The Tatra Mts – rocks, landforms, weathering and soils

The trip gives insight into geology and landforms as well as into past and present dynamic geological, geomorphologic and soil-forming processes in the central part of Polish Tatra Mts. The area is easily accessible from Zakopane. However not the highestand not the most impressive of all parts of the mountains it offers a concise review of all sites crucial for understanding the geologic history of the Tatras and their forefield. Crystalline core has not only been covered by overthrusted sedimentary rocks but also forms tectonically displaced bodies like crystalline islands over the sediments. Post-orogenic erosion strongly differentiated the mountains landscape. High valleys shaped in resistant granitoids of the High Tatras were much better reservoirs of snow and ice during the Pleistocene then the West Tatras valleys deeply cut into softer sediments and metamorphic rocks. Therefore, the High Tatric glaciers were longer and thicker than the West Tatric ones. Post-glacial weathering, mass movements and accumulation of organic matter resulted finally in formation of rich variety of specific mountain soils.//Trasa wycieczki prowadzi przez środkową część Tatr Polskich: Dolinę Bystrej, Kasprowy Wierch, przełęcz Karb i Dolinę Suchej Wody (Fig. 1). Różnice między dwiema głównymi częściami tych gór: Tatrami Zachodnimi i Wysokimi są stamtąd wyjątkowo dobrze widoczne. Teren ten jest ponadto przedmiotem intensywnych badań od przynajmniej 200 lat, a najnowsze doniesienia pojawiają się co roku. Stamtąd pochodzą liczne datowania moren, wreszcie, to w Dolinie Suchej Wody L. Zejszner pierwszy rozpoznał w 1849 r. ślady zlodowacenia. Przemierzając Tatry podczas planowanej wycieczki będzie można zaobserwować tak wyraźnie widoczne w górach efekty działania procesów prowadzących do niszczenia gór, bardziej szczegółowo przyjrzymy się przejawom wietrzenia. Wietrzenie jest bardzo ważnym procesem warunkującym powstawanie gleb a co za tym idzie wpływającym na rozwój roślin i zwierząt czyli na środowisko życia człowieka

ABC Effect in Basic Double-Pionic Fusion --- Observation of a new resonance?

We report on a high-statistics measurement of the basic double pionic fusion reaction $pn \to d\pi^0\pi^0$ over the energy region of the so-called ABC effect, a pronounced low-mass enhancement in the $\pi\pi$-invariant mass spectrum. The measurements were performed with the WASA detector setup at COSY. The data reveal the ABC effect to be associated with a Lorentzian shaped energy dependence in the integral cross section. The observables are consistent with a resonance with $I(J^P) =0(3^+)$ in both $pn$ and $\Delta\Delta$ systems. Necessary further tests of the resonance interpretation are discussed

\pi^0 \pi^0 Production in Proton-Proton Collisions at Tp=1.4 GeV

The reaction pp->pppi0pi0 has been investigated at a beam energy of 1.4 GeV using the WASA-at-COSY facility. The total cross section is found to be (324 +- 21_systematic +- 58_normalization) mub. In order to to study the production mechanism, differential kinematical distributions have been evaluated. The differential distributions indicate that both initial state protons are excited into intermediate Delta(1232) resonances, each decaying into a proton and a single pion, thereby producing the pion pair in the final state. No significant contribution of the Roper resonance N*(1440) via its decay into a proton and two pions is foundComment: Submitted to PL

Can Satellite Remote Sensing be Applied in Geological Mapping in Tropics?

