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Climate control on alluvial sediment storage in the northern foreland of the Tatra Mountains since the late Pleistocene

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2018

Janusz Olszak*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, AGH University of Science and Technology, Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
Józef Kukulak
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Pedagogical University of Kraków, Podchorążych 2, 30-084 Kraków, Poland
Helena Alexanderson
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden
*
*Corresponding author at: Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, AGH University of Science and Technology, Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland. E-mail: joszak@geol.agh.edu.pl (J. Olszak).

Abstract

Numerical dating and geomorphic studies on alluvial sediment were undertaken in the uppermost reaches of the Dunajec River catchment in the northern foreland of the Tatra Mountains of Poland. Successions of alluvial deposits in river terraces and alluvial fans are common in this region. In particular, alluvial fans deposited a thick succession of sediment in the intramontane Orawa–Nowy Targ Depression, and terraces are preserved as two cut-and-fill and six strath terraces along the uplifting sections of river courses. We identify several alluviation phases within the alluvial successions that occurred since Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 6. These sediments show that deposition largely occurred under temperate-climate conditions. This is in spite of a potential strong impact from headwater glaciers under cold-climate conditions. Glacially produced sediments were largely stored within frontal moraines and proglacial floodplains. These glaciogenic sediments were eroded and resedimented during glacier retreat. We therefore conclude that “warm” alluviation is the dominant process forming alluvial successions in this region.

Type
Thematic Set: Fluvial Archives Group (FLAG) Poland
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

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