Relations between present relief on the border of lowlands and highlands and geological structures of the Paleozoic Platform – a case study from central Poland

Abstract

The article is an attempt to find relations between geology and the dynamics of the Mesozoic surface of the Łodź Synclinorium, the Radomsko Elevation and the Belchatow Graben and the present relief on the border of the Polish Lowlands and Uplands in its central part. Fossil relief has been compared with the present one as related to the extent of the recession phases of the Saalian (Wartanian) ice-sheet. A significant convergence has been found between the Mesozoic surface plain and the main morphologic elements. The role of elevations and fossil valleys has been stressed as stable forms in the pre-Pleistocene and contemporary landscape. Also stressed has been the meaning of grabens and elevations enforcing longer stoppages of the Wartanian stadial of the Middle Polish Glaciations.