We investigated sediments of three Sphagnum peatland-lake ecosystems located in Tuchola forest, both in moraine (Małe Leniwe near Rekowo) and outwash plain (Dury and Rybie Oko) landscape. Geological cross-sections were studied for each basin. Characteristic feature of these ecosystems is the presence of floating mats encroaching the lakes and deposition of highly hydrated sediments below the floating mat. Principal conditions favouring the development of peatland-lake ecosystems are (1) location of the lake in a sandy, non-calcareous catchment overgrown by coniferous forest, (2) steep ness of the lake basin, what prevents emerged macrophytes succession and (3) the depth of the basin significantly exceeding 10 m to avoid complete in filling of the lake basin. The developmental pathway in the Dury I basin indicates a shift in lake environment from neutral to acid one. After initial development of Charophytes, Potamogeton and Najas expanded, which later on, were succeeded by Sphagnum due to acidification of the lake water. Initial stages of the development of the lakes were determined mainly by allogenic factors, whereas in later stages autogenic factors (development of floating mat and peat acidifying the lake water) played fundamental role.
An increase of water retention in the programmes of small retention in the country to the year 2015 is estimated at 1141 million m3. It means annual mean increase of retention capacity by c. 60 million m3. Accomplishment of relevant actions in the years 1997–2007 allowed collecting 57 million m3 in lakes, c. 56 million m3 in artificial reservoirs, 18.5 million m3 in fishponds, c. 10.5 million m3 with the channel retention and over 2 million m3 in other investments. It makes total increase of water retention by 142 million m3 which is 12.4% of target retention and the mean annual increment of c. 13 million m3. The paper presents volumes of retained water, sources and structure of financing, mean unit costs of retention increments and the increase of retention capacity in particular voivodships (acc. to new administration division) in the years 1998–2007.
Białowieża in Poland is a very famous region in Europe (because of its primeval forest and bison population), but its environmental history is poorly known. This article shows the results of palynological analysis, macrofossil analysis and geological settings of two mires in the Białowieża Forest. The pollen diagrams show changes of the vegetation cover from the younger part of the Late Glacial until the present time. The relative time scale is based on palynostratigraphy and comparison to published results of other sites from the adjacent regions. During the Late Glacial two stages of the vegetation succession were revealed: steppe and forest during the Alleröd period and tundra-like vegetation during the Younger Dryas. The Holocene history consists of five stages of plant cover development. The special features of the Białowieża Forest are conditioned by two main factors: low degree of anthropogenic impact and influences of continental climate and boreal zone, stronger than in the other regions of Poland.
A sea floor investigation was performed in the fiord of Hornsund by means of the seismoacoustic profiling, echosounding and core sampling. The main seismoacoustic sea floor units were recognized (the methods used according to Kowalewski et al. 1987a) and characterized on the basis of their relations to geomorphology and geological evolution. The bathymetrical sketch and the resulting geomorphological description of the bottom were prepared. The surface of the sea bottom and the surface of the bedrock displayed an irregular high relief with large sills dividing the fiord sea floor into several basins. Four main types of the sills were distinguished: burried sills, accumulative sills, rock sills and rock-accumulative sills. Within the internal Basins I and II there were thick (up to 170 m) covers of the glaciomarine ice-front deposit with changing thin ( 1 -5 m) blanket of the glaciomarine muds at the bottom surface. The Basin III had a cover of the glacial and glaciomarine deposits of variable lithology, genesis and age. The most external Basin IV had a cover o f glaciomarine muds up to 4 0 - 5 0 m thick, deposited on the tills. Four main glacial episodes were recognized, most probably referring to the stadials of Lisbetdalen, Slaklidalen, Revdalen and to the Little Ice Age.
The results of the detailed seismoacoustic profilling (CSP, boomar) are presented. The investigation has been carried out in February 1985 and 1988 during two Geodynamical Expeditions organized by the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The boomar penetration of the caldera floor went down to 150 msec. Four seismoacoustic units of volcanic formations have been determined. The unit A corresponds to pre-caldera series and occurred only in the border part of the flooded caldera. The unit contains mainly pyroclastic rocks (consolidated agglomerates and tuffs) and probably some intercalations of lavas. The units B, C and D fill up the caldera bottom and correspond to post-caldera series. The units are composed of pyroclastic rocks, containing also materials redeposited by lahars, glaciers, landwaters and by wind. The units C and D (the youngest one) were certainly deposited under water. All the units are cut by numerous faults, vents and other types of intrusions. The larger faults, en echelon type, are situated around the bottom and form a ring-fracture. Caldera was formed by succesive stages of collapsing. This process is not finished yet and volcanic activity is still alive (especially in the western part of the flooded caldera).
On the ground of results obtained by the seismoacoustic profiling carried out in 1985 and primary examination of core samples the following main seismoacoustic units are distinguished and characterized: unit A — bedrock, unit B — till and/or compacted glaciomarine deposit, unit C — glaciomarine ice-front deposit, unit D — glaciomarine mud. These results enabled to present the distribution of seismoacoustic units along the fiord and its extension on the shelf, as well as to determine a relation of bottom structures to Late Vistulian(?) deglaciation and the action of Holocene tributary glaciers, probably during the Little Ice Age. The position of marginal structures corresponding to local retreat stages of the glacier front is also presented.
A new method of noise generation based on software implementation of a 7-bit LFSR based on a common polynomial PRBS7 using microcontrollers equipped with internal ADCs and DACs and a microcontroller noise generator structure are proposed in the paper. Two software applications implementing the method: written in ANSI C and based on the LUT technique and written in AVR Assembler are also proposed. In the method the ADC results are used to reseed the LFSR after its each full work cycle, what improves randomness of generated data, which results in a greater similarity of the generated random signal to white noise, what was confirmed by the results of experimental research. The noise generator uses only the internal devices of the microcontroller, hence the proposed solution does not introduce hardware redundancy to the system.
In this paper the method of fast impedance spectroscopy of technical objects with high impedance (|Zx| ≥1 GΩ) is evaluated by means of simulation and a practical experiment. The method is based on excitation of an object with a sinc signal and sampling the response signals proportional to current flowing through and voltage across the measured impedance. The object’s impedance spectrum is obtained with the use of continuous Fourier transform on the basis of linear approximations between samples in two acquisition sections, connected with the duration of the sinc signal. The method is first evaluated in MATLAB by means of simulation. An influence of the sinc signal duration and the number of samples on impedance modulus and argument measurement errors is explored. The method is then practically verified in a constructed laboratory impedance spectroscopy measurement system. The obtained acceleration of impedance spectroscopy in the low frequency range (below 1 Hz) and the decrease of the number of acquired samples enable to recommend the worked out method for implementation in portable impedance analyzers destined for operation in the field.