Remote sensing (RS) techniques are based on spectral data registered by RS scanners as energy reflected from the Earth’s surface or emitted by it. In “geological” RS the reflectance (or emittence) should come from rock or sediment. The problem in tropical and subtropical areas is a dense vegetation. Spectral response from the rocks and sediments is gathered only from the gaps among the trees and shrubs. Images of high resolution are appreciated here, therefore. New generation of satellites and scanners (Digital Globe WV2, WV3 and WV4) yield imagery of spatial resolution of 2 m and up to 16 spectral bands (WV3). Images acquired by Landsat (TM, ETM+, OLI) and Sentinel 2 have good spectral resolution too (6–12 bands in visible and infrared) and, despite lower spatial resolution (10–60 m of pixel size) are useful in extracting lithological information too. Lithological RS map may reveal good precision (down to a single rock or outcrop of a meter size). Supplemented with the analysis of Digital Elevation Model and high resolution ortophotomaps (Google Maps, Bing etc.) allows for quick and cheap mapping of unsurveyed areas

Building stones used in Romansque edifices in the vicinity of Kraków

Three objects were studied within a project aimed at investigation of stones used in the Romanesque edifices in the vicinity of Kraków, and continued since 2019. These are the churches in Dziekanowice (21 km SE of Kraków) and in Czchów (58 km SE of Kraków), and a clergy house in Morawica (13 W of the Kraków city centre). The church in Dziekanowice is relatively completely and well preserved, while the only Romanesque remnants of the church in Czchów are those reused in the Gothic church. It is a clergy house in Morawica (a former castle), whose walls contain Romanesque fragments. Two former edifices are built of the Istebna sandstone (Upper Cretaceous-Paleogene), quarried from the local flysch bedrock. Fine-grained, grey-yellowish stone dominates. It is soft and easily workable due to argillaceous binder (matrix). The stone blocks are precisely shaped and well fitted. Romanesque remnants of the clergy house in Morawica are con- structed predominantly of limestone, also of local origin. Only a fragment of the NW wall is built of the Istebna sandstone. This fragment is probably a part of the butress supporting the NW wall. The study shows that stonemasons and builders of that time had good skills of selecting and applying proper stone blocks for particular purposes. Blocks used in load-bearing structures were exceptionally well shaped and fitted. On the other hand, those skills varied. The frieze from the Romanesque church in Czchów is rather primitive. The size of limestone blocks used in the clergy house in Morawica is strikingly similar to those of various Romanesque edifices in Kraków. It seems, therefore, that those blocks could have been quarried and shaped in quarries located in the city, where the masonry “industry” was well developed. Larger, irregular blocks, used as foundations and filler in the “opus emplectum” type walls were probably quarried on site. Moreover, stones used in more eminent edifices (churches, castles) were probably more carefully selected. The Morawica castle (clergy house) and many churches in Kraków were built of limestone blocks without cherts

History recorded in the stones of the Romanesque collegiate church in Opatów

Romanesque collegiate church in Opatów (south-eastern Poland) belongs to the best-preserved Early Mediaeval edifices in Poland. Its date of origin, founder, architects and history are still unclear despite numerous investigations carried out since the beginning of the 19 th century. It is clear that local sandstones were used in the construction of the impressive church. Present investigations resulted in the inventory of the stones used as a building material: their petrography, size of blocks and strange holes and striae on some of their surfaces. Dominant sandstones have different colours: white-greyish or grey-brownish. They are built of very fine-grained, well sorted quartz with siliceous-clayey binder. All sandstone blocks have similar heights (most frequent average 34–38 cm), but different lengths. Longer (up to 62 cm) are placed in the oldest parts of the edifice, shorter (up to 48 cm) form younger fragments and might have been reused after destruction of previous undefined buildups. The sandstones represent Lower Jurassic sediments exposed currently on the slopes of the Opatówka River valley in Podole, some 5 km NE of Opatów. Only a few sherry (reddish) sandstone blocks found in various parts of the walls are probably replacements during post-Romanesque reconstructions. They represent Lower Triassic sandstone from Lipowa, 3 km NE of Opatów. Lancetoidal grooves, 5–20 cm long, and hemispherical holes of 1–4 cm in diameter are apparently of anthropogenic origin (apotropaic marks); however, their purpose is unclear. It is supposed that the grooves are traces of tool sharpening or grinding, while the holes are places where sandy or dusty material was acquired for magical or medical purposes

