Age and lithological diversity of floor sediments in the Lower Nidzica Valley in the Malopolska Upland (Southern Poland)

The paper describes the age and lithological diversity of floor sediments in the Lower Nidzica Valley in the Malopolska Upland (Southern Poland). Six sections of the valley floor were analyzed based on 29 samples obtained using a core drill. Foul basic alluvial series were identified based on texture and sediment structure: (1) Pleistocene sand and gravel sediments that form fossilized erosional horizons, (2) fine-grained carbonate sediments deposited during the warm and humid periods of the Holocene, (3) mineral and organic sediments deposited since about 3794 +/- 102 BC, (4) sub-Atlantic mineral overbank deposits. Research has shown that floor aggradation in the Nidzica Valley occurred regularly during the Holocene and was determined primarily by local relief (valley floor width and gradient) and increasing human impact since the Neolithic. Holocene relief development in the studied part of the Nidzica valley floor is the result of both climate conditions and human impact - although their proportions vary over time. The age of the studied alluvial series was compared to that of other sediments analyzed for river valley floors across loess uplands in southern Poland.