Along Polish Coast; Szczecin - Gdańsk 14 th 16 th May 2011 07:30 Meeting with the guide - hotel Radisson SAS parking, Price: 350 EURO per person Route: SZCZECIN, WOLIN, TRZĘSACZ, DZIWNÓW, KLUKI, ŁEBA, RĄBKA, ŻARNOWIC, JASTRZĘBIA GÓRA, GDAŃSK SOPOT, GDYNIA, SZCZECIN. The route of the trip goes along Polish coast between Szczecin and Gdaosk. During the trip you will be able to admire the beauty of Polish cliff and dune coast, recognize the problems of Polish coastal zone management and to visit two coastal National Parks. On the whole route you will be assisted by scientific supervisor which help you to discover most interesting spots on Polish coast both form scientific and touristic point of view. It is also planned to tour historically and culturally important areas as well as to sightsee the most beautiful Polish coastal cities. SHORTENED PLAN OF THE TRIP: DAY 1 Breakfast, meeting with the guide - hotel Radisson SAS parking, bus transfer to Wolin Island, touring Świnoujście (city on two islands), bus transfer to Polish cliff coast in Wolioski National Park, touring church ruins in Trzęsacz, lunch, bus transfer to Polish dune coast in Dziwnów, transfer to Kluki, touring the open-air ethnographic museum of the folk connected with the outdoor regional meal, walk in Słowinski National Park near Łebsko Lake, bus transfer to Łeba, dinner and accommodation at a hotel. DAY 2 Breakfast, walk to Rąbka, touring the military area from the II World War, walk through shifting sand dunes to Łącka Mountain, transfer by bus to Żarnowiec, entrance into Kaszubskie Oko (view tower), lunch, transfer by bus to the Jastrzębia Góra, walk along the seashore, transfer by bus to Gdaosk, touring the city: the old town, Golden Gate, Long Market, Neptune s Fountain, accommodation in the hotel, dinner. DAY 3 Breakfast, transfer by bus to the centre, a cruise by boat to Westerplatte, return to the centre of Sopot, sightseeing of the longest in world wooden pier, walk in Gdynia Kościuszko Square, return to Szczecin. 1
SHORT SCIENTIFIC DESCRIPTION OF MAJOR SPOTS. WESTERN POLISH COAST: SHORT GEOLOGY DESCRIPTION Pleistocene and Holocene clastic deposits more or less cohesive occur on whole area of today s route. They can be found both on the land and on sea bottom. In some places the Pleistocene series contains farts of older, Tertiary or Cretaceous, deposits. Segments of coast which are built of Pleistocene deposits appear now in the form of cliffs with heights of several meters to 70-80 meters. In some places the upper-most part of cliff is built of Holocene Aeolian series. Remaining 50% of this coast area is of spit and barrier type with dunes 2-3 to 10 meters high. Behind the splits there are relatively wide depressions of glacial or glaciofluvial origin, in most cases filled with peat. In some depressions there are lakes, the depth of which is rather small (1,5m). Fig.1.Outline of relief and lithology. Source: Geological Atlas of the Southern Baltic, 1995. COASTAL DYNAMICS There have been some in-depth investigations done to identify costal variation on the area included in our field trip. In the analyze of the long-term tendency and tendencies over a few years it is clearly visible that the only region where accumulation decidedly prevailed over washout during the last three decades is the region of so-called Swina gate located west of Miedzyzdroje. This dominance is particularly striking on the eastern side of the Swina mouth. Short sections where accumulation tended to be dominant have also been registered between Swietoujscie and Miedzywodzie. In the remaining section there was clear tendency for the shoreline to retreat, or to remain fairly stable. 2
Fig.2. Spatial structure of the erosion. WOLIN ISLAND Wolin Island separates Szczecin Lagoon from the Baltic. The island is composed of three parts which are radically distinct morphologically. These are: A. an undulating ground-moraine upland with a few small postglacial lakes in the east of the island, B. high hills of end moraines occupying its middle part, C. the Świna Barrier with numerous foredune rides in the west. You will admire views of Wolioski National Park (fig.3,4.) form the Gosao Hill. The landscape of the Park varies greatly, including its characteristic element: 15 km long and up to 95 m high cliffs. Storms, wind and sun contribute to the cliffs' erosion. As a result they recede approximately 80 cm per year. The altitude within the Park is from 0 to 115 m. Moraine hills predominate in the relief, covering approximately 75% of the Park area. Fig.3.Wolioski National Part 3
