; Holzhauser et al., 2005) and low land lakes (e.g., Ralska-Jasiewiczowa and Starkel, 1988; Wojciechowski, 1999; Alexandrowicz, 2013a), as well as by phases of in ten si fi ca tion of mass move ments (e.g., Alexandrowicz, 1997a, 2013b; Starkel, 1997;
Margielewski, 1998, 2006; Dap ples et al., 2002). The re cord of hu mid cli ma tic phases is very ev i dent in the pro files of al lu vial de pos its, prin ci pally in the form of ero sive sur faces and gravel lev els. In the Pol ish Carpathians, stud ies of these de pos its and pro cesses have a long tra di tion. Nu mer ous re corded pro files have per mit ted the dis tinc tion of a num ber of pe ri ods with in ten - si fied river ac tiv ity and their cor re la tion with phases of cli mate hu mid ity (e.g., Starkel et al., 2006, 2015; Gêbica, 2011, 2013a, b). How ever, the great ma jor ity of these anal y ses are con cen - trated in the val leys of ma jor rivers, and the val leys of smaller rivers and streams have not been stud ied so closely in this re - spect.
The finer river de pos its (sands and muds) of ten con tain the shells of subfossil molluscs. Within the grav els, shells oc cur much more rarely, be cause they were rap idly crushed and re - moved from the sed i ment. The pres ence of cal cium car bon ate which lim its the pos si bil ity of chem i cal dis so lu tion of the shells, chiefly by or ganic ac ids, is also es sen tial (Alexandrowicz and Alexandrowicz, 2011).
The pres ent study is de voted to two ma jor is sues. Firstly, the se quence of fau nal as sem blages pro vides a ba sis for re - con struct ing palaeoenvironmental change within Falsztyñski
* E-mail: wpalex@geol.agh.edu.pl
Received: October 16, 2018; accepted: February 7, 2019; first published online: May 15, 2019
Stream val ley, par tic u larly as re gards the ef fect of cli mate changes and hu man im pact. Sec ondly, cli ma tic phases are dis - tin guished, par tic u larly the pe ri ods of in creased hu mid ity show - ing as in creased in ten si ties of flu vial pro cesses, and cor re lated with re cords of com pa ra ble events in other river val leys, in clud - ing anal y ses of lake sed i ments af fected by land slides and of changes of gla cier ranges within Eu rope.
STUDY AREA
The study area is sit u ated within the Podhale Ba sin. It is an intermontane de pres sion sur rounded by the el e vated mas sifs of the Beskidy Moun tains to the north, and of the Tatra Moun - tains to the south. The ba sin is filled with Paleogene flysch, gently folded in the Lower Mio cene. In the north ern part of the area there is a belt of strongly de formed Ju ras sic and Cre ta - ceous lime stones form ing the Pieniny Klippen Belt (Birkenmajer, 1977, 1986a; Golonka et al., 2018). The Falsztyñski Stream cuts through the for ma tions of the Pieniny Klippen Belt via the tec tonic zone sit u ated in its sub strate (Birkenmajer, 1986b). The val ley stud ied is sit u ated in the east ern part of the Podhale re gion (Fig. 1). The Falsztyñski Stream is ~2 km long. Its sources are sit u ated at ~650 m a.s.l.
in the Branisko mas sif. Orig i nally, it was a right-bank trib u tary of the Dunajec River. How ever, af ter a dam was built at Niedzica, it now emp ties into Lake Czorsztyn (Figs. 1 and 2).
The stream chan nel is lim ited by a ter race up to 2 metres high, but usu ally not ex ceed ing 1.5 m. The val ley it self has a rel a - tively wide, flat floodplain and only in its high est part as sumes the ap pear ance of a V-shaped val ley. Near the end of the 20th cen tury, the slopes and floor of the val ley were de for ested and taken over by cul ti vated fields, grass lands, and pas tures. In the last ten years or so, farm ing ac tiv i ties have been much lim - ited, and this has re sulted in a marked ex pan sion of for est within the val ley.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Field stud ies over sev eral years es tab lished pro files within the low ter race stretch ing along the bed of the Falsztyñski Stream. Ini tially, the anal y ses cov ered five pro files, with pre lim i - nary re sults in cluded in a mono graph on the Qua ter nary molluscs of the Podhale re gion (Alexandrowicz, 1997b). Stud - ies con ducted sub se quently in cluded a de tailed anal y sis of the struc ture of the lower ter race of the Falsztyñski Stream, ob tain - ing fur ther mol lusc re mains (in four more pro files), and ma te rial for ra dio car bon dat ing (10 dates). In all, the stud ies were based on nine pro files (in clud ing one sit u ated in the low est part of the val ley, now flooded by the wa ters of the Czorsztyn Lake; Fig. 2).
The mol lusc sam ples were col lected in par tic u lar pro files in cor - re spon dence with li thol ogy. Their mass was ~2–3 kg. In to tal, with 100 sam ples were col lected. Gravel sam ples were de void of mol lus can shells or con tained at most crushed and un iden ti fi - able shell frag ments. Within the muds, the molluscs were abun - dant and well-pre served. Lab o ra tory pro ce dures in cluded wash ing the ma te rial through sieves with a 5.0 mesh size. Af ter dry ing, the mol lusc shells and their frag ments were re moved.
Iden ti fi ca tion was made with the use of pub lished guides (Kerney et al., 1983; Wiktor, 2004; Wel ter-Schultes, 2012;
Horsák et al., 2013) and ref er ence col lec tions. In each sam ple, the num bers of par tic u lar taxa were de ter mined. In di vid ual spe - cies were al lo cated to eco log i cal groups in ac cor dance with the scheme pro posed by Ložek (1964), Alexandrowicz and Alexandrowicz (2011) and Juøièková et al. (2014a). The per - cent age shares of spe cies and eco log i cal groups pro vided the ba sis for the con struc tion of mol lusc spec tra (Ložek, 1964;
Alexandrowicz and Alexandrowicz, 2011). The use of a dendrogram of sim i lar i ties in volved the PAST sta tis ti cal pack - age (Ham mer et al., 2001) com bined with the use of the for mula de vel oped by Morisita (1959), en abling the iden ti fi ca tion of three prin ci pal types of fauna. The strati graphic po si tion of the de pos its was de ter mined us ing the mol lusc anal y ses and Fig. 1. Lo ca tion of the study area
through ra dio car bon age dat ing of plant re mains in the de pos its.
