The Szamotuły Graben covers the southernmost part of the Permo-Mesozoic Poznań–Szamotuły Fault Zone. Along this regional discontinuity there are several salt structures, including the Szamotuły diapir, over which an extensional graben formed in the Paleogene and Neogene. The graben is located north of Poznań in central- western Poland, and is NW–SE-trending, ~20 km long, 3–5.5 km wide, and up to 160 m deep. It is filled with Lower Oligocene and Neogene sediments, including relatively thick lignite seams. Data from boreholes allow the assignment of the graben-fill sediments to appropriate lithostratigraphic units. Furthermore, analysis of changes in the thickness of these units provides evidence for periods of accelerated graben subsidence or uplift relative to its flanks. As a result, two distinct stages of tectonic subsidence and one inversion in the Paleogene–Neogene evolution of the Szamotuły Graben have been distinguished. Thus, relatively significant subsidence occurred in the Early Oligocene and the middle Early–earliest Mid-Miocene, while slight inversion took place in the middle part of the Mid-Miocene.
The paper presents the possibilities of quantitative analysis of results obtained from CT examination of organs and anatomical structures of the upper respiratory tract. The presented results of the analysis were obtained using proprietary software developed in the MATLAB 2018b environment (Image Processing toolbox). The software enables to visualize the original results of CT scan and, after evaluating the visible structures, enables to select the area to be subjected to quantitative analysis. After the initial identification of an area of interest requiring detailed diagnostics, its volume and the surface areas of individual cross-sections are calculated in the area separated for examinations. A graphical presentation of the analysis results – the surface areas of selected cross-sections possible to visualize in two- and three-dimensional space – enables quick analysis of changes in the examined region.