The paper presents results of studies focused on occurrence and correlation of four main horizons of Younger Loesses: Lowest Younger Loess (LMn – after Maruszczak, 2001), Lower Younger Loess (LMd), Middle Younger Loess (LMs), and Upper Younger Loess (LMg) recorded in five sections (Politów, Wąchock, Nietulisko Małe, Komorniki and Bodzechów) in the Holy Cross Mountains area. All analysed loesses were accumulated during the Vistulian Glaciation (Weichselian). The horizons were distinguished based on separating interstadial tundra soils, coupled with thermoluminescence dating, and correlated with marine oxygen-isotope stages MIS 5d−2. The Lowermost Younger Loess (LMn) covers the Nietulisko I soil complex (Jersak, 1973), developed on deposits of the Odranian Glaciation (MIS 6) and representing a forest soil of the Eemian Interglacial (MIS 5e) and the Brørup warming (MIS 5c). A thin horizon of the Oldest Younger Loess and a thin sandy horizon, both probably corresponding to the Herning cooling phase (MIS 5d) at the boundary with the Eemian Interglacial, were distinguished within this complex. Based on previously performed grain-size and heavy mineral analysis of the Upper Younger Loess (LMg) and a topographic position of the loesses in four loessy islands of diverse regional extent, accumulation of this loess in the Holy Cross Mountains area is found to have been stimulated by the western winds. The proposed model of loess accumulation takes into account the influence of the topography of the area and its geological structure.
Samples for the study were collected from, known from the literature, outcrop profiles in Zarzecze, Radymno, Dybawka, Tarnawce and Pikulice-Nehrybka, situated at the Carpathian border, in the vicinity of the Przemyśl town, close to the San River valley (SE Poland). They represent the Vistulian loess-palaeosol sequences. Carbonates occur mainly in the loesses representing OIS 2 and 3. Pollen analysis, carried out for two profiles (Tarnawce, Radymno), throws light on palaeoecological conditions of loess cover formation and transformation.Isotopic analysis of authigenic carbonates was carried out on carbonate cemented bodies dispersed throughout the loess in forms of nodule, rhizolith and rhizocretion and on bioclasts, mainly snail shells, ostracod valves, and sparse globules (probably the internal shells of the naked snails).In the successions studied, the upper Vistulian loess deposited in environment with poor vegetation, contains rhizo- liths and rhizocretions mainly, while in the middle and lower Vistulian loess with well developed soils, gley horizons, and intercalations of subaqueous sediments, remains of snail shells and ostracod valves prevail. The two main forms of carbonates differ markedly in isotopic composition from one another. These differences seem to be more important than those between samples of one form of carbonates along particular sections. That is the result of numerous factors affecting the fractionation of carbon and, in particular, oxygen stable isotopes in the environment of precipitation of authigenic calcite. The isotopic composition of carbonates cementing sediments is controlled mainly by biominerali- zation of organic matter and local climatic parameters which were rather slightly differentiated during the formation of the studied sediments. The d13C values for bioclasts vary in a broader range than for calcitic cements. Usually the snail shell carbonate is more enriched with heavier carbon isotope than that from ostracod valves, resulting from the isotopic equilibrium with precipitation and with surface waters, respectively. Basing on our study we can conclude that fluctuations of isotope composition of authigenic carbonates make it hard to apply as a paleoclimatic indicator. However, the general trend of d18O variation in analysed carbonate fractions from leoss-palaeosol sequences displays some connections with climatic fluctuations.
Geographical names are extremely helpful in giving evidence of early settlements and their inhabitants due to their solid anchorage in the landscape, even in the case of population changes. Through the investigation of these place names, information can be gathered not only on the name giver, but also on the settlers who took on the names later on. Therefore, it is considered that any linguistic investigation has to start from the river and place names of a region.
The utilization of geographical names yields the following findings:
— The centre of Old Slavic names is situated on the northern slope of the Carpathian Mountains, approximately between Bukovina and Krakow; it is based on a substrate of older, Indo-European hydronyms.
— The expansion of the East Slavic tribes bypasses the Pripyat Marshes and extends further through Central Russia and especially to the North and the East.
— West Slavic settlers reach their new settlement areas through migration from Bohemia and further on to Saxonia and Thuringia, and also through Western Poland to Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
— The migration of the South Slavs takes place in two big, yet separate flows, on the one hand through the Moravian Gate to Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia, and on the other hand on the Eastern edge of the Carpathian Mountains to Serbia and Bulgaria.