The re sults of age de ter mi na tions were cal i brated us ing the OxCal soft ware pack age (Bronk Ramsey, 2017). The ra dio met - ric anal y ses (con ven tional dates) were con ducted in the Ab so - lute Dat ing Meth ods Cen tre, In sti tute of Phys ics, Silesian Uni - ver sity of Tech nol ogy in Gliwice (lab o ra tory code Gd).
RESULTS
LITHOLOGY
The geo log i cal struc ture of the de pos its shap ing the low ter - race along the Falsztyñski val ley is rel a tively uni form. The un - der ly ing rocks are ex posed on its floor and com prise thinly lay - ered strongly cal car e ous sand stones and grey cal car e ous shales. The top of the bed rock is up to ten centi metres above the pres ent stream level. The over ly ing al lu vial de pos its are from 0.9 m (pro file Fp-I) to 2.40 m (pro file Fp-VI) thick (Figs. 3 and 4). They are of two fa cies. The first in cludes fine- and me - dium-grained grav els made of sand stone cob bles in a sparse sandy ma trix. The cob bles are only slightly rounded and usu ally discoidal. Their long axes are 5–15 cm long, most of ten 6–10 cm. Spo rad i cally, larger clasts (up to 25 cm) oc cur. There are few sed i men tary struc tures ex cept for traces of imbrication.
Within the ter race, grav els form 3–5 beds from 0.1 to 0.45 m thick in the pro files (Figs. 3 and 4). They are interbedded with strongly cal car e ous dark grey muds that lo cally in clude thin lay - ers or lenses of fine-grained sands. These muds also in clude many plant re mains, lo cally in larger ac cu mu la tions. The plant de tri tus is mostly comminuted, al though there are also some frag ments of branches. This ma te rial, col lected from some of the pro files, pro vided the ba sis for ra dio car bon dat ing (Figs. 3 and 4). In the muds, nu mer ous and well-pre served mol lusc shells were found. The num ber of muddy lay ers in par tic u lar pro files var ied from three to five and their thick ness ranges from 0.1 to 0.5 m (Figs. 3 and 4). The top of the ter race is made of a thin layer of re cent soil.
MOLLUSC FAUNA
The mol lusc fauna iden ti fied in the muds was rich and abun - dant. In 54 sam ples, there were 53 taxa of ter res trial snails, 2 of wa ter snails, and 2 spe cies of bi valves, as well as cal car e ous plates of slugs (Limacidae). The num bers of taxa in par tic u lar sam ples fluc tu ated from 9 to 44, and the num ber of spec i mens from 100 to 593. Nearly 13,000 spec i mens were iden ti fied in to - tal. The ma te rial also con tained un iden ti fi able bro ken frag - ments of shells (more than 1200; Ta ble 1).
Fig. 2. Lo ca tion of pro files of al lu vial de pos its in the Falsztyñski val ley and a lon gi tu di nal sec tion of the val ley
Fig. 3. Li thol ogy and mol lusc fauna of al lu vial de pos its of the Falsztyñski val ley (pro files Fp-I–Fp-V)
Pr – pro files; Sp – sam ples; eco log i cal groups of molluscs (ac cord ing to Ložek, 1964; Alexandrowicz and Alexandrowicz, 2011; Juøièková et al., 2014a); FF – shade-lov ing, for est spe cies, FB – shade-lov ing spe cies liv ing in light for ests and bushy ar eas, FH – shade-lov ing spe cies of hu mid hab i tats, OO – open-coun try spe cies, MI – mesophilous spe cies of mod er ately wet hab i tats, MH – mesophilous spe cies of wet hab i tats, H – hygrophilous spe cies, W – wa ter spe cies
Fig. 4. Li thol ogy and mol lusc fauna of al lu vial de pos its of the Falsztyñski val ley (pro files Fp-I–Fp-V) For ex pla na tions see Figure 3
E Taxon Fp-I Fp-II Fp-III Fp-IV Fp-V Fp-VI Fp-VII Fp-VIII Fp-IX
FF
Acicu la parcelineata (Cless.) 7 7 1 – 8 28 13 2 –
Platylla polita (Hartm.) 16 10 49 1 18 48 32 15 9
Argna bielzi (Rossm.) 4 21 6 – – 16 – – –
Acanthinula aculeata (Müll.) 5 3 2 – 7 31 4 – –
Ver tigo pusilla Müll. 6 – – – 4 12 6 – –
Ena montana (Drap.) 2 14 13 4 8 35 11 3 9
Cochlodina laminata (Mont.) 1 2 1 3 – 3 4 – –
Cochlodina orthostoma (Menke) – 2 – – – 3 3 – 2
Ruthenica filograna (Rossm.) 11 7 19 10 43 31 23 – –
Macrogastra plicatula (Drap.) – – 1 – 8 4 4 – –
Dis cus ruderatus (Hart.) 9 6 5 23 40 25 10 15
Dis cus perspectivus (von Mühl.) 24 17 10 31 28 30 6 13
Vitrea diaphana (Stud.) 72 90 59 12 58 286 107 37 30
Vitrea transsylvanica (Cless.) 26 10 13 7 51 56 15 19 7
Vitrea subrimata (Reinh.) 16 10 18 – – 71 – 1 3
Mediterranea depressa (Sterki) – 7 – – – 44 18 – –
Aegopinella pura (Ald.) 97 88 62 11 54 238 101 36 18
Eucobresia nivalis (Dum.& Mort.) 5 20 11 2 29 85 49 – 9
Petasina unidentata (Drap.) 17 24 6 – 2 56 13 1 5
Faustina faustina (Rossm.) 2 26 11 – 11 36 29 – –
Isognomostoma isognomostomos (Schr.) 15 23 38 5 25 112 30 1 15
FB
Ver tigo ronnebyensis (West.) 1 1 – – – 7 2 – –
Dis cus rotundatus (Müll.) 11 8 – – – 46 – – –
Aegopinella mi nor (Sta bile) 29 18 18 – 3 108 37 6 –
Semilimax kotulae (Drap.) 6 4 5 – 2 18 15 2 –
Fruticicola fruticum (Müll.) 9 13 15 – – 23 8 2 –
Monachoides incarnatus (Müll.) 10 3 7 6 7 41 2 – 15
FH
Vestia turgida (Rossm.) – 4 5 – – 16 3 –
Vestia gulo (Bielz) – 11 4 2 2 6 – – 23
Vitrea crystallina (Müll.) 75 226 169 1 106 596 282 24 54
Monachoides vicinus (Rossm.) 202 57 77 17 17 75 19 17 40
