PLEJSTOCEN W PROFILU KOŃCZYCE (KOTLINA OŚWIĘCIMSKA) - ANALIZA GENEZY I WIEKU NA TLE SCHEMATÓW PODZIAŁU STRATYGRAFICZNEGO CZWARTORZĘDU

Abstract

PLEISTOCENE IN THE KOŃCZYCE PROFILE (OŚWIĘCIM BASIN) - SEDIMENT GENESIS AND AGE ANALYSIS AT THE BACKGROUND OF STRATIGRAPHIC SCHEMES OF THE QUATERNARY

Abstract. In the southern part of the Oświęcim Basin, in the area of the Kończyce quarry, the Quaternary deposits of different genesis crop out. Thanks to the performed investigations, particular horizons of these deposits have been identified. The lower fluvial series is overtopped with the glacigenic sediments. Above the latter, the lower series of organic mud with the interglacial flora occurs in places. This series is characterised by the reverse magnetic polarity. The discussed mud series represents a fragment of the warm interglacial succession and corresponds to the lst interglacial of the Cromerian Complex. The upper fluvial series overlain by an upper organic mud series, in which Brunhes-Matuyama boundary is registered, rests on the cut-off glacigenic deposits and organic muds. Directly above this boundary, in the organic muds, fragments of two interglacials separated by a cold stage have been identified by palynological methods. All the deposits are covered with the series of the loess-like sediments with the traces of the fossil soils. The glacigenic deposits occurring below the B/M boundary and interglacial sediments are older than the Cromerian Complex, and thus cannot be correlated with the Elster and Mindel glaciations as it has been accepted until now. This ice-sheet advance, in its maximum extent in southern Poland, is older and should rather be correlated with the Gunz and with the oldest, pre-Cromerian traces of glaciations in Western Europe. In Poland it might correspond to the Podlasie Glaciation. Thus, in the discussed profile there are fragments of three interglacials, and the lowermost one is older than the Brunhes-Matuyama boundary. The pollen succession differs from those known from interglacial sites in Poland. The obtained results suggest a new insight into the extent and age of the maximum ice-sheet advance than it has been accepted until now. The performed studies allow to infer that the oldest ice-sheet advance had also the largest extent in Poland. The performed study has cognitive aspects and the obtained results are a new input to the state of knowledge, thus can serves as a reference for further studies on the range of the Scandinavian Glaciation in its maximum extent. The Kończyce profile should be treated as a benchmark for the Quaternary stratigraphy of Western and Middle Europe.