The development of vegetation in the Skaliska Basin has been reconstructed on the basis of palynological analysis and radiocarbon dating (AMS technique) of 6 sites from the late phase of the Bolling- Allerod interstadial complex to modern times. Although the area covers 90 km2, the mosaic character of habitats led to the development of different patterns of vegetation changes during the Late Glacial and Holocene. Only one site located in the eastern part of the Skaliska Basin reflected the ‘pine phase’ of Allerod, and this is the oldest data on vegetation in the Skaliska Basin. Interesting discrepancies were recorded during the Younger Dryas when patches of shrublands with Juniperus were distinct around some of the sites, while steppe with Artemisia was common in others. The beginning of the Holocene brought an expansion of birch-pine forest, but around 9600 cal. BC a cold oscillation took place which was reflected in an increase in birch in the woodlands in the western and eastern part of the Skaliska Basin. In the Preboreal chronozone elm (Ulmus) also expanded in the area but its appearance was non-synchronous. The vegetation of the Boreal chronozone was similar in the whole area and the most characteristic feature was the rapid expansion of hazel (Corylus avellana) which displaced Betula from the most of its sites. At that time a distinct redeposition of pollen material in the Parchatka river valley was detected which was probably the effect of an increase in fluvial activity of the river (humid oscillation). The following stage of vegetation development was climax woodlands with Tilia cordata, Ulmus, Quercus, Corylus avellana, and Alnus in damp places. At the beginning of the Subboreal chronozone the expansion of Quercus took place, which was subsequently replaced by Picea abies and partly Carpinus betulus. The pattern of Picea abies expansion distinctly presents two maxima which is characteristic of many sites in the north-eastern Poland. The Subatlantic chronozone is represented only by the profile from the Skaliski Forest, where, because of sandy ground, Pinus sylvestris was the dominant element. Human impact was poorly reflected through the rare occurrence of pollen grains of Cerealia type in the pollen profiles spanning the time from the Subboreal chronozone to modern times. In most profiles AMS dating produced age discrepancies, which limited the possibility of establishment of a detailed chronology. However, dates obtained from the material contaminated by mixture of glycerine, thymol and ethyl alcohol, pretreated by alcohol, showed reliable results in most cases.

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Part of northern Podlasie (NE Poland), shaped during the Wartanian stadial of the Odranian glaciation (Saalian), was situated in the periglacial zone during the Vistulian (Weichselian) glaciation. Both landforms and sediments were affected by the periglacial conditions. This is recorded at the Jałówka site, at the floor of a dry valley, where mineral deposits of 4.13 m thick, overlying organic deposits from the Eemian interglacial, were examined. These mineral deposits form four units, from bottom to top: a fluvial unit (I), a loess-like unit (II), a solifluction unit (III), and an aeolian unit with ice wedges (IV) on top of unit III. The heavy and light minerals were analysed, as well as the geochemistry, in order to find out about the parent material and to reconstruct the climatic conditions during deposition. The mineral analysis indicates that the Saalian till was predominantly derived from shallow-marine deposits; erosion accompanied by sorting of the heavy minerals took place on the basis of their mass and grain size. The original material of the till seems therefore to be sedimentary rocks from the eastern Central Baltic Basin. This material became strongly weathered under the periglacial conditions, resulting in the destruction of the quartz grains, as well as in leaching, leading to complete decalcification of the deposits. Aeolian activity resulted in infilling of ice wedges and the creation of thin layers. The intensity and the duration of these processes was limited, so that the effects of the aeolian abrasion are insignificant. Neither resulted the aeolian activity in significant reshaping of the landscape.

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The study reconstructed the environment of a fan delta filling the vast end depression of the Skaliska Basin, and its overlying aeolian deposits. The formation of the large fan delta is associated with the presence of an ice-dammed lake functioning during the retreat of the Vistulian Glaciation (MIS 2). The examined material was collected from five boreholes. Sediments were analysed for their granulometric composition and subjected to analyses of frosting and rounding of quartz grains. Grain size analysis showed that the fan delta deposits are built of sand sediments of very low lateral and vertical variability. The fan delta was supplied with fluvioglacial sediments. Accumulation of sediments occurred in shallow water with a very low-gradient slope. The exposed fan delta became a site conducive to aeolian processes after the lake waters fell and the Skaliska Basin depression dried. Dune deposits overlying the fan were affected by short-distance transport so they did not acquire features typical for aeolian deposits.