Variability of air mass occurrence in southern Poland (1951–2010)

The paper discusses the frequency, persistence and succession sequence of six types of air mass during the period 1951–2010. The study, which relied on a calendar of air masses in southern Poland published by T. Nied?wied?, concludes that there is no simple relationship between the persistence and the frequency of specific air masses in the region. The study found that there was a great variety in the persistence of specific types of air mass and that persistence depended more on the direction of air mass advection than on their frequency of occurrence. The study also failed to identify any strict overall rule of succession, as any air mass could follow after any other, but certain finer-grained patterns emerged. In winter and summer, arctic air (A) never followed directly after tropical air (T) or vice versa. Also, the most frequent succession sequence identified was from Polar maritime fresh air (mPf) to Polar maritime old and it accounted for the vast majority of successions from mPf into any other air mass (63 % annually and 76 % in summer).     

Reconstruction of anastomosing river course by means of geophysical and remote sensing surveys (the Middle Obra Valley,western Poland)

Intensive hydro technical works were conducted in the middle course of the Obra River (Poland) at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The ‘natural’ river course (functioning before the major construction works) was transformed into three artificial canals. Ground‐penetrating radar investigations, ground‐truthed with coring and remote sensing surveys, were conducted to reconstruct the course taken by the river prior to the hydro technical works. This work demonstrated that the Obra formerly had an anastomosing planform. Radiocarbon dating indicated that the earliest of the retraced channels were active before 9000 bp . The retraced river system was formed in a proglacial stream valley perpendicularly cut by remains of subglacial tunnels, now partly filled with lakes. The planform consisted of one or two major channels and a number of secondary channels formed by avulsions. During the last 2000 years, some of the avulsions may have been caused by anthropogenic interventions. The sequences of channel fill deposits indicate that particular channels changed from major to secondary ones. Sand deposits filling the bottom and middle parts of the channels point to an important role of upstream sediment supply causing in‐channel aggradation triggering the avulsions. Moreover, spatial variability in river patterns was found within the anastomosing system. Valley sections with meandering anabranches, anastomosing patterns with traces of a lateral migration and traces of a transition from meandering to anastomosing planform were distinguished.     

Industrial sources of CO2 emissions in Poland in the light of underground storage possibilities

Industrial sectors responsible for large part of CO₂ emissions in Poland are characterized from the point of view of possibilities of sequestration of this gas by underground storage. On the basis of official statistics and data obtained from local administration and individual plants, attempt was made to evaluate the magnitude of emissions from selected categories, sub-categories and sectors of the industry (in accordance with methodology of IPCC), concentration of CO₂ in combustion gases and those emitted by industry, and to identify major point sources of emission of this gas in Poland. A special attention was paid to those sectors of industry that may be the first to act as a source of carbon dioxide for sequestration by underground storage in the nearest future. To cite this article: R. Tarkowski, C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

Geochronology in the southern Midyan terrane: a review of constraints on the timing of magmatic pulses and tectonic evolution in a northwestern part of the Arabian Shield

The southern Midyan terrane is a composite Tonian to Ediacaran tectonostratigraphic crustal block in the northern Arabian Shield that prior to Red Sea opening was contiguous with coeval rocks in the Eastern Desert of Egypt and Sinai. Ion microprobe (sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe [SHRIMP]) dating of 12 rock samples described here and the results of other dating programmes establish a clear timeframe for depositional, intrusive, and structural events in the region and provide a chronology of tectonism in this part of the Arabian-Nubian Shield. Deposition of Zaam and Bayda group volcanosedimentary rocks and emplacement of mafic-ultramafic complexes and TTG-type diorite, tonalite, and granodiorite denote formation of the Tonian (780–715 Ma) Zaam arc and fore-arc ophiolite above a possible west-dipping subduction system in the southern part of the Midyan terrane. Convergence with the Hijaz terrane farther south and obduction of ophiolite nappes resulted by ~700 Ma in development of the Yanbu suture. Ongoing or a new subduction system led to a ~705–660 Ma Cryogenian pulse of magmatism represented by I-type calc-alkaline diorite, granodiorite, and granite that have volcanic-arc and syn-collisional granite affinities. This was followed, after a brief end-Cryogenian hiatus, by a 635–~570 Ma period of Ediacaran magmatism marked by monzogranite, syenogranite, and minor gabbro and diorite. These rocks are reported to have within-plate to volcanic-arc and syncollision chemical characteristics but their precise tectonic setting is uncertain. Structurally, the intrusions are diapiric and were evidently emplaced in an extensional regime consistent with an overlap between intrusion and Najd faulting associated, at this time, with transpressional collision and northward extension through much of the ANS. Terminal magmatism in the southern Midyan terrane postdated cessation of Najd faulting at ~575 Ma and resulted in the emplacement of undeformed within-plate A-type alkali-feldspar granites and mafic (lamprophyre) and felsic dikes.     

