Geographia Polonica 2020, Volume 93, Issue 1, pp. 25-50 https://doi.org/10.7163/GPol.0161 INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHY AND SPATIAL ORGANIZATION POLISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES www.igipz.pan.pl www.geographiapolonica.pl RECONSTRUCTION OF THE MORPHOLOGY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF THE CENTRE OF KRAKÓW BEFORE THE MID-13TH CENTURY Adam Łajczak • Roksana Zarychta Institute of Geography Pedagogical University of Kraków Podchorążych 2, 30-084 Kraków: Poland e-mails: [email protected] (corresponding author) • [email protected] Abstract The paper concerns investigations on urban geomorphology. The subject of the paper is the historic centre of Kraków (or Cracow) where the pre-human relief became masked due to the rapid increase in cultural de- posits from the mid-13th century onwards. The aim of the investigation is the reconstruction of the original to- pography, relief and hydrography of this area based on rich sources of materials in papers and non-published data on geology, geoengineering, archaeology, history, and also on maps and panoramic drawings of the town. A digital elevation model has been generated, which showed the topography of the study area in the period before the mid-13th century. Structural analysis, cross validation test and estimation by ordinary kriging method were carried out. The final cartographic work was prepared with the use of QGIS and Surfer software. The distribution of landforms in the study area in the mid-13th century is presented as a proposed variant of the geomorphological map prepared by the authors. The former relief was evaluated in terms of its potential for encouraging settlement. Key words pre-urban morphology • Kraków • Vistula • meandering river • limestone horst • Pleistocene ter- race • Holocene floodplain • digital cartography • geostatistics • ordinary kriging Introduction International Conference on Geomorphology held in Paris in 2013. The effect of this inter- There has been a rapid increase in the est is a series of papers published in Quaes- interest of geomorphologists in the change tiones Geographicae (2017, v. 36, no. 3), con- of relief in urban areas. This resulted in the cerning, among other issues, the relationship establishment of the Working Group of Geo- between geomorphology and urbanisation morphosites of the International Association (Pica, Luberti, Vergari, Fredi, & Del Monte, of Geomorphologists (IAG) at the Eighth 2017). Changes in a town`s relief, especially 26 Adam Łajczak • Roksana Zarychta in its oldest areas, are defined as over- However, detailed reconstruction of the relief building and flattening of the land surface prior to the 13th century has not so far been as a result of the increase of anthropogenic carried out, despite rich sources of geological, (cultural) deposits or in association with river geoengineering, archaeological and histori- deposits, as well as the lowering of this sur- cal data as well as old maps and panoramic face as a result of groundworks (e.g. Brando- drawings of the town. The literature contains lini, Faccini, Paliaga, & Piana, 2017; Dall`Aglio only fragmentary information concerning et al., 2017; Pica et al., 2017; Reynard, Pica, the former relief of Kraków city centre, and & Coratza, 2017; Zwoliński, Hildebrandt- some information, unfortunately, is inconsist- -Radke, Mazurek, & Makohonienko, 2017). ent. Despite good recognition of the contem- Similar results of investigations are includ- porary relief of the Kraków area (Tyczyńska, ed in publications (Kaniecki, 2004, 2013; 1968a,b; Tyczyńska & Chmielowiec, 1980) Molewski & Juśkiewicz, 2014; Molewski, there is a gap in geomorphological knowl- 2015; Pröschel & Lehmkuhl, 2019) on the Old edge as regards complex analysis of the initial Town areas in Poznań and Toruń, Poland and relief of the historic town centre. in Aachen, Germany. In general, these inves- This work aims to fill this gap. The work rep- tigations are still in the initial stages, which resents the authors` vision of the relief of the is why there are no summary elaborations study area before making changes in the prepared on the manner and rate of increase planning structure of the town in the mid-13th of cultural deposits in relation to the ini- century. The work is based on numerous pub- tial relief of the historic centres of towns, lished and unpublished information sources especially those with a long history. and supplemented with the results of the The key factor in success in defining authors` research. changes in the relief of the historic centres of towns is the determination of the initial Location, geology relief of these areas, i.e. before the rapid and geomorphology increase in cultural deposits. Later, after the of the study area establishment of towns based on the Magde- burg law in Central Europe in the 