Krzyszkowski, D., Bridgland, D. R., Allen, P., Westaway, R., Wachecka- Kotkowska, L
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Krzyszkowski, D., Bridgland, D. R., Allen, P., Westaway, R., Wachecka- Kotkowska, L. and Czerwonka, J. A. (2019) Drainage evolution in the Polish Sudeten Foreland in the context of European fluvial archives. Quaternary Research, 91(2), pp. 493-519. (doi:10.1017/qua.2018.77) There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it. http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/164663/ Deposited on: 29 June 2018 Enlighten – Research publications by members of the University of Glasgow http://eprints.gla.ac.uk Quaternary Research Drainage evolution in the Polish Sudeten Foreland in the context of European fluvial archives --Manuscript Draft-- Manuscript Number: QUA-17-205R2 Article Type: Research Article Keywords: Pliocene - Early Pleistocene, Ziębice Group, Elsterian glaciation, Odranian (early Saalian) glaciation, palaeodrainage, crustal properties, Polish Sudetes Corresponding Author: David R Bridgland Durham University Durham, UNITED KINGDOM First Author: David R Bridgland Order of Authors: David R Bridgland Dariusz Krzyszkowski Peter Allen Rob Westaway Lucyna Wachecka-Kotkowska Jerzy Czerwonka Abstract: Detailed study of subsurface deposits in the Polish Sudeten Foreland, particularly with reference to provenance data, has revealed that an extensive pre-glacial drainage system developed there in the Pliocene - Early Pleistocene, with both similarities and differences in comparison with the present-day Odra (Oder) system. This foreland is at the northern edge of an intensely deformed upland, metamorphosed during the Variscan orogeny, with faulted horsts and grabens reactivated in the Late Cenozoic. The main arm of pre-glacial drainage of this area, at least until the early Middle Pleistocene, was the palaeo-Nysa Kłodzka, precursor of the Odra left-bank tributary of that name. Significant pre-glacial evolution of this drainage system can be demonstrated, including incision into the landscape, prior to its disruption by glaciation in the Elsterian (Sanian) and again in the early Saalian (Odranian), which resulted in burial of the pre-glacial fluvial archives by glacial and fluvio-glacial deposits. No later ice sheets reached the area, in which the modern drainage pattern became established, the rivers incising afresh into the landscape and forming post-Saalian terrace systems. Issues of compatibility of this record with the progressive uplift implicit in the formation of conventional terrace systems are discussed, with particular reference to crustal properties. Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporation Revised manuscript with edits shown 1 Drainage evolution in the Polish Sudeten Foreland in the 2 context of European fluvial archives 3 Dariusz Krzyszkowski1, David R. Bridgland2 +, Peter Allen3, Rob Westaway4, Lucyna Wachecka- 5 6 4 Kotkowska , Jerzy A. Czerwonka 5 6 1 Institute of Geography and Regional Development, University of Wrocław, Pl. Uniwersytecki 1, 50-137 7 Wrocław, Poland. E-mail: [email protected] 8 2 Department of Geography, Durham University, DH1 3LE, UK. E-mail: [email protected] 9 3 13 Churchgate, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, EN8 9NB. E-mail: [email protected] 10 4 School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK. E-mail: [email protected] 11 5 Faculty of Geographical Sciences, Department of Geomorphology and Palaeogeography, University of Łódź, 12 90–139 Łódź, Narutowicza 88, Poland. E-mail: [email protected] 13 6 Wejherowska 9/2, 54-239 Wrocław, Poland. E-mail: [email protected] 14 15 16 ABSTRACT: 17 Detailed study of subsurface deposits in the Polish Sudeten Foreland, particularly with reference to 18 provenance data, has revealed that an extensive pre-glacial drainage system developed there in the 19 Pliocene – Early Pleistocene, with both similarities and differences in comparison with the present- 20 day Odra (Oder) system. This foreland is at the northern edge of an intensely deformed upland, 21 metamorphosed during the Variscan orogeny, with faulted horsts and grabens reactivated in the 22 Late Cenozoic. The main arm of pre-glacial drainage of this area, at least until the early Middle 23 Pleistocene, was the palaeo-Nysa Kłodzka, precursor of the Odra left-bank tributary of that name. 24 Significant pre-glacial evolution of this drainage system can be demonstrated, including incision into 25 the landscape, prior to its disruption by glaciation in the Elsterian (Sanian) and again in the early 26 Saalian (Odranian), which resulted in burial of the pre-glacial fluvial archives by glacial and fluvio- 27 glacial deposits. No later ice sheets reached the area, in which the modern drainage pattern became 28 established, the rivers incising afresh into the landscape and forming post-Saalian terrace systems. 