Urticicola umbrosus (Pfeif fer) 1 – – – – 12 – 3 –
OO
Vallonia costata (Müll.) 106 172 186 105 97 37 53 40 90
Vallonia pulchella (Müll.) 264 346 128 78 152 129 51 33 76
Pupilla muscorum (L.) 57 52 65 36 22 12 13 13 –
Ver tigo pygmaea (Drap.) 22 26 6 17 8 4 6 9 –
MI
Cochlicopa lubrica (Müll.) 59 30 49 5 70 100 47 34 81
Clausilia dubia Drap. – 2 3 – – 4 3 1 3
Punctum pygmaeum (Drap.) 46 28 52 – 77 9 52 39 24
Vitrea contracta (West.) 4 5 10 12 – 2 – 8 20
Euconulus fulvus (Müll.) 47 9 14 – 4 14 45 40 –
Perpolita hammonis (Ström) 48 14 35 – 10 24 15 57 1
Vitrina pellucida (Müll.) 4 1 1 – – – – – –
Limacidae 12 6 21 3 11 3 – 7 11
MH
Carychium tridentatum (Risso) 53 129 75 9 101 306 174 34 55
Succinella oblonga (Drap.) 3 – 63 6 – 13 – – –
Ver tigo substriata (Jeff.) 4 3 – – 22 41 34 – –
Ver tigo angustior Jeff. – 10 67 – – – – – –
Trochulus villosulus (Rossm.) 1 5 9 – – 15 4 – –
Perforatella bidentata (Gmel.) 27 37 119 16 28 48 23 2 32
Arianta arbustorum (L.) 39 35 101 25 47 94 15 75 67
H
Carychium min i mum Müll. 1 18 1 8 36 54 26 8 40
Succinea putris (L.) 11 5 42 4 28 19 11 5 23
Ver tigo geyeri Lindh. – – – – – 8 3 – –
W
Galba truncatula (Müll.) 8 19 89 5 24 49 25 6 –
Anisus leucostoma Standb. – 3 48 22 – – – – 4
Pisidium casertanum (Poli) – – 18 – – 9 – – –
Pisidium personatum Malm 5 5 6 – 17 35 20 – –
To tal spe cies 48 52 50 28 40 63 50 34 31
To tal in di vid u als 1274 1697 1840 431 1275 3293 1515 597 802
In de ter mi nate shells frag ments 157 201 197 63 112 233 122 88 75
For ex pla na tions see Fig ure 3; Fp-I–Fp-IX pro files de scribed in text
T a b l e 1 List of spe cies rec og nized in pro files of al lu vial de pos its in the Falsztyñski val ley
The taxa in the ma te rial ana lysed rep re sented all prin ci pal eco log i cal groups. The most nu mer ous were shade-lov ing spe - cies (32 taxa). The for est spe cies (eco log i cal group FF) in clude both spe cies pre fer ring the high pro por tion of co nif er ous trees (Dis cus ruderatus), as well as snails typ i cal of mixed and de cid - u ous for ests (Dis cus perspectivus, Ruthenica filograna, Aegopinella pura). The pres ence of taxa which pre fer a rel a - tively hu mid sub strate (Vitrea diaphana) is a char ac ter is tic fea - ture (Ta ble 1). Slightly less nu mer ous are taxa typ i cal of sparse for ests and shrubs (eco log i cal group FB). The pres ence of Ver - tigo ronnebyensis and Semilimax kotulae war rants par tic u lar at - ten tion. The first was re corded in sev eral Late Gla cial and Early Ho lo cene lo cal i ties within the Pol ish part of the Carpathians (Alexandrowicz, 1997b, 2004, 2013c; Alexandrowicz et al., 2014, 2016). It went ex tinct in the area, prob a bly dur ing the Mid - dle Ho lo cene. Semilimax kotulae is of ten found in the Carpathians, and it is com mon in Early Ho lo cene de pos its.
Now a days, it can be re garded as a gla cial rel ict (Alexandrowicz, 1997b, 2004, 2013c; Wiktor, 2004; Alexandrowicz et al., 2014, 2016; Juøièková et al., 2014b; Horáèková et al., 2015; Ta ble 1).
The third group of shade-lov ing snails con sists of spe cies char - ac ter is tic of hu mid and very hu mid hab i tats (eco log i cal group FH): Vitrea crystallina and Monachoides vicinus (Ta ble 1). The shade-lov ing spe cies are most nu mer ous in the lower parts of the pro files, and rare in their tops (Figs. 3, 4 and Ta ble 1). Four spe cies are forms typ i cal of open, for est-free hab i tats (eco log i - cal group OO). Two of the spe cies (Vallonia pulchella and Vallonia costata) ap pear in very great num bers high in the pro - files where they are pre dom i nant (Figs. 3, 4 and Ta ble 1). Spe - cies of wide eco log i cal tol er ance (mesophilous) oc cur in all sam ples, but usu ally only as a sup ple men tary com po nent of the fauna. Taxa re quir ing mod er ate lev els of mois ture (eco log i cal group MI) as well as taxa pre fer ring hu mid sub strates (eco log i - cal group MH) are pres ent here. The first group in cludes com - mon and widely dis trib uted snails such as Punctum pygmaeum, Perpolita hammonis, and Euconulus fulvus. The char ac ter is tic com po nent of the sec ond group com prises two spe cies of ten found in over shad owed and very hu mid hab i tats on the floodplains of rivers and streams (Perforatella bidentata and Arianta arbustorum; Figs. 3, 4 and Ta ble 1). Hygrophilous spe - cies (eco log i cal group H) oc cur only rarely. Of note is the pres - ence of the cold-lov ing tun dra taxon Ver tigo geyeri. This snail is known to oc cur in the Pleis to cene, Late Gla cial, and Early Ho lo - cene suc ces sions of the Podhale Ba sin (Alexandrowicz, 1997b, 2004, 2013c, 2015; Alexandrowicz et al., 2014). It has re cently been re ported from this area as a gla cial rel ict (Pokryszko, 1990, 2003; Limondin-Lozouet, 1992; Krolopp and Sumegi, 1993; Schénkova et al., 2012; Figs. 3, 4 and Ta ble 1). Aquatic molluscs (eco log i cal group W) are rep re sented by only four taxa, and they play only a sec ond ary role in the as sem blage (Figs. 3, 4 and Ta ble 1).
