Quaestiones Geographicae vol. 35 (1), 2016
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Item Geodiversity and biodiversity of the postglacial landscape (Dębnica River catchment, Poland)(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Najwer, Alicja; Borysiak, Janina; Gudowicz, Joanna; Mazurek, Małgorzata; Zwoliński, ZbigniewThe preparation of a proper zoning plan or landscape-ecological plan requires taking into account recogni- tion of the natural values of an area covered by the plan and evaluating its abiotic and biotic diversities. The aim of the paper is to present the new approach to the procedure of geodiversity and biodiversity assessment. This procedure is used to characterise abiotic and biotic heterogeneity of the postglacial landscape modifed by a man, tested on Dębnica River catchment (Western Pomerania, Poland). This catchment is a representative example illustrating the landscape of Central European Plain. The analytical algorithm of the geodiversity assessment is based on appropriate selection of the evaluation criteria: lithological, relative heights, landform fragmentation, hydrographical elements and mesocli- matic conditions. Biodiversity was assessed on the basis of real vegetation, potential natural vegetation and the degree of anthropisation of the natural vegetation with respect to syngenesis of plant associations. Seven factor maps were obtained: fve for the diversity of abiotic elements, and two for the diversity of biotic elements, which became the basis for the creation of total geodiversity and biodiversity maps. Maps produced in accordance with given methodology may fnd a wide range of applications.Item Analysis of sediments in the north-east morainic upland edge zone in the vicinity of Piaski Pomorskie (West Pomerania, NW Poland)(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Paluszkiewicz, Ryszard; Paluszkiewicz, RenataThe aim of this article is the description of lithofacies characteristics of sediments forming the north-east part of the morainic upland edge zone in the vicinity of Piaski Pomorskie (West Pomerania). The paper undertake also an attempt to reconstruct paleogeographical conditions of the formation of moranic uppland edge. The diversifcation of glaciofuvial and fuvial processes during the phase of stagnation and recession of uppervistulian ice-sheet in the vicinity of Piaski Pomorskie (Western Pomerania) led to the formation of a morainic upland edge distinctly marked in morphology The edge zone separates the undulating moraine plateau from a lower situated Dębnica River Valley. This area is mostly formed by fne-grained sands with occasional layers of a coarser fraction of gravel and coarse- and medium-grained sands. The observed type of low-angle cross-stratifcation and trough cross-stratifcation indicates the dominance of diversifed energy depositional environment with considerable power of water as transporting medium. The research area was formed at the front of the ice-sheet, which receded from the nearby reach of the Pomeranian Phase of the Weichselian glaciation.Item Tourist behaviour of junior high school students of the selected voivodeships in Poland: the socio-demographic context.(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Lubowiecki-Vikuk, Adrian P.; Podgórski, ZbigniewLeisure-time behavior, including tourist activity among contemporary adolescents has raised great interest of scientists and the representatives of the tourism industry. Not only it is important to estimate the rate of tourism activity among adolescents, but also it is necessary to bear in mind the analysis of behavior shaped on account of their gender, place of residence, or level of education. An attempt to conduct such a study was made on the basis of survey data obtained within the group of 1,067 junior high school students of the selected voivodeships in Poland. The re- sults obtained clearly indicate that almost 1/4 of the students surveyed had not participated in tourist trips. This was particularly noticeable in the case of boys and students living in rural areas. It is important to take broader steps to stimulate young people’s needs for tourism and sightseeing. First of all, from the family which is considered a social institution, it is expected to raise young generations in the spirit of tourism and active leisure. Family’s contemporary problems: increasing poverty, or even its (partial) marginalization are commonly disregarded. A systemic approach (support for families by schools, social organizations, and government units) appears to be a successful solution, but it is a long-term and complex process.Item Thermal conditions relative to atmospheric circulation in the Christmas period in Poland(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Tomczyk, Arkadiusz M.The main objective of this article was to determine thermal conditions in the Christmas period and the impact of atmospheric circulation on their formation. The article is based on data on the mean daily air temperature for 16 stations in Poland for the 1966–2014 multiannual period. In this period, no statistically signifcant changes of air tem- perature were observed, neither in December, nor the Christmas period. The occurrence of averagely warmer holidays was associated with the infow of maritime polar air masses from the western sector, while colder holidays occurred with the infow of continental polar air masses from the eastern sector.Item Modeling of the trajectory of the level fuctuations in Lake Naroch(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Kirvel, Ivan; Volchak, Alexander; Parfomuk, SergeyAs a result of the conducted investigations of the level fuctuations in Lake Naroch the initial data are di- vided into 3 components: a polynomial regression that makes it possible to fnd out an independent on time Law of trajectory, a periodic component of sinusoidal type and a residual sequence of independent random quantities. Mod- eling of the trajectory fuctuations is based on the deterministic part, consisting of the regression of the 8th order and periodic component, and also the random part, consisting of independent equally distributed quantities. Using this model it can be modeled the trajectory of the level fuctuations in Lake Naroch. The modeled trajectory by 200 years long demonstrated the probability of exceeding of maximum annual level, equal 1 per cent.Item Educational tourism in protected natural areas in south-east of the Baikal region(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Chizova, Vera; Kirillov, Sergey; Slipenchuk, MikchailThe paper presents the implementation of the strategy of development of tourism in the south-east