Our grants
Subglacial carbonate cements as archives of changes in the dynamics of the ice front. Microsedimentological study in Koczery (Podlasie) (WNGiG research project). The origin of carbonate cements within glacigenic Quaternary sediments may be two types: primary, related to glacigenic conditions, or secondary, related to infiltration. We conducted our research in the Koczery site in Podlasie, where carbonate cements formed in subglacial conditions were identified in the sediments of a glacitectonically deformed glacimarginal fan. The feature that distinguishes the cemented sediments is their exceptional compactness and hardness, unusual for sediments cemented with calcium carbonate. The project assumes the creation of a model for the development of the cemented level in relation to the dynamics of the ice front.
Calcareous spring-fed fens as powerful palaeoclimatic and palaeoecological archive and unique ecosystem and refuge, hosting rare and endangered species of plants and animals (grant OPUS supported by National Science Center-). Calcareous spring-fed fens are a rare and valuable ecosystem within which there is a deposition of organic-carbonate sediments called peat-tufa rythmites. These sediments are a valuable source of information about climate and environmental changes, especially fluctuations in climate humidity, which occurred during the Late Glacial and the Holocene. Our investigations include calcareous spring-fed fens occurring in the area of north-eastern Poland and in Latvia.
Experimental studies on sandy quartz grains—a new frost weathering investigation approach (grant PRELUDIUM supported by National Science Center). During the research, we use a conceptually changed freezer called 'Benia’, which freezes and warms periodically. Why? Benia simulates the freeze-thaw cycles that occur in the active layer of permafrost in a periglacial environment. The quartz grains placed inside Benia are subject to the frost weathering and the effects of which we then observe under a scanning electron microscope.
Recognition of traces left by earthquakes in Pleistocene sediments affected by glacio-isostatic rebound in the Baltic Sea Basin—GREBAL (grant OPUS supported by National Science Center). The project covers the investigation of the traces of Pleistocene earthquakes in the southern part of the Peri-Baltic area.
The results of sedimentological analyses, along with stratigraphic and geochronological data related to a broad geological context, led us to several conclusions: 1) seismic activity accompanied the Pleistocene glaciations occurred during deglaciation and transgression of ice sheet in the southern part of the Peri-Baltic area; 2) earthquakes caused by the reactivation of deeply entrenched pre-Quaternary faults were caused by a shift in the state of stresses caused by the pressure of the great mass of the ice sheet. Visit grebal.amu.edu.pl for more information.
Microstructural analysis and microsedimentology of soft-sediment deformation structures within glacigenic sediments – a key for understanding the sediment mass transport and its impacts in contemporary and ancient glaciated areas (National Science Centre, Poland, Preludium-18 call). The gravity mass flows and earthquakes are, and were in geological past, among the most hazardous natural processes. The project focuses on the examination of examples of mass flows from the geological record in microscale. All of the preselected study sites are located at the area of Southern Peribalticum, within the area of maximal Pleistocene ice-sheet extent. The overall aim of this project is to understand the mechanisms and factors controlling the transport and emplacement of soft-sediments in response to gravity driven and seismically induced mass flow events.
Numerical modeling of soft sediment deformation structures induced by seismicity (grant PRELUDIUM supported by National Science Center). The aim of this study is to develop the numerical code, which after validation against the observational data, will allow to recreate the seismites (layers internally deformed by seismic wave propagation) formation process. It is expected that as a result of this project, we will identify and describe the factors influencing the emergence and geometry of those structures. Such a numerical tool will contribute not only to a better understanding of the physical processes occurring during the propagation of seismic waves in an unconsolidated sediment, but also to clarify the criteria for seismites recognition.
Detritus heavy minerals from the epicontinental carbonate rocks of the Triassic and Late Cretaceous of Opole, Silesia, as a source of information about crystalline rocks exposed in the NE part of Czech Massif during the peneplanization of the Variscan orogen and its subsequent structural inversion (grant OPUS supported by National Science Center). Heavy minerals vary greatly in terms of their type and state of preservation. The source-rocks for the studied minerals were mainly metamorfic rocks of various transformation degrees and igneous rocks, while the most important maintenance area was the eastern part of Czech Massif. The variability of the heavy minerals’ composition resulted from the changes in the transport direction, the degree of erosion of the source rocks, as well as the intensity of diagenetic processes. The youngest of periclastic zircons was used to determine the maximum age of the Upper Triassic Lisowice skeleton level deposition. This age has been determined as a middle or late Norian (depending on the choice of ages boundaries).
Large Pleistocene sandurs of NW Poland – sedimentology, palaeocurrent dynamics and flood history in a new approach (grant PRELUDIUM supported by National Science Center). Coarse-grained clastic sediments deposited from catastrophic floods have been so far connected with the proximal part of the proglacial water outflow system. In front of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet, the amount of water during ablation periods, can be so huge, that floods can reach tens of kilometers from the front of ice sheet. The research is conduct within sandurs deposited during the Pomeranian phase of the last glaciation (~16—17 thousand years ago) in NW Poland.