Aeolian processes records within last glacial limit are as based on the Płock Basin case (Central Poland)

Abstract

Formation of dunes in the Płock Basin of the Vistula River valley in Central Poland is connected with the aeolian processes that occurred within the European Sand Belt during the Late Pleistocene. Changes in sedimentation conditions, from fluvial (unit G1), to fluvio–aeolian (unit G2) then to aeolian (unit G3), were respectively recorded in the fluvioglacial terrace sand dune profiles in the village of Goreń Duży (the Płock Basin, Central Poland). Both fluvial and aeolian processes occurred in the periglacial zone of the last glaciation, the northern limit of which is defined by the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), being 18.4 ka in the Płock Basin. River and ice-marginal valley terrace sand sediments, in association with glacial deposits, could be the source material for the studied aeolian bedforms. The results of morphoscopic analysis of dunal sand quartz grains indicate that rapid deposition occurred more often than did long-term longrange grain transport. Grain transport genesis begins during the Older Dryas, which is confirmed by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating performed for unit G2: 13.06±0.76 ka and 13.54±0.84 ka. During dune formation, dead-ice blocks remained intact in a subglacial channel until the Allerød, which suggests that aeolian processes continued after block melting, throughout the Younger Dryas. Successional aeolian processes have resulted in the extensive dune fields of the Płock Basin.

Keywords

• Aeolian
• palaeo-environments
• fluvio-aeolian succession
• quartz grain morphoscopy
• Late Pleistocene
• OSL dating