of the Baikal region on the territory of the Baikal Biosphere Reserve and its subordinate federal sanctuaries. As a result of the feld research conducted in the summer of 2014 by a group of staff and students of the Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, a project of a tour route for the development of ecotourism and environmental education in the territory of Altacheysky sanctuary has been proposed.Item Environmental assessment of an abandoned briquette factory – a case study at Nagymányok area, former industrial zone(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Halász, Amade; Dezső, József; Poor, ViktoriaThe study is focused on environmental assessments of impacts by former briquette factory at the Nagymányok area in South Hungary. The (former) industrial zone is located in a northern valley of the Eastern Mecsek Mountains. Until the 1990s this company was the largest briquette factory in Hungary and the demolition works are still incom- plete. Former investigations were based on only fve samples. Our sampling sites were selected on the basis of the source of the contaminations and then we covered the whole area in equal distribution. We used the A1-F6 codes for the sample places. We have started from southwest to northeast. The samples were analyzed for Total Petrol Hydro- carbons (TPHs), Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and for heavy metals. The area was heavily contaminated by TPHs and moderately heavy metals (such as Cu, Cr, Zn and Pb). Highest contaminant concentrations were found around the former industrial buildings, especially between the boiler-house and the coal-pillbox. In the industrial area the mean of the detected values is below the upper limit of the legal exposure values, but among the former industrial buildings higher (e.g. toxic level) concentration values were detected in multiple samples. Based on our investigation the pollutant can be transported by wind or by water on the surface (stream bed) or underground. The hazardous ma- terial can easily reach some part of the city, therefore reclamation is necesarry.Item Assessment of bank erosion, accretion and lateral channel shifting using remote sensing and GIS: Case study – Lower course of the Bosna River(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Lovric, Novica; Tosic, RadislavRiver bank erosion, accretion and lateral channel migration are the most important geomorphological pro- cesses, which attract a great deal of attention from river engineering scientist over the last century. In the presented study, we assessed how the river’s shape and position have changed during 1958–2013 period using remote sensing and GIS. We have identifed that the total area of bank erosion during given period equalled 8.3430 km2 , of which 3.2593 km2 were on the left bank and 5.0837 km2 on the right bank. The total area of bank accretion from 1958 to 2013 equalled 10.7074 km2 , of which 5.4115 km2 was on the left bank and 5.2958 km2 on the right bank. The Bosna riverbed average movement in the period 1958–2013 was established in the amount of 132.4 m. During this period, the average lateral channel migration was 2.5 m per year. The data presented here are signifcant for practical issues such as pre- dicting channel migration rates for engineering and planning purposes, soil and water management.Item Using geobia and data fusion approach for land use and land cover mapping(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Wężyk, Piotr; Hawryło, Paweł; Szostak, Marta; Pierzchalski, Marcin; Kok, Roeland deLand Use and Land Cover (LULC) maps play an important role in an environmental modelling, and for many years efforts have been made to improve and streamline the expensive mapping process. The aim of the study was to create LULC maps of three selected water catchment areas in South Poland using a Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) in order to highlight the advantages of this innovative, semi-automatic method of image analysis. The classifcation workfow included: multi-stage and multi-scale analyses based on a data fusion approach. Input data consisted mainly of BlackBridge (RapidEye) high resolution satellite imagery, although for distinguishing particular LULC classes, additional satellite images (LANDSAT TM5) and GIS-vector data were used. Accuracy as- sessment of GEOBIA classifcation results varied from 0.83 to 0.87 (Kappa), depending on the specifc catchment area. The main recognized advantages of GEOBIA in the case study were: performing of multi-stage and multi-scale image classifcation using different features for specifc LULC classes and the ability to using knowledge-based classifcation in conjunction with the data fusion approach in an effcient and reliable manner.Item Boundaries from borders: Cross-border relationships in the context of the mental perception of a borderline – experiences from Spanish-French and Polish-German border twin towns(Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Markuszewska, Iwona; Tanskanen, MInna; SubIrós, Josep VIlaIn this paper, the borderlands, in the context of the psychological perception of frontiers, were presented. The common relationships between different nationalities living in border twin towns was a principal point of analysis. During the investigation two main research questions were asked: Is a frontier a barrier or a bridge in the common relationships between nationalities living on both sides of the borderline? and Does the trans-border casual social in- tegration stimulate openness to neighbours? The study was conducted in two double towns: La Jonquera (Els Límits) – Le Perthus at the Spanish-French border and Słubice – Frankfurt-am-Oder at the Polish-German border. The data were gathered from surveys by questioning locals and visitors during street polling. The design of the questionnaire included three main groups of questions relating to: 1) the perception of the borderline and the role of the border twin towns, 2) the attitude towards neighbours and identifcation with the borderlands, and 3) the future of the borderline in the context of the twin towns existence and cross-border linkages. The results showed that the historical circumstances and cultural background play a crucial role in the current bilateral interrelations between nations sharing the common space of the twin towns. These two aspects of the borderland have an infuence on the psychological perception of the border that creates mental boundaries in local societies. However, as the results proved, the necessity of living together pushed locals to be more open-minded, which as a consequence supported the establishment of social bonds.