Fig.4.Wolioski National Park TRZĘSACZ Trzęsacz is a small village at the seaside belongs to Rewal Community. The village has coast almost one km long, but developed area at present time is about 400 m long. There is located at the top of 14 m high Pleistocene cliff. Parcels are located about 30-50 m form the range of the cliff. Just at the range of cliff there are located ruins of the XIII century Gothic church. 1880 1903 1998 Fig.5,6,7. Ruins of XIII century church in Trzęsacz. The ruins are threatened by falling down from the cliff as a result of progressing coastal erosion. It is assumed, although there is no direct evidences, that this 13th century Gothic church was build about 2 km away form the shoreline. The assessed pace of moving back took the line of the sea shore out in 1280-1880 years with the rate of 5 m per year, but in 1880-2005 years only with 0.5 m/y. According to historical data intense erosion of the cliff caused gradual collapsing of the church (fig.5,6.). A little fragment of the south wall exists on the edge of the cliff scarcely at present (fig.7). Value of these ruins is resulting rather from their symbolic meaning, than from aesthetic historical or religious, advantages. The Church in Trzęsacz is a very well known example of progressing erosion processes within the last half century in Poland and is often presented even in a school textbooks. From this reason the town and ruins are being visited by school trips as well as other people resting up in a very attractive Rewal community and its surroundings. 4
Fig.8. Tetrapod s seawall in Trzęsacz [P.Domaradzki, 1998]. Fig.9. Protection of the Trzęsacz ruins [J.Stodolny 2005]. An actual speed of erosion is relatively slow at this place 0,2 m/y and in 84/89 the ruins were protected by seawall made by terapods and stones. At present time a combined protection system was done. The ruins were connected with the cliff and the foot of the cliff was protected by 90 m long seawall made by gabions (fig.8,9.). From the graph presenting changes of cliff foot line (fig.10.) we can conclude that there is small erosion tendency. In years 1951-73 this process was much slower and more spatially diverse. In a western part cliff foot line retreated for about 2-4 m and in the eastern part the erosion process was more dynamic and a changes in some places reached even 10 m. In years 1973-96 the process was much stronger and an average shoreline retreat reached about 5 to 7 m. Fig.10. Cliff foot line changes in 1951-1996 [Dudzinska-Nowak 2006 / A]. 5
TRZĘSACZ - KOŁOBRZEG On the way between Trzęsacz and Kołobrzeg, the trip rout runs along monotonous moranic plains some dozen kilometers south of the seashore, bypassing to small coastal lake Liwia Łuża. From Niechorze to Dziwnówek the route goes along a rather low cliff coast (10-20 m) built almost exclusively of till. It is one of the fastest destroyed section of the southern Baltic. EASTERN POLISH COAST: KASHUBIAN COAST It s territory stretches from the western coast of Gdaosk Bay and Puck Bay through Gdaosk to Władysławowo. It covers two main landscapes: morainic hills and divided them parts of ice-marginal valleys from the Pomeranian phase. The hills eroded by marine waves creates cliffs. The main cities are Gdaosk, Gdynia and Sopot so-called together as TriCity. REDA-ŁEBA ICE-MARGINAL VALLEY This area is a clearly valley form shaped by the westward outflow of meltwater during the last retreat of ice sheet. The valley is about 90 km long, 1,5 km wide near Wejherowo and 5,5 km wide in the border with Łeba-Gardno Plain. Ice-Marginal Valley creates marked meander near Wejherowo. Present trough is into two directions: Reda River flows east to the Puck Bay; Łeba River northeast to the Łebsko Lake. Lower parts of those two valleys are cover by peats. GARDNO-ŁEBA LOWLAND The Gardno-Łeba Lowland, situated on the Polish Middle Coast, is a stretch of well-developed barrier-lagoon coast with a known area of presently active coastal dunes. The lowland forms a belt of some 50 km in length and 5-13 km in width extending from the village Dębina in the west (12 km east of Ustka) to the eastern fragment of Lake Sarbsko located 9 km east of Łeba. Fife relief-shaping and sedimentary environments glacial, fluvial, lacustrine, marine and aeolian have influenced today s relief, surface lithology and water conditions of the Gardno-Łeba Coastal Plain. In historical times the factor exerting an ever greater influence on the kind of vegetation cover and on some relief-shaping processes in man s activity. That is why under the rather monotonous surface is hidden a wide spatial and stratigraphic diversity of depositsof the Last Cold Period and the Holocene. The Gardno-Łeba Lowland is separated from the Slupsk morainic plateau situated south of it by a belt of thrust end moraines which developed during the youngest ice readvance on the North Polish Plain, called the Gardno Phase. They attain their maximum height south of Lake Gardno (Rowokół Hill, 115 m a.s.l.), where they assume the shape of an ice-tongue margin. The main relief elements of the Gardno-Łeba Lolwand include: 1. The so-called Gardno-Łeba Barrier, some 40 km long and 0.6-2 km wide, covered with dunes attaining heights from a few meters to 56 m a.s.l.; to the north of Lake Łebsko there is a field of wandering dunes. 