Age and Origin of Fluvial Deposits in the Vistula River Valley Near Tarnobrzeg (Sandomierz Basin, Poland): Insights from Sediment Dating and Analysis

Abstract

Abstract The present research aimed to determine the age and origin of a 4-m sequence of fluvial deposits located in Siedleszczany on the western side of the Tarnobrzeg Monadnock in the Vistula River valley. Initially, these deposits were thought to be sediments of the overflood (Vistulian) terrace. The study revealed that the sand deposits are relatively young Late Holocene sediments, spanning from the 8th century AD to the 15th–16th centuries AD, and the organic material originated from erosion of older Holocene deposits of various ages. This finding was supported by palynological analysis, which identified, besides Holocene pollen grains, also those from Late Glacial and other Quaternary periods, and even from pre-Quaternary ones. Extreme floods in the Vistula valley may be specified as the origin of the sandy sediments in Siedleszczany. Similar large floods occurred in the past when ice jams blocked the main riverbed, leading to the formation of overflow channels. These floods caused rapid erosion of the flood-plain and deposition of sandy sediments in the sheltered marginal areas of the valley, away from high-velocity flood flows. As a result, the fluvial deposits in Siedleszczany, in the Vistula valley, resemble palaeoflood slackwater deposits observed in various regions worldwide.