Molluscan assemblages in sediments of a landslide on Majerz Hill near Niedzica (Inner Carpathians, Southern Poland) – phases of development and environmental changes

Abstract

A detailed malacological analysis was made of sediments associated with a small landslide which had developed on the north-eastern slope of Majerz Hill near Niedzica (Inner Carpathians, Southern Poland). The age of the development and environmental changes associated with particular phases of the landslide was determined by means of radiocarbon dating. The analyses made it possible to distinguish two periods of landslide activation falling on the turn of the Early/Middle Holocene and on the Late Holocene (probably on the Iron Age Cold Period). These phases are closely related to periods of increased mass movements, both of landslides and debris flows in other European mountains, stages of glacial advance in the Alps, periods of increased fluvial activity in rivers and elevated water levels in European lakes. The molluscan assemblages also enabled the reconstruction of environmental conditions before the landslide formation, during periods of dormancy, and after the end of its activity.