2. Coastal lakes the largest of which are Łebsko, Gardno and Sarbsko. 3. An island remnant of a morainic plateau south of Lake Łebsko (5-17 m a.s.l.). 4. The alluvial fan of the Łupawa situated between lakes Gardno and Łebsko (2-6 m a.s.l.) and the deltas of the rivers Łupawa in Lake Gardno and Łeba in Lake Łebsko (0.6-2.0 m a.s.l.). 5. Late Glacial and Early Holocene dunes to the south of Lake Sarbsko. 6. A peat-bog plain on which a cover of peat and gyttja 0.5-12 metres thick conceals a diversified lithology and a relief with differences in elevation of 10-15 m. 6
SŁOWIŃSKI NATIONAL PART Słowinski National Park lies in the central part of the Polish coast, between Łeba and Rowy, in the Pomorskie Voivodeship. The northern border of the Park is formed by 32.5 km of the Baltic Sea coastline. Activities towards the creation of a national park started in 1946 during the conference in Łeba with the participation of scientists from Poznao and Gdaosk. The Park was finally established in 1967, over the area of 18,069 ha. Currently it occupies the area of 18,618 ha, of which 10,213 ha are covered by waters and 4,599 ha by forests. 5,619 ha, including 2,529 ha of forests, are strictly protected. In 1977 the Park was recognized by UNESCO as a MaB Biosphere Reserve. In the past, the Park area used to be a bay of the Baltic Sea. The Park relief is a result of the Scandinavian glacier activity and further activity of the Baltic Sea. The glacier left behind a range of moraine hills, which embrace the Park from the south and the west. The highest hill is Rowokol (115 m a.s.l.) which offers spectacular views over the entire Park. The Baltic Sea activity and other geo-morphological processes lead to the creation of sandbars, separating the lakes from the sea. The Gardno-Łeba Sand-bar is built entirely of dune sands, brought and left on the beach by waves. The sand landing on the beach was then dried by the sun and wind and blown further inland. The above process has lead to the formation of migrating dunes. The largest, about 500 ha, dune area is located on the Łeba Sand-bar. The dunes reach the height of over 30 m a.s.l. and, blown by the wind, move east with a speed of 3-10 m per year. They buried the settlement of Stara Chusta in the 16th century, and the village of Łączki in the 18th century. The complex of migrating dunes, together with 4 shallow coastal lakes are unique in Europe. Water ecosystems cover almost 55% of the Park area. The largest water bodies are Łebsko Lake (7,140 ha, max. depth 6.3 m), Gardno Lake (area 2,468 ha, max. depth 2.6 m), and Dołgie Wielkie Lake (146 ha, max. depth 2.9 m). The Łebsko and Gardno Lakes owe their origin to sand-bars, which have gradually separated the former sea bays from the open sea. The Dołgie Wielkie and Dołgie Male Lakes had once been an eastern bay of the Gardno Lake, before they were cut off from it by migrating sand dunes and changed into the separate lakes. The Park is cut through by 7 rivers, the largest being the Łeba and Łupawa. ŁEBA DUNES The Łeba Barrier is an area where intensive aeolian processes have been taking place in the Younger Holocene. Their products are barchans, barchan-crescent dunes, elliptic and parabolic crescent dunes, groups of fore-dunes occurring exclusively in the narrow zone behind the beach, and abundant slacks and deflation hollows. In the middle part of the Łeba Barrier, spread over an area of about 5.5 km 2 almost completely devoid of any plant cover, there are 9 complex barchan-like forms moving quickly eastwards with an average velocity of 10 m yr -1. These dunes attain a relative height of 20 to 40 m, and among them are deflation hollows sometimes filled with ephemeral pond-like lakes appearing during high storm surges. The most effective from the point of view of their transport action are westerly winds (about 86%), although their frequency is only 44%. The main work is done by strong and very strong storm winds (over 10 m s -1 ) in short period of time during the year, mostly from a westerly quarter, responsible for the movement of as much as 80 of total quantity of sand. 7
The price 350 EUR per person includes: transfer by bus on the route Szczecin Łeba Gdaosk Szczecin, cruise by boat accommodation in hotels (Łeba nad Gdaosk), full board during the trip (2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 1 outdoor regional meal, 2 dinners) English speaking pilot and guide, English speaking scientific supervisor, all entrance fees. Note: The Organizing Committee may change the program of the field trips for reasons related to weather or local unavailability. 8