The Vistulian aeolian succession in central Poland

Central Poland is situated in the centre of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene “European aeolian sand belt”. This area has the highest frequency of round, mat grains of all Europe, due to intense aeolian abrasion. Aeolian processes were very active during several glaciations, but the changes in aeolian activity in the course of an entire glaciation can be studied only for the Vistulian (Weichselian, Wisconsinan). The reason is that a continuous blanket of glacial sediments either covered, or partly eroded older aeolian sediments in central Poland during the Wartanian (Saalian II). Aeolian processes began just after deglaciation and became intense under the periglacial conditions of the Late Wartanian and the whole Vistulian. The evolution of these processes is reconstructed, especially for the interval of the highest and most effective aeolian activity, i.e. the Late Plenivistulian (Oxygen Isotope Stage 2: the coldest stage of the last glaciation). A model of the sequence of periglacial aeolian events during an entire glaciation is presented. This model may be used for the reconstruction of older Pleistocene cycles of high periglacial aeolian activity.