FAUNAL ASSEMBLAGES
The use of a sim i lar ity dendrogram per mit ted the rec og ni - tion of three types of mol lusc as sem blages (Fig. 5). The first type in cludes ma jor pro por tions of shade-lov ing spe cies (of ten ex ceed ing 60% of the as sem blage; S-L, Fig. 5). Fau nas of this na ture are pres ent in the lower in ter vals of all pro files ana lysed.
Mesophilous snails sup ple ment the as sem blages and the rep - re sen ta tives of other eco log i cal groups con sti tute only a small ad mix ture. This fauna char ac ter ises a strongly over shad owed en vi ron ment of mixed and co nif er ous for ests grow ing on a rel a - tively hu mid sub strate. Rich and spe cies-di verse as sem blages with a rel a tively large pro por tion of shade-lov ing taxa have been de scribed from Qua ter nary de pos its of the Podhale Ba sin
(Alexandrowicz, 1997b, 2001, 2004, 2013c, 2015, 2017;
Alexandrowicz and Rybska, 2013; Alexandrowicz et al., 2014, 2016). Their oc cur rence is usu ally as so ci ated with a warm and hu mid cli mate, here cor re spond ing to the Mid dle Ho lo cene cli - ma tic op ti mum (At lan tic Phase). It is most prob a ble that, af ter that phase, dur ing the Subboreal Phase, the di ver sity of the shade-lov ing com po nent in the as sem blages de creased as a re sult of ad verse cli ma tic changes. This is par tic u larly clearly seen in a re mark able de crease in the fre quency of spe cies with high hab i tat and ther mal re quire ments. This ten dency is also clearly seen in the Falsztyñski val ley profies. While shells of Dis cus perspectivus, Ruthenica filograna and sev eral other spe cies are pres ent in the lower parts of the pro files, they dis ap - pear up wards be ing re placed by forms with lower eco log i cal re - quire ments. These ob ser va tions in di cate that the de po si tion of the ter race de pos its in the Falsztyñski val ley started in the fi nal part of the At lan tic Phase and per sisted through the en tire Late Ho lo cene (Subboreal and At lan tic phases). Such con clu sions are sup ported by the re sults of ra dio car bon dat ing (dates C-1, C-2, C-5, C-6, C-7 and C-9; Figs. 3, 4 and Ta ble 2). The sec ond type of fauna (O-C, Fig. 5) is char ac ter ized by a pre dom i nance of open-coun try snails (Vallonia pulchella, Vallonia costata) whose pro por tion in the as sem blages usu ally ex ceeds 60%. It is also char ac ter ized by a poor spe cies com po si tion, and in par - tic u lar, by a very low pro por tion of shade-lov ing taxa. This as - sem blage in di cates the ex is tence of open-coun try, grass land hab i tats, and a rel a tively dry sub strate. Fau nas of sim i lar type were re ported from the area of the Podhale Ba sin at a num ber cal car e ous tufa and al lu vial de posit lo cal i ties (Alexandrowicz, 1997b, 2013c; Alexandrowicz and Rybska, 2013; Alexandro - wicz et al., 2014) that ac cu mu lated dur ing the last sev eral cen - tu ries. The top parts of the pro files in the Falsztyñski val ley may be as so ci ated with the same pe riod. The links be tween the de - pos its and the his tor i cal pe riod are also con strained by the ra - dio car bon dates (dates C-3, C-4, C-8 and C-10; Figs. 3, 4 and Ta ble 2). The emer gence of the as sem blages dom i nated by the spe cies of open hab i tats and the rapid dis ap pear ance of shade-lov ing as sem blages was un doubt edly as so ci ated with the anthropogenic de for es ta tion of large ar eas of the Podhale re gion. The oc cur rence of a num ber of mesophilous spe cies is char ac ter is tic of the last as sem blage type (MI, Fig. 5). It was found only in a few sam ples. This as sem blage can be re garded as a tran si tional type be tween those de scribed above.
DISCUSSION
Within the ter race, the anal y sis of the gravel and mud suc - ces sions, sup ported by mol lusc as sem blage anal y ses and age de ter mi na tions, al lowed the iden ti fi ca tion of five lev els of gravel sep a rated by mud de pos its (Fig. 6). These lev els can be cor re - lated with pe ri ods of in ten si fied flu vial ac tiv ity seen flood phases. The pres ence of many mol lusc shells in the muds al - lows re con struc tion of the hab i tats ex ist ing be tween these phases.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE FALSZTYÑSKI VALLEY DURING THE LATE HOLOCENE
The chro no log i cally old est de pos its are ex posed in the pro - file Fp-IV, and they are rep re sented by a mud unit with abun - dant fauna. These rest di rectly on bed rock (M-1, Figs. 6 and 7).