From back-arc to rifted margin: Geochemical and Nd isotopic records in Neoproterozoic?-Cambrian metabasites of the Bystrzyckie and Orlickie Mountains (Sudetes,SW Poland)

Metamorphosed during the Variscan orogeny, sediments of the ca. 560 Ma M?ynowiec Formation and ca. 530 Ma Stronie Formation in the Bystrzyckie and Orlickie Mountains (Central Sudetes, Poland) contain metabasites with a range of basaltic compositions. Immobile trace element and Nd isotope features allow distinction of dominant, either E-MORB-like (Group 1: Zr/Nb 9–20, εNd₅₃₀ +2.6 to +6.7) or mildly enriched N-MORB-like tholeiites (Group 2: Zr/Nb 21–27, εNd₅₃₀ +0.2 to +6.7), and scarce but genetically important OIB-like alkaline (Group 3: Zr/Nb 5, εNd₅₃₀ +2.2) or depleted tholeiitic rocks (Group 4: Zr/Nb 67, εNd₅₃₀ +7.9). Neither the radiogenic age nor age relationships between these four groups are known. However, field evidence suggests that the metabasites are younger than the M?ynowiec Formation and that their emplacement must have been coeval with the accumulation of the Stronie Formation sediments. The OIB affinity of Group 3 is interpreted to reflect an enriched mantle (EM)-type asthenopheric source whilst the groups of tholeiitic rocks indicate involvement of depleted (locally slightly residual) MORB-type mantle (DMM). Several geochemical signatures, the decoupling between Nd isotope and trace element characteristics, and melting models indicate variable enrichment of the DMM-like source, here ascribed to asthenosphere-derived OIB-like melts (Group 1 and 2) and a contribution from a supra-subduction zone (Group 2 and 4). Based on contrasting back-arc basin (BAB)- and within-plate-like affinities of the metabasites, and on petrogenetic constraints from the spatially related infill of the Stronie Formation rift basin, the studied magmatic episode is suggested be related to cessation of the supra-subduction zone activity, presumably induced by ridge-trench collision. This event might have led to slab break-off, the development of a transform plate boundary, opening of a slab window and upward migration of sub-slab enriched asthenosphere. Decompression melting of the upwelling asthenosphere could then have produced OIB-like melts which segregated and infiltrated into the mantle of the former subduction zone, with randomly distributed slab-derived components. In an extensional regime, magmas generated at shallow levels from heterogeneous mantle regions were emplaced within sedimentary rocks of the overlying rift basin. The vestiges of subduction-related processes and within-plate style of mantle enrichment suggest that the metabasites could be related to final stages of the Cadomian orogeny and incipient Early Palaeozoic rifting of Gondwana that heralded the opening of the Rheic Ocean.     

