1,2,2,3- 1University of Lodz, Doctoral School of Exact and Natural Sciences, Lodz, Poland (dzmitry.tsvirka@edu.uni.lodz.pl)
- 2Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geological Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
- 3Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Warsaw, Poland
The White Forest is located in Eastern Poland, approximately 50 km north of Warsaw. The forest is bordered by the Narew and Bug rivers. In order to reconstruct changes in vegetation cover under anthropogenic pressure over time, sediments from the Stawinoga palaeolake and the Zarzetka oxbow lake were examined using pollen and radiocarbon analyses.
Palaeolake Stawinoga is situated approximately 2 km east of the present-day Narew River channel. The palaeolake is currently a circular, treeless wetland surrounded by pine forest. For the palaeoecological analysis, a 2-m-long sediment sequence was collected from the central part of the wetland.
The lower part of the Stawinoga core consists of gyttja, which is characterized by a high concentration of aquatic plant pollen grains (Myriophyllum, Potamogeton, Nymphaea), whereas the upper part is composed of peat. Pollen data indicate that Lake Stawinoga formed during the Late Glacial, as evidenced by high abundances of light-demanding taxa, including Juniperus, Hippophaë, Artemisia, and Chenopodiaceae. A detailed pollen analysis was performed on the upper peat deposits, which contain numerous plant indicators of human activity, including Cerealia pollen grains. Based on anthropogenic indicators appearing in the pollen spectra, different phases of human activity related to land use were identified.
The Zarzetka oxbow lake is located approximately 0.4 km south of the modern Bug River channel and is currently almost completely overgrown. The Zarzetka core was collected from a marginal, overgrown part of the lake. In total, 55 cm of gyttja deposits were sampled. The accumulation of gyttja in the Zarzetka core began approximately 40 (or 60) years ago, as indicated by the radiocarbon date of -1580±30 BP (1,983–1,985 cal AD). The Zarzetka core sediments are characterized by very high abundances of pollen indicators of human activity, on the basis of which phases of anthropogenic impact were distinguished. This facilitated the analysis of changes in human activity within this area.
The research was funded by the NCN OPUS-22 grant; Project ID: UMO/2021/43/B/HS3/02636 (Biskupie drzewa. Historia środowiskowa Puszczy Białej).
How to cite: Tsvirko, D., Obremska, M., and Związek, T.: Pollen record of human activity in the White Forest area (Mazovia, Poland), EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-18309, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-18309, 2026.