The molluscs within that part of the pro file com prise chiefly shade-lov ing spe cies among which are some with high eco log i - cal re quire ments (par tic u larly ther mal; e.g., Dis cus perspectivus, Ruthenica filograna). The eco log i cal struc ture of
Fig. 5. Clus ter anal y sis of mol lusc fau nas from the al lu vial de pos its of the Falsztyñski val ley O-C, MI, S-L – types of mol lus c fauna de scribed in text, sp – sam ples
Date Age (BP) Lab. code Age (cal BC/AD) Ma te rial
C-1 3850 ±60 Gd-12178 2472–2189 cal BC (90.0%)
2182–2141 cal BC (5.4%) plant re mains C-2 2930 ±50 Gd-5106 1279–993 cal BC (95.0%)
987–980 cal BC (0.4%) plant re mains C-3 510 ±40 Gd-10026 1318–1352 cal AD (14.7%)
1390–1450 cal AD (80.7%) plant re mains C-4 120 ±30 Gd-19046 1679–1765 cal AD (32.6%)
1800–1940 cal AD (62.8%) plant re mains C-5 2780 ±50 Gd-19185 1049–820 cal BC (95.4%) plant re mains C-6 5610 ±130 Gd-2316 4784–4229 cal BC (94.6%)
4197–4173 cal BC (0.8%) plant re mains C-7 3350 ±40 Gd-17353 1741–1711 cal BC (8.8%)
1700–1529 cal BC (86.6%) plant re mains
C-8 150 ±40 Gd-5754
1666–1785 cal AD (45.7%) 1795–1893 cal AD (32.3%) 1907–…. cal AD (17.4%)
plant re mains
C-9 4400 ±80 Gd-8052 3339–3206 cal BC (23.6%)
3196–2897 cal BC (71.8%) plant re mains C-10 480 ±40 Gd-5269 1327–1343 cal AD (2.6%)
1394–1476 cal AD (92.8%) plant re mains T a b l e 2 Ra dio car bon dates
Fig. 6. In ter nal struc ture of the low Falsztyñski ter race
Fig. 7. En vi ron men tal changes in the Falsztyñski val ley dur ing Late Ho lo cene
Pr – syn thetic pro file, C-14 – ra dio car bon dates, Li – li thol ogy, Sp – sam ples, Ma – mol lusc fauna, Ev – en vi ron ment
this fauna in di cates a pre dom i nance of for est com mu ni ties with ma jor pro por tions of de cid u ous trees grow ing on a rel a tively hu - mid sub strate, per sist ing through out this pe riod (Fig. 7). The small pro por tion of spe cies from the re main ing eco log i cal group in di cates the low im por tance of other types of hab i tats. Ra dio - car bon dat ing of this layer yielded the fol low ing re sults:
5610 ±130 BP (4784–4229 cal BC and 4197–4173 cal BC – date C-6; Figs. 6, 7 and Ta ble 2). This in di cates that this part of the suc ces sion was de pos ited close to the end of the At lan tic Phase. The mol lusc anal y ses lead to sim i lar con clu sions. In the Podhale Ba sin, the pe riod of the Ho lo cene Cli ma tic Op ti mum was characteriedz by the de vel op ment of de cid u ous and mixed for est com mu ni ties. This is well-doc u mented in the palynological pro files of the peat bogs in the west ern part of the Podhale Ba sin (Orawa Ba sin; pol len zones: Ulmus–Tilia–Quer - cus– Fra xinus and Corylus; Obidowicz, 1990; Rybnièek and Rybnièková, 2002) as well as in many mol lusc pro files (Alexandrowicz, 1997b, 2001, 2004, 2013c, 2015, 2017;
Alexandrowicz and Rybska, 2013; Alexandrowicz et al., 2014, 2016). In pro file Fp-VI, these muds are over lain by the old est gravel layer (G-1). In the re main ing pro files, it rests di rectly on bed rock (Figs. 6 and 7), and it prob a bly rep re sents the older part of the Subboreal Phase. The se quence above it in cludes three lay ers of mud (M-2, M-3 and M-4) sep a rated by two lay ers of gravel (G-2 and G-3; Figs. 6 and 7). The mol lusc as sem blage iden ti fied within the muddy lev els has a ma jor pro por tion of shade-lov ing forms, but its spe cies struc ture is very dif fer ent from that de scribed above (of layer M-1). There is a dis ap pear - ance of spe cies with high ther mal re quire ments, and their place is taken by snails of greater eco log i cal tol er ance. The pro por - tion of mesophilous forms also in creases. These changes are the con se quences of wors ened cli ma tic con di tions. The ef fects in cluded im pov er ish ment of for est biocoenoses as well as the in creased im por tance of co nif er ous trees, par tic u larly Abies and Picea (Obidowicz, 1990; Rybnièek and Rybnièková, 2002), and, in some places, re place ment of these by scrub veg e ta tion.
The emer gence of such plant com mu ni ties sig nif i cantly de - creased the di ver sity of the mol lusc as sem blages. Such a ten - dency is char ac ter is tic of the de pos its as so ci ated with the Subboreal Phase. It is marked in many mol lusc-bear ing pro files within the Carpathians (Alexandrowicz, 1997b, 2001, 2004, 2014, 2017; Alexandrowicz et al., 2014, 2016; Juøièková et al., 2014b; Horáèková et al., 2015). This age in ter pre ta tion is sup - ported by the re sults of ra dio car bon dat ing of plant re mains from layer M-2 as fol lows: 4400 ±80 years BP (3339–3206 cal BC and 3196–2897 cal BC; C-9 and 3850 ±60 years BP (2472–2189 cal BC and 2182–2141 cal BC; C-1), from layer M-3: 3350 ±40 years BP (1741–1711 cal BC and 1700–1529 cal BC; C-7), and from layer M-4: 2930 ±50 years BP (1279–993 cal BC and 987–980 cal BC; C-2), and 2780 ±50 years BP (1049–820 cal BC; C-5; Figs. 6, 7 and Ta ble 2). In the top part of the ter race, two lay ers of gravel can be dis tin guished (G-4 and G-5) sep a rated by the youn gest layer of muds (M-5) and cov ered by con tem po rary soil (Figs. 6 and 7). The first of these lev els of gravel (G-4) is rel a tively thick at up to 0.4 m, but it ap pears only in the lower part of the val ley (Figs. 6 and 7). The higher level (G-5) ex tends along the whole length of the ter race stud ied, but it is thin (Figs. 6 and 7). The layer of mud sep a rat - ing the gravel beds decribed above is char ac ter ized by par tic u - larly high amounts of plant re mains (layer M-5). Frag ments of char coal are also found there, and, at the top, there are spo rad i - cally oc cur ring ce ramic frag ments. Rel a tively nu mer ous molluscs also oc cur there. Their com po si tion and struc ture are en tirely dif fer ent from the as sem blages pres ent in lay ers M-1–M-4; the most char ac ter is tic fea ture is the dis ap pear ance of shade-lov ing spe cies. The pre dom i nant eco log i cal group is that of the snails of open grass land hab i tats, ac com pa nied by
mark edly fewer mesophilous forms (Figs. 6 and 7). Such a sig - nif i cant re mod el ling of the mol lusc as sem blage struc ture was as so ci ated with a rapid dis ap pear ance of for est com mu ni ties.