Advances in understanding calcite varve formation: new insights from a dual lake monitoring approach in the southern Baltic lowlands

We revise the conceptual model of calcite varves and present, for the first time, a dual lake monitoring study in two alkaline lakes providing new insights into the seasonal sedimentation processes forming these varves. The study lakes, Tiefer See in NE Germany and Czechowskie in N Poland, have distinct morphology and bathymetry, and therefore, they are ideal to decipher local effects on seasonal deposition. The monitoring setup in both lakes is largely identical and includes instrumental observation of (i) meteorological parameters, (ii) chemical profiling of the lake water column including water sampling, and (iii) sediment trapping at both bi-weekly and monthly intervals. We then compare our monitoring data with varve micro-facies in the sediment record. One main finding is that calcite varves form complex laminae triplets rather than simple couplets as commonly thought. Sedimentation of varve sub-layers in both lakes is largely dependent on the lake mixing dynamics and results from the same seasonality, commencing with diatom blooms in spring turning into a pulse of calcite precipitation in summer and terminating with a re-suspension layer in autumn and winter, composed of calcite patches, plant fragments and benthic diatoms. Despite the common seasonal cycle, the share of each of these depositional phases in the total annual sediment yield is different between the lakes. In Lake Tiefer See calcite sedimentation has the highest yields, whereas in Lake Czechowskie, the so far underestimated re-suspension sub-layer dominates the sediment accumulation. Even in undisturbed varved sediments, re-suspended material becomes integrated in the sediment fabric and makes up an important share of calcite varves. Thus, while the biogeochemical lake cycle defines the varves’ autochthonous components and micro-facies, the physical setting plays an important role in determining the varve sub-layers’ proportion.     

Lattice deformation of blue halite from Zechstein evaporite basin: Kłodawa Salt Mine,Central Poland

Outcrops of natural blue and purple halite crystals have been found in K?odawa (Poland) salt deposit originating from the Permian (Zechstein) salt formation within tectonic zones. Field works carried out on various levels of K?odawa Salt Mine indicated differences both in intensity of the hue and in the size of the outcrops. Their occurrence was connected with the presence of epigenetic sediments rich in potassium. For the samples of blue halite, an optical anisotropy (birefringence) was observed for both standard mineralogical thin sections and thick plates, indicating a deviation from cubic symmetry. The blue colouration of the halites, described by ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, is due to the presence of colour centres. The colour centres have been recently identified as: F, R₁ (F₃), R₂ (F₃), M and plasmons (Wese?ucha-Birczyńska et al., Vib Spectrosc 60:124–128, 2012). The trace amount of impurities detected in the blue halites by means of scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and micro-X-ray fluorescence techniques were connected mainly with solid inclusions such as K _x Na_(1???x)Cl, KMgCl₃·6H₂O, KCl, orthorhombic sulphur, quartz and some other phases like pyrite. Crystallographic data obtained by X-ray diffraction experiments for the single crystals of the halite from K?odawa with different saturation of blue or purple colours, as well as for natural colourless halite, revealed lowering of space-group symmetry to monoclinic, orthorhombic, trigonal, tetragonal or even triclinic systems while the space group typical for pure NaCl is Fm-3m.     

The Younger Dryas climatic conditions in the Za Mnichem Valley (Polish High Tatra Mountains) based on exposure‐age dating and glacier‐climate modelling

Cosmogenic ³⁶Cl was measured in bedrock and moraine boulders in the Za Mnichem Valley (High Tatra Mountains). The post‐LGM deglaciation of the study area occurred about 15.9 ka ago. The northernmost part of the valley slopes was ice‐free around 15 ka ago. The terminal moraine on the valley threshold was finally stabilized 12.5 ka ago during the Younger Dryas cold event (Greenland Stadial 1). At that time, the Za Mnichem glacier was 1.3 km long and had an area of 0.57 km². The AAR equilibrium line of the glacier was located at 1990 m a.s.l., which corresponds to an ELA depression of ～500 m compared to today. The mean summer temperature was colder by 4°–4.5°C than the present‐day temperature. The mean annual temperature was colder by 6°C than today. Such conditions suggest a decrease of the annual precipitation by ～15–25% compared with the present‐day annual average. These data indicate a probable uniform temperature change across central and western Europe, with the precipitation being the most significant factor affecting the mass balance of mountain glaciers. The spatial distribution of balance data suggests increasing continentality towards the east during the Younger Dryas.