SPECIAL ISSUE
Transformation of a Water Network in a Moraine
Upland-Outwash Plain-Valley Landscape
Danuta Szumińska1, Damian Absalon2
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1Faculty of Environmental Studies, Kazimierz Wielki University, Mińska 15, 85-428 Bydgoszcz, Poland
2Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2012;21(2):259-265
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
The area under study in this paper was subject to landscape transformations, including changes in hydrographical
networks. These changes were especially intense in the second half of the 19th century during the
Prussian partition, when extensive hydrotechnical works were conducted. Based on a comparison of cartographic
materials at a scale of 1:25,000, Prussian topographic maps from 1874, and Polish maps from the second
half of the 20th century, it was found that the hydrographic network has changed significantly. A characteristic
anthropogenic pattern of water structures was observed that correlates with certain individual morphological
units. In the bottoms of the valleys and hollows there is a dense irrigation network, and in the
moraine areas, numerous reservoirs of anthropogenic origin were found that are characterized by a rather small
size and circular shape. The drainage density in the area under study has increased from 0.7 to 1.95 km·km-2,
but the lake percentage has only increased from 1.81 to 1.93%. However, the number of reservoirs has
increased from 36 to 675. The anthropogenic water reservoirs were found first and foremost in the area of the
uplands, where the reservoir frequency has increased from 0.3 km·km-2 to 7.7 km·km-2.
The results of the conducted research can be used to perform an automatic analysis of the transformations
of the water network in Tuchola Forest and other areas of the last glacial extent. The results of the study
presented in this paper should also be used when taking any decisions and actions that may lead to changes in
water network and water management. The discussed “anthropogenic lakeland” located in the area of poor
industrial and urban development, the Tuchola Forest, may also be the premise for verifying views on a large
number of lakes situated in kettle holes within the Polish Lowland (Niż Polski).