The dat ing of the basal part of this layer (510 ±40 years BP;
1318–1352 cal AD and 1390–1450 cal AD; C-3 and 480 ±40 years BP; 1327–1343 cal AD and 1394–1476 cal AD; C-10;
Figs. 6, 7 and Ta ble 2) in di cate that ini ti a tion of mud de po si tion was in the sec ond part of the 14th cen tury. This pe riod was as - so ci ated with a phase of in tense set tle ment ac tiv i ties. The in flux of hu man groups into the Podhale re gion as well as to neigh - bour ing lands re sulted, inter alia, in ex ten sive de for es ta tion and the re plac ing of the orig i nal for est com mu ni ties by grass lands and, in some ar eas, by cul ti vated fields. These pro cesses are well-doc u mented in palynological pro files of Podhale peat bogs (NAP phase; Obidowicz, 1990), as well as at many mol - lusc-bear ing lo ca tions (Alexandrowicz, 1997b, 2004, 2013d).
Sim i lar phe nom ena are seen in large ar eas of the Carpathians (Alexandrowicz, 2004, 2013d; Horsák et al., 2007;
Alexandrowicz et al., 2014, 2016). The basal layer of the grav - els is as so ci ated with a pe riod of in ten si fied flu vial ac tiv ity oc cur - ring in the most re cent 100–200 years. The age de ter mi na tions per formed in the top part of layer M-5 gave the fol low ing re sults:
150 ±40 years BP: 1666–1785 cal AD, 1795–1893 cal AD and 1907–…. cal AD; C-8 and 120 ±30 years BP; 1679–1765 cal AD and 1800–1940 cal AD; C-4 (Figs. 6, 7 and Ta ble 2), sup - port ing this in ter pre ta tion.
As fol lows from the ob ser va tions pre sented above, the evo - lu tion of the Falsztyñski val ley in the Late Ho lo cene pro ceeded in stages. Pe ri ods of in ten si fied flu vial ac tiv ity, re corded in the form of gravel lev els, were in ter spersed with phases typ i fied by qui eter sed i men ta tion. In the lat ter pe ri ods, chiefly fine-grained sed i ments con tain ing the re mains of plants and snails were de - pos ited. The mol lusc as sem blages de scribed above in di cate that, near the end of the At lan tic Phase and dur ing the Subboreal Phase as well as dur ing the older part of the Subatlantic Phase, the Falsztyñski val ley was over grown by com pact for ests. Ini tially, these were mixed com mu ni ties with a ma jor pro por tion of de cid u ous trees. Later, with the wors en ing of cli ma tic con di tions, co nif er ous for ests with Abies and Picea as their main com po nents, as well as shrub veg e ta tion, as - sumed in creas ingly im por tant roles. A sud den change in the na - ture of hab i tats is marked in the youn ger part of the Subatlantic Phase, and it is as so ci ated with the de vel op ment of set tle ment ac tiv i ties, ex ten sive de for es ta tion, and the sub se quent emer - gence of open grass land biotopes. Sim i lar en vi ron men tal ten - den cies within the Podhale re gion and neigh bour ing lands are doc u mented in palynological (Obidowicz, 1990; Rybnièek and Rybnièková, 2002) and mol lusc-bear ing pro files (Horsák et al., 2007; Alexandrowicz, 2013d; Alexandrowicz et al., 2014, 2016).
CHRONOLOGY OF FLOOD PHASES
The pres ence of gravel lev els within the Falsztyñski ter - race can be linked to the pe ri ods of in ten si fied flu vial ac tiv ity of the stream. Stud ies con ducted for many years in the Carpathian val leys (e.g., Starkel et al., 2006, 2015; Gêbica, 2011, 2013a, b) sug gest that these phases close re late to cli - mate fluc tu a tions, par tic u larly cor re spond ing to pe ri ods of in - creased hu mid ity. De tailed stud ies of the in ter nal struc ture of the Falsztyñski ter race, of the palaeoenvironmental char ac ter - is tics based on en closed mol lusc re mains, and ra dio car bon dates, help es tab lish the age and du ra tion of flood phases and to link these data with the re sults of stud ies car ried out in other ar eas of the Carpathians (Fig. 8).