29 Issues of compatibility of this record with the progressive uplift implicit in the formation of 30 conventional terrace systems are discussed, with particular reference to crustal properties, which 31 are shown to have had an important influence on landscape and drainage evolution in the region. 32 Keywords Pliocene – Early Pleistocene, Ziębice Group, Elsterian glaciation, Odranian (early Saalian) 33 glaciation, palaeodrainage, crustal properties, Polish Sudetes 34 35 INTRODUCTION 36 The Sudeten (Sudety) Mountains, or Sudetes, form a NW–SE-trending range with its western end in 37 Germany and separating SW Poland from the Czech Republic (Czechia). With its highest peak 38 reaching 1603 m, this represents an uplifted block of rocks metamorphosed during the Variscan 39 orogeny, in the late Devonian to early Carboniferous (Don and Zelaźniewicz, 1990). The Variscan 40 involved complex faulting and thrusting, forming horsts and graben-basins, the latter infilled during 41 later tectonically quiescent geological episodes, prior to significant reactivation of these structures in 42 the Neogene–Quaternary (Oberc 1977; Dyjor, 1986, Mignoń, 1997). The foreland region north of 43 these mountains, into which these structures extend, is drained by the Odra (Oder) and several of its 44 left-bank tributaries, the main river flowing NW and then northwards, forming the western 45 boundary of Poland, towards the Baltic (Fig. 1). An earlier, somewhat different drainage pattern in 46 the Sudeten Foreland is evident from the subsurface preservation of buried valley fragments, 47 recognized from boreholes and quarries and now largely buried by glacigenic and later fluvial 48 sediments (Krzyszkowski et al., 1998; Michniewicz, 1998; Przybylski et al., 1998). It is apparent, 49 therefore, that this drainage system was disrupted by glacial advances of Scandinavian ice from the 50 north and NW (Krzyszkowski, 1996; Krzyszkowski and Ibek, 1996; Michniewicz, 1998; Salamon, 2008; 51 Salamon et al., 2013; Fig. 1). The drainage has also been disrupted during the Quaternary by slip on 52 the Sudeten Marginal Fault, the effects of which are readily visible in terms of vertical offset in 53 terrace heights either side of the faultline (e.g., Krzyszkowski et al., 1995, 1998, 2000; Krzyszkowski 54 and Bowman, 1997; Krzyszkowski and Biernat, 1998; Krzyszkowski and Stachura, 1998; Migoń et al., 55 1998; Štěpančíková et al., 2008; cf. Novakova, L., 2015). To these glacial and tectonic influences can 56 now be added the effects on Quaternary landscape evolution of a complex history of crustal 57 behaviour, potentially related to the characteristics of the Proterozoic to Palaeozoic crust in the 58 region, as will be discussed in this paper. 59 The repeated glaciation of this region has been well researched and is documented by the glacigenic 60 deposits that form much of the surface cover, burying the evidence for the aforementioned pre- 61 glacial drainage. The most extensive glaciation was that during the Elsterian, the ‘Sanian glaciation’ 62 of Polish nomenclature (Marks, 2011). This glaciation, assumed to have occurred during Marine 63 Isotope Stage (MIS) 12 (Krzyszkowski et al., 2015), may not have been the first within the study area, 64 as there are well-developed cold-stage minima within the marine oxygen isotope record in the latest 65 Early Pleistocene, in MIS 22, and the early Middle Pleistocene: especially MIS 16, represented by the 66 Don glaciation in the northern Black Sea region (e.g., Turner, 1996; Matoshko et al., 2004). No pre- 67 MIS 12 glacigenic deposits have been recognized in the Sudetic marginal region, however, and it is 68 clear that any such glaciation was less extensive than that in the Elsterian. The next most extensive 69 glaciation was the Early Saalian (Odranian), with a limit typically 0–18 km short of the Elsterian 70 (Sanian) ice front (Fig. 1, inset); it is generally attributed to MIS 6 (Marks, 2011). Then followed the 71 Late Saalian glaciation, termed the Middle Polish Complex or Wartanian, and the Weichselian (last) 72 glaciation, the North Polish Complex or the Vistulian. The highest massifs within the Sudetes 73 supported small-scale local Weichselian glaciers (Migoń, 1999; Traczyk, 2009) and such glaciers 74 would also have existed during earlier major glaciations, albeit with little effect on foreland drainage 75 evolution. 76 The study area coincides with the southern edge of the northern European glaciated zone in which 77 fluvial drainage courses have been strongly influenced by repeated glaciation from the north. That 78 zone, from the western Baltic states through Poland and into Germany, is characterized