13th and The narrowest section of the Vistula valley 14th centuries, considerable changes in each is located within the boundaries of Kraków, town`s relief occurred which masked its initial where the Polish Uplands border on the West- nature. ern Carpathians, which results in a disconti- In Poland, investigations of changes in the nuity in the Subcarpathian Basin (Fig. 1A). The relief of historic town centres were carried Małopolska Upland, which represents the out on Cathedral Island in Poznań (Kaniecki, central part of the Polish Upland, is in Kraków 2004, 2013; Zwoliński et al., 2017), in the Old built from Jurassic limestone and locally Town in Toruń on an area of 7 km2 (Molews- by Cretaceous marl (overlain by loess depos- ki & Juśkiewicz, 2014; Molewski, 2015) and its). They form a number of tectonic horsts in the historic centre of Kraków on an area and grabens lowering towards the south of 9 km2. In Toruń, the initial relief of the study (Gradziński, 1972; Rutkowski, 1989a,b, 1992, area was reconstructed and the boundaries 1993). The external part of the Western Car- of landforms prior to the 13th century were pathians is built from flysch sediments. The indicated. In both the Toruń and Poznań exam- bottom of the Vistula valley and its tributaries ples, spatial differentiation of the thickness is covered by Pleistocene and Holocene allu- of cultural deposits was determined which vial deposits, locally peat deposits (Mama- showed variation in the range 0-10m. In the kowa, 1970; Bogacz et al., 2003, 2004). With- historic centre of Kraków such investigations in the most southern part of the Małopolska started as early as at the end of the 19th cen- Upland called Kraków Gate (BK), three areas tury and was intensified in the 1950s – 1970s. have been distinguished (Kondracki, 2000) Geographia Polonica 2020, 93, 1, pp. 25-50 Reconstruction of the morphology and hydrography of the centre of Kraków… 27 Sea WM A Baltic B Gdańsk WM 2 KS ula Vistula BK3a st KO Vi Warsaw BK BK1 BK3b aba 1 R KS S k BK2 Kraków a KZ w a KZ 0 200 km 0 10 20 km Prądnik R ud a C w D a Vistula 1 Vistula Sanka ga il W 2 0 5 km 0 1 2 km part A: a b c d e Skawinka f g Vistula h l m part B: i j k n 1 o p r s t u v part C: 2 w x y z1 z2 z3 part D: z4 z5 z6 z7 Figure 1. Location of the study area A – within the boundaries of Poland in relation to the main geomorphological units; B- more detailed map of the borderland of the Polish Uplands, the Western Carpathians and the Sandomierz Basin; C – in the Kraków Landbridge; D – in relation to the boundaries of Kraków. Part A: a – Carpathians; b – Subcarpathian Basins; c – Polish Uplands; d – Sudetes; e – Polish Lowlands; f – Kraków Gate; g – area shown in part B. Part B: h – limit of geomorphological units: KZ – Western Carpathians, KO – Oświęcim Basin, KS – Sandomierz Basin (KO and KS – parts of Subcarpathian Basins), WM –Małopolska Upland (part of Polish Upland); i – limit of selected geomorphological sub-units: BK – Kraków Gate: BK1 – Cholerzyńskie Depression, BK2 – Spytkowice-Skawina Graben, BK3 – Kraków Landbridge: a – exposed limestone hills, b – limestone hills covered by Miocene deposits; j – main rivers; k – other rivers; l – location of the palaeomeanders investigated; m – gauging stations on the Vistula river taken into account in the study (1 – Smolice, 2 – Sierosławice); n – area shown in part C. Part C: o – exposed limestone hills; p – limestone hills covered by Miocene sediments; r – r - limestone hills covered by a thin layer of Quaternary and Holocene sediments; s – Quaternary terraces; t – Holocene terraces; u – Vistula river, weirs: 1 – Dąbie, 2 – Tyniec; v – other rivers; w – oxbow lakes; x – abandoned channels (since ca. 1850); y – traces of abandoned channels; z1 – palaeomeander discussed (study area); z2 – limit of Kraków Landbridge; z3 – area shown in part D and in Figs. 5, 7 –10. Part D: z4 – limit of Kraków City; z5 – Vistula river; z6 – areas settled up to the 12th century (within the study area only); z7 – centre of the city (study area). Geographia Polonica 2020, 93, 1, pp. 25-50 28 Adam Łajczak • Roksana Zarychta (Fig. 1B), and among these, the eastern part the Old Town is located. Most of the central of the Kraków Landbridge with its limestone area of Kraków is located on the Holocene hills (BK3a) has been studied in detail. Part floodplain with traces of old channels and of the Sandomierz Basin (KS) neighbouring two paleomeanders of the Vistula river (Kmie- to the east and belonging to the Subcarpathi- towicz-Drathowa, 1965; Tyczyńska, 1968a,b; an Basin was also included in the investiga- Radwański, 1972, 1975; Tobiasz, 1977; Hum- tion. In the area of the Kraków Landbridge, nicki, 1979; Rutkowski, 1989a,b). Two tribu- lying between limestone hills of tectonic ori- taries of the Vistula river (the Rudawa and gin (horsts), the Vistula river flows along one the Wilga) (Fig.