The old est gravel layer (G-1) rests di rectly on bed rock ex - cept in Pro file Fp-VI, where it is un der lain by the old est mud layer (M-1) dated at 5610 ±130 years BP (4784–4229 cal BC
and 4197–4173 cal BC; C-6). The age de ter mi na tions of the base of the mud layer cov er ing this gravel (layer M-2) yielded the fol low ing ages: 4400 ±80 years BP (3339–3206 cal BC and 3196–2897 cal BC; C-9; Figs. 6–8 and Ta ble 2). The time frames so es tab lished al low link ing of this phase to the pe riod of in creased cli mate hu mid ity at the bound ary be tween the At lan - tic and Subboreal phases and/or the old est part of the Subboreal Phase (Fig. 8). The humidification and cool ing of the cli mate in that pe riod brought about, apart from in creased flow in the Carpathian rivers (e.g., Starkel et al., 2006, 2015; Gêbica, 2011, 2013a, b), an in creased in ten sity and fre quency of mass move ments (Alexandrowicz, 1997a, 2013b; Starkel, 1997;
Margielewski, 1998, 2006; Dap ples et al., 2002). The same cli - ma tic phase is also marked in other parts of Eu rope. This is re - flected in an in crease in wa ter lev els in lakes both in Eu ro pean low lands and the Al pine re gion (Ralska-Jasiewiczowa and Starkel, 1988; Magny, 1993, 2004; Wojciechowski, 1999;
Holzhauser et al., 2005; Alexandrowicz, 2013a) as well as by the ad vance of gla ciers in the Alps and Scan di na via (e.g., Patzelt, 1977; Bortenschlager, 1982; Karlén, 1988; Nesje, 2009; Nussbaumer et al., 2011; Fig. 8). The age range of the sec ond layer of gravel (G-2) is con strained by ra dio car bon dates within two muddy in ter ca la tions, which limit it, as in di - cated by the fol low ing: M-2 (3850 ±60 years BP, 2472–2189 cal Fig. 8. Cor re la tion model of cli ma tic changes in cen tral Eu rope dur ing the Late Ho lo cene
Ag – age; St – stra tig ra phy: At – At lan tic Phase, MH – Mid dle Ho lo cene, LH – Late Ho lo cene, SB – Subboreal Phase, SA – Subatlantic Phase; Li – gen eral li thol ogy of al lu vial de pos its of the Falsztyñski val ley: G-1–G-5 – gravel units, M-1–M-5 – mud units (de scribed in text); C-14 – ra dio car bon dates (C-1–C-10); FP – flood phases (Fl-I–Fl-V) de scribed in the Falsztyñski val ley; FS – Falsztyñski val ley (this pa per); LSPC – land slides in the Pol ish Carpathians [af ter Margielewski, 2006 (A); Alexandrowicz, 1996, 2013b (B)]; FPPC – flood phases in Pol ish Carpathians [af ter Starkel et al., 2006, 2015 (A);
Gêbica, 2011, 2013a, b (B)], ALL – phases of high wa ter level in Al pine lakes (af ter Magny, 1993, 2004; Holzhauser et al., 2005); AGA – Al pine gla cier ad vances (af ter Patzelt, 1977; Bortenschlager, 1982; Nussbaumer et al., 2011); CCP – cold cli - ma tic phases: IACE – Iron Age Cold Ep och, DA – Dark Ages Cold Ep och, LIA – Lit tle Ice Age (af ter Grove, 1988; Briffa, 2000;
Bradley, 2000; Mayewski et al., 2004)
BC and 2182–2141 cal BC; C-1), as well as M-3 (3350 ±40 years BP, 1741–1711 cal BC and 1700–1529 cal BC; C-7;
Figs. 6–8 and Ta ble 2); the dates link these grav els with the mid dle part of the Subboreal Phase. In ten si fi ca tion of Carpathian flu vial ac tiv ity took place at this time (e.g., Starkel et al., 2006, 2015; Gêbica, 2011, 2013a, b), while the in creased hu mid ity also likely caused a num ber of land slides within the Carpathians (Starkel, 1997; Margielewski, 1998, 2006;
Alexandrowicz, 1997a, 2013b). Ad vance of Al pine and Scan di - na vian gla ciers (e.g., Patzelt, 1977; Bortenschlager, 1982;
Karlén, 1988; Nesje, 2009; Nussbaumer et al., 2011) and an in - crease in wa ter lev els are also as so ci ated with this cli ma tic phase (Ralska-Jasiewiczowa and Starkel, 1988; Wojcie - chowski, 1999; Magny, 1993, 2004; Holzhauser et al., 2005;
Alexandrowicz, 2013a). The third gravel level (G-3) cor re - sponds to the bound ary be tween the Subboreal and Subatlantic phases, and it is con strained by the fol low ing dates:
C-7 (layer M-3) – 3350 ±40 years BP (1741–1711 cal BC and 1700–1529 cal BC) and C-2 (layer M-4) – 2930 ±50 years BP (1279–993 cal BC and 987–980 cal BC; Figs. 6–8 and Ta ble 2).
That pe riod cor re sponds to the phase of cooler and more hu mid cli mate (Birks, 1990; Mackay et al., 2003; Mayewski et al., 2004) as so ci ated with an ev i dent de crease in so lar ac tiv ity (van Geel et al., 1999). As a con se quence, gravel ac cu mu lated in the Carpathian river val leys. Due to the pres ence of tree trunks within the de pos its, this pe riod is also well-doc u mented via dendrochronological anal y ses (Kr¹piec, 1996, 2001; Gêbica and Kr¹piec, 2009). The humidification of cli mate ob served at the bound ary be tween the Subboreal and Subatlantic phases is also in di cated by the in ten si fi ca tion of mass move ments (Alexandrowicz, 1997a, 2013b; Starkel, 1997; Margielewski, 1998, 2006), river ac tiv ity (e.g., Starkel et al., 2006, 2015;
Gêbica, 2011, 2013a, b), an in crease in lake lev els (Ralska- Jasiewiczowa and Starkel, 1988; Wojciechowski, 1999; Magny, 1993, 2004; Holzhauser et al., 2005; Alexandrowicz, 2013a), as well as gla cial ad vances in the Alps and on the Scan di na vian Pen in sula (Patzelt, 1977; Bortenschlager, 1982; Karlén, 1988;
Nesje, 2009; Nussbaumer et al., 2011). The phase is termed the Iron Age Cold Ep och (Birks, 1990; Mackay et al., 2003;
Mayewski et al., 2004). The next, fourth gravel level (G-4), is thick, but ap pears only in the lower part of the val ley (Fig. 8).
