Witold Paweł ALEXANDROWICZ¹, Marcin SZYMANEK² & Eliza RYBSKA^3
1AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environment Protection, Chair of General Geology and Geotourism, Al Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Cracow, e.mail: wpalex@geol.agh.edu.pl
²University of Warsaw, Faculty of Geology, Żwirki i Wigury 93, 02-089, Warsaw, e.mail: m.szymanek@uw.edu.pl
³Adam Mickiewicz University, Faculty of Biology, Laboratory for Teaching Biology and Natural Sciences, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznań, e.mail: elizary@amu.edu.pl

MOLLUSCAN ASSEMBLAGES FROM HOLOCENE CALCAREOUS TUFA AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE FOR PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTIONS. A STUDY IN THE PIENINY MOUNTAINS (CARPATHIANS, SOUTHERN POLAND)

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The molluscan assemblages occurring in profiles of calcareous tufa in the Pieniny Mountains (the Carpathians, Southern Poland) were subject to a detailed malacological analysis. The study included 27 sites of these deposits. Three of them represent the Early and Middle Holocene, and the remaining is tufa deposited in the Subatlantic Phase, mainly in the historical period. The conducted analyses enabled recognition of several types of calcareous tufa formed under different morphological conditions and containing various molluscan assemblages. On the basis of the gathered material, defining nine types of malacocenoses was possible. Each of them strictly corresponds to the conditions prevailing in time and place of deposits deposition and represents a specified climatic phase of the Holocene. The observed sequences of molluscan assemblags were the basis for paleoenvironmental reconstruction, determining the main phases of climatic changes and the human impact on the natural environment. The results of malacological analysis were complemented with determination of the age of deposits by means of radiocarbon dating and the results of palynological analyses conducted in the sites of peatbogs occurring in Podhale. The carried out reconstruction indicates similarities and differences in the paleogeographic development of mountain and upland areas of Central Europe.