Abstract
Abstract The influence of morphodynamics of individual river valley zones on the anthropogenically induced distribution of heavy metals in the Małopolska Gorge of the Vistula River near Kępa Gostecka was studied. Based on the analysis of cartographic and geological mapping data, several floodplain features were distinguished. For each feature, lithological analysis of the deposits was carried out. It comprised determination of clay content, organic matter, carbonates and iron oxides and hydroxides, as well as analysis of heavy metal concentration. The investigations show that the concentration of heavy metals in floodplain surface deposits is strictly linked with the variability of depositional environments, which reflected in the intricate feature pattern. The highest contents of heavy metals have been found in the deposits of the contemporary floodplain, stagnation zones of floodwaters, oxbow lakes buried under floodplain or organic deposits and escarpment foot back swamps, while the lowest in deposits of the Pleistocene terrace and slope wash zones. Variability of floodwater dynamics modelling the floodplain surface is associated with the specific geological setting of the Vistula River valley stretch analysed.
Highlights
The content of heavy metals in surface deposits is a significant indicator for assessing environmentalThe increased content of trace elements in both river water and deposits of the Vistula River comes from mining areas of Upper Silesia and from urban areas located in the upper parts of the analysed stretches [3,11,12,13,14].In the fluvial environment, the transportation volume of heavy metals depends on their physical–chemical properties and on the dynamics and chemical properties of the river water environment [7,9]
Based on aerial photographs and digital elevation model (DEM) analysis coupled with geological field mapping, the following 18 geomorphological zones/features were distinguished in the study stretch (Figure 2): contemporary floodplain, meander plain reworked by flows of the contemporary braided river, meander plain reworked by flows of the contemporary braided river with flat and levelled surface, stagnation zones of floodwaters, oxbow lakes buried under floodplain or organic deposits, escarpment foot back swamps, concentrated flow zones of floodwaters
The processes of evolution of fluvial systems, influencing the floodplain morphology [50,51], depend on many factors, such as tectonic processes [52,53], climate change [41,54] and changes in the settings of the catchment area caused by, e.g., human industrial activity (e.g. [42,51,55,56,57,58]). Such phenomena influenced the relief of the analysed stretch of the Vistula River valley, as well as caused the development of a specific feature pattern and the lithology and chemical composition of deposits of these forms
Summary
The transportation volume of heavy metals depends on their physical–chemical properties and on the dynamics and chemical properties of the river water environment [7,9]. These elements are transported in a dissolved form, as aggregates precipitated from solution and bound with mineral and organic components of the river bedload. Both fractions often show similar trends in the distribution of trace element concentrations [13,14,24,25], in the case of the 1.0 mm fraction, analyses show much greater differences of the mean of these elements [24,25]
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