The age de ter mi na tions (2780 ±50 years BP (1049–820 cal BC;
layer M-4, date C-5) and 510 ±40 years BP; 1318–1352 cal AD and 1390–1450 cal AD and 480 ±40 years BP; 1327–1343 cal AD and 1394–1476 cal AD (layer M-5, dates C-3 and C-10)) point to the youn ger part of the Subatlantic Phase. That pe riod is prob a bly as so ci ated with sev eral cli ma tic fluc tu a tions of which the most prom i nent cor re sponds to the early Dark Ages Cold Pe riod; (Birks, 1990; Mackay et al., 2003; Mayewski et al., 2004; Helama et al., 2017). In the Carpathian val leys, sev eral flood phases are re corded (e.g., Starkel et al., 2006, 2015;
Gêbica, 2011, 2013a, b) that are sep a rated by pe ri ods of slower sed i men ta tion. These brief cool pe ri ods are also re flected in ad - vances of the Al pine gla ciers as well as in the pe ri ods of high lake lev els (Patzelt, 1977; Bortenschlager, 1982; Ralska-Jasie - wi czo wa and Starkel, 1988; Magny, 1993, 2004; Wojcie - chowski, 1999; Holzhauser et al., 2005; Nussbaumer et al., 2011; Alexandrowicz, 2013a). In the Falsztyñski val ley, it is im - pos si ble to dis tin guish these mi nor cli ma tic fluc tu a tions. There is only one gravel layer, of re mark able thick ness but with a ho - mo ge neous in ter nal struc ture. The top of the low Falsztyñski ter race is com posed of the youn gest gravel unit (G-5). It ex - tends along the whole val ley, but is thin (Fig. 8). It rep re sents the most re cent 200 years. The ra dio car bon dates made of the top of the youn gest mud unit (layer M-5) gave the fol low ing re - sults: 150 ±40 years BP: 1666–1785 cal AD, 1795–1893 cal AD
and 1907–…. cal AD C-8 and 120 ±30 years BP; 1679–1765 cal AD and 1800–1940 cal AD; C-4 (Figs. 6–8 and Ta ble 2).
These re sults in di cate that the G-5 layer formed dur ing the cold and hu mid cli mate of the Lit tle Ice Age. Within the most re cent 200 years, there were two marked cool ing pe ri ods that cor re - lated with phases of de creased so lar ac tiv ity: the Maun der and Dal ton min ima (Lamb, 1977; Grove, 1988; Briffa, 2000; Brad - ley, 2000; Mayewski et al., 2004; Matthews and Briffa, 2005).
The ma jor in ten si fi ca tion of floods in this pe riod led to gravel ac - cu mu la tion, and also to the ero sive deep en ing of river beds and cut ting through older al lu vial cov ers, widely de scribed in the Carpathian river val leys (e.g., Starkel et al., 2006, 2015; Gêbica, 2011, 2013a, b). This was also fol lowed by the ac ti va tion of land - slides (Alexandrowicz, 1997a, 2013b; Starkel 1997;
Margielewski, 1998, 2006). The Lit tle Ice Age is also as so ci ated with in volv ing Al pine gla cier ad vance (Patzelt, 1977;
Bortenschlager, 1982; Nussbaumer et al., 2011) and a rise in lake level (Ralska-Jasie wiczowa and Starkel, 1988; Wojcie - chowski, 1999; Magny, 1993, 2004; Holzhauser et al., 2005;
Alexandrowicz, 2013a). In the Falsztyñski val ley, this pe riod is as so ci ated with the ac cu mu la tion of the youn gest grav els as well as with the lat est ero sion of the ter race down to bed rock (Fig. 8).
CONCLUSIONS
Stud ies of the low ter race de pos its of the Falsztyñski val ley have re con struc tion of en vi ron men tal changes on the ba sis of mol lusc as sem blage anal y sis, con strain ing the chro nol ogy of phases of in creased flu vial ac tiv ity in the Late Ho lo cene. Anal y - sis of rich mol lusc ma te rial pre served in mud lay ers (lay ers M-1–M-5), showed a gen eral per sis tence of shaded hab i tat.
These were com pact, ini tially mixed for ests; how ever, with wors en ing con di tions for veg e ta tion dur ing the Subboreal Phase, they showed an in creas ing pro por tion of co nif er ous trees, chiefly Abies and Picea. Such changes in veg e ta tion brought about a grad ual de crease in mol lusc spe cies di ver sity, par tic u larly the dis ap pear ance of taxa with higher eco log i cal re - quire ments. Fau nal as sem blages as so ci ated with the At lan tic and Subatlantic phases are de scribed from a num ber of lo ca - tions in the Podhale re gion, but those cor re spond ing to the Subboreal Phase are known only to a small ex tent. In this re - spect, the Falsztyñski river pro files are ex cep tional. Rapid change in hab i tat took place in the Mid dle Ages. This cor re lates with the warm pe riod of the Me di eval Cli ma tic Op ti mum (Grove and Switsur, 1994; Bradley, 2000; Briffa, 2000; Jones and Mann, 2004), when large hu man groups ap peared in the Podhale area (Ralska-Jasiewiczowa and Starkel, 1988;
Czepiel, 1999). The need for cul ti vated fields and pas tures led to ex tended de for es ta tion, mainly in ar eas of low re lief and wide river val leys (Alexandrowicz, 1997b, 2013d). The Falsztyñski val ley was among such de for ested ar eas. The re cord of these pro cesses is eas ily read able in mol lusc-bear ing pro files, re - flected by the dis ap pear ance of rich as sem blages dom i nated by shade-lov ing spe cies and their re place ment by spe cies-poor as sem blages com posed chiefly of taxa typ i cal of open hab i tats.
The Late Ho lo cene in cluded char ac ter is tic cli mate fluc tu a - tions. Dur ing the hu mid pe ri ods, in ten si fied flu vial ac tiv ity took place over large ar eas of Eu rope, with en hanced gravel ac cu - mu la tion. Within the Falsztyñski ter race, five lev els of grav els can be dis tin guished (G-1–G-5), their chro nol ogy con strained by ra dio car bon dat ing. Par tic u lar phases en com pass the end of the At lan tic Phase and the old est part of the Subboreal Phase (F-1), the mid dle part of the Subboreal Phase (F-2), as well as the bound ary in ter val be tween the Subboreal and Subatlantic phases (F-3), the youn ger part of the Subatlantic Phase (F-4),
and the most re cent 200 years (F-5). The chro nol ogy of these phases cor re lates well with sim i lar schemes worked out in stud - ies of rivers, land slides, gla ciers and lakes in other Carpathian and Al pine zones, with lo cal vari a tions re sult ing from in di vid ual val ley char ac ter is tics and the mor pho log i cal and cli ma tic con di - tions across the whole Podhale Ba sin.
Ac knowl edg ments.This study has been spon sored by the AGH Uni ver sity of Sci ence and Tech nol ogy through Uni ver sity grant no 11.11.140.005. I also would like to thank Prof.
P. Sümegi and an anon y mous re viewer for their con struc tive com ments.
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