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

Summary, in English

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.

• Author: Janusz Olszak; Józef Kukulak; Helena Alexanderson
• Department/s: Quaternary Sciences
• Publishing year: 2019
• Language: English
• Pages: 848-860
• Publication/Series: Quaternary Research
• Volume: 91
• Issue: 2
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/qua.2018.104
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Academic Press
• Topic: Geology
• Keywords: Dunajec; Fluvial deposition; OSL dating; Tatra Mountains
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 0033-5894