Neotectonic studies in Poland concern mainly manifestations of those tectonic movements that have been active in Late Neogene and Quaternary times, as well as geodetically measured recent vertical and horizontal crustal motions. Among problems of particular interest, the following should be listed: periodicity of neotectonic (mostly Quaternary) activity, estimation of the parametres of the neotectonic stress field, amplitudes and rates of Quaternary and recent movements, development of neotectonic troughs and young faults, mutual relationships among photolineaments, geological structures and recent seismicity, as well as the role of tectonic reactivation of fault zones due to human activity. Neotectonic faults in Poland have developed in Neogene and Quaternary times due to reactivation of Laramian or older structures, or in the Quaternary due to reactivation of Neogene faults. The size of throw of Quaternary faults changes from 40-50 m and >100 m in the Sudetes and the Lublin Upland, to several - several tens of metres in the Carpathians. The average rate of faulting during Quaternary times has been 0.02 to 0.05 mm/yr, what enables one to include these structures into the domains of inactive or low-activity faults. A similar conclusion can be drawn from the results of repeated precise levellings and GPS campaigns. Strike-slip displacements have been postulated for some of these faults. Isolated faults in Central Poland have shown middle Quaternary thrusting of the order of 40-50 m, and some of the Outer Carpathian overthrusts tend to reveal young Quaternary activity, as indicated, i.a., by concentrations of fractured pebbles within the thrust zones. Episodes of increased intensity of faulting took place in the early Quaternary, in the Mazovian (Holsteinian) Interglacial, and during or shortly after the Odranian (Drenthe) glacial stage. Some of the faults have also been active in Holocene times. Recent seismic activity is often related to strike-slip faults, which in the Carpathians trend ENE-WSW and NE-SW, whereas outside the Carpathians they are oriented parallel to the margin of the East-European Platform and the Sudetic Marginal Fault. Future investigations should put more emphasis on palaeoseismotectonic phenomena and practical application of neotectonic research.

This paper presents the results of a detailed analysis of fractured clasts hosted within Miocene and Pleistocene paraconglomerates that are exposed close to a map-scale overthrust. Both these paraconglomerates bear numerous fractured clasts (22-50%). The architecture of fractures (joints and minor faults) is well-organized and independent of both clast orientation and the degree of clast roundness. The fractures were formed in situ, most probably due to neotectonic activity of the map-scale overthrust. The number of fractured clasts is positively correlated with the clast size, and negatively correlated with the grain-size of clasts of detrital rocks. The number of fractured clasts increases in clasts of detrital rocks, compared to those of quartzites and magmatic rocks.

The aim of this paper is to present a multidisciplinary project dealing with analysis of young crustal movements in the Orava Basin, Polish Western Carpathians, on the basis of a three year long gravimetric, geodetic, geological and morphostructural study. The problem consists in quantitative interpretation of the obtained gravimetric results, i.e. in combining temporal gravity changes with those of geodynamic crustal processes. Gravity surveys conducted in 2004 and 2005 show a decrease in gravity values at benchmarks situated in the Central Carpathian Palaeogene Basin and Magura Nappe, while the central potion of the Orava Basin reveals the opposite trend. Such changes, if confirmed by successive measurement campaigns, appear to indicate recent uplift of the basin margins and subsidence of the basin itself.

The paper aims at reconstructing Pleistocene slope processes and transformation of tectonic relief in two sections across the northern margin of the Krzeszowice Graben. The investigations are based on the analysis of deposits present on the slopes of fault-line scarps. The lithology and stratigraphy of these deposits was reconstructed based on analysis of outcrops and boreholes. Detailed lithological logs were prepared, along with grain size analyses, and determination of CaCO3, Fe2O3 and Corg contents in fine-grained sediments. The studied fault-line scarps were transformed by Pleistocene denudation. The type and intensity of these processes were different in the sections studied. In the Będkowice area, accumulation prevailed; the fault-line scarp became covered with sediments. In the Karniowice area, in turn, periglacial processes caused degradation of the fault-controlled slope. In the lower part of the fault-line scarp, the intensity of degradation processes was limited by repeated presence of sediment cover which preserved the substratum. Differences in the intensity and type of Pleistocene denudation can be explained by different heights of fault-line scarps, controlled by tectonic structure and neotectonic movements.

Neotectonic structures of the Upper Silesia that originated during the last 5 Ma (Pliocene and Quaternary) overlap Miocene grabens and horsts of the Carpathian Foredeep. They had been reactivated in Pliocene as an effect of the young Alpine uplift of the Carpathian Foredeep. It is postulated that ice-sheet derived compaction of a thick Miocene deposits was the most significant agent of the development of neotectonic depressions. Glacioisostasy of mobile bedrock structures was presumably also an important component of vertical movements. The amplitude of neotectonic movements is estimated to 40-100 m, basing on DEM map analysis, analysis of sub-Quaternary structural maps, and the Pleistocene cover thickness. The present-day tectonic phenomena are generated by mining-induced seismicity. These are connected with stress relaxation in the deep bedrock thrust zones of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin.