Palaeosoils as the source of the relief of “the polish Sahara” reconstruction
The Bledow Desert is sometimes called “The Polish Sahara”. It is located on the Tarnowskie Góry Hummock. An ecological succession, which causes formation of podsolic soil occurs in the Bledow Desert. The fossil soils can be observed in the southern part of the Bledow Desert. They seldom create complete soil profiles. The fossil levels occur at the depth of several dozen centimetres, because they are covered by contemporary podsolic soil. In the deflation fields, fossil soils occur at the depth of few centimetres only. Minor aeolian processes occurring there, as well as anthropogenic activity, including quad tourism, contribute to exposing the enriched fossil level.
According to Bednarek (2000) palaeosol is a “material”, which can be applied to reconstruct the relief. Therefore, considering the depth of occurrence of the enriched fossil level, the relief of Bledow Desert was reconstructed.
The main objective of the work was to locate sites with fossil soils in the southern part of the Bledow Desert and to make attempts the reconstruct its relief.