Building stones used in early mediaeval edifices of Krakow and geology of the area

The early mediaeval period witnessed a considerable breakdown in masonry techniques and in architecture in the Polish territory: the application of stone and developing of skills of shaping rocks into regular cuboid stone bricks.Only local stones quarried within a distance of ca. 15 km from Krakow were used in early mediaeval edifices in the city. They were: two varieties of limestones (Upper Jurassic) and three varieties of sandstones of the Carpathian flysch (Cretaceous to Palaeogene). Sedimentary environments (facies) and post-sedimentary processes determined compactness, block divisibility and workability of stones, which, further on, determined their application. Thin bedded sandstone and platy limestone yielded easily workable and relatively small (few to a dozen of centimetres in length) and quite regular bricks used in the earliest buildings. Rocky limestone was a source of irregularly shaped clumps used initially as a filler of walls erected in the opus emplectum technique. Later, it was used also for cutting larger (few tens of centimetres), more regular blocks. Bedded limestone was a good material for obtaining larger (a dozen or two dozens of centimetres) regular bricks used widely throughout the whole early mediaeval period. Blocks (2 or more metres in length) of soft dimension Carpathian sandstone were used for shaping and carving large elements: tombstones, columns, volutes, epitaphs, etc.Techniques of quarrying and stone working developed considerable with time. Initially, slope scree and stone from demolished older ramparts were used. Later, quarries reached deeper beds which yielded larger bricks and blocks. Stone sources "migrated" with time too. The earliest places of excavation were located within the city, e.g. on the Wawel, Skałka and Krzemionki hills. When those deposits were exhausted, mining moved to more distant spots

ORIGIN OF THE MARBLE OF THE TOMB OF KING JAGIELLO IN THE WAWEL CATHEDRAL IN KRAKOW

In an attempt to identify the marble of the tomb of King Jagiello, three kinds of marbles were used as a refernce material, i.e.: Italian Ammonitico Rosso, Austrian Roter Knollenkalk and Hungarian red. Structure, texture and mineral composition were examined and SEM-EDAX analysis was done. Very limited size of the sample available disabled the use of the optical microscope. Generally, the tomb is made of red limestone with a nodular structure and sound, non porous texture. The nodules are 1 to 5 cm in diameter. This kind of a decorative limestone being succeptible to carving and polishing is traditionally called a 'marble'. Four varieties were identified in the tomb: Variety 1. Colour is red-brownish, nodules are slightly lighter than a matrix. Indistinct parallel bedding, stylolites and ammonites can also be seen. Variety 2. Generally, red-brownish in colouring, with stronger contrast between nodules (yellow-pinkish) and matrix (brown-reddish). Variety 3. Dark red-brownish. Nodules do not contrast strongly from the matrix. Variety 4. Colour is intermediate between varieties 1 and 2. Structure, texture and colour point to the Ammonitico Rosso marble as a stone applied in the tomb. Size, shape and colour of the nodules as well as colouring of the matrix make it similar to a variety that occurs in the vicinity of Verona and is called Rosso di Verona. Hungarian marbles obviously differ from that used in the tomb. Their colouring is generally darker and more brownish. Nodules are less pronounced and less contrasted from the matrix. SEM and SEM-EDAX analyses did not appear particularly diagnostic. The sample from the tomb was generally more fine grained than the reference samples thus disabling comparison of further structural and textural features. However, similarities were detected between the tomb marble and the Rosso di Verona marble, e.g. in the texture and number of genarations of the micrite, presence of clay minerals and iron oxides. Noticeable is a presence of Al, Si and K in the tomb marble, being apparently connected with clay minerals and with products of chemical weathering. All this point to the Rosso di Verona as the most probable stone applied in the tomb. Chemical composition of the marbles form the Verona area is following: Si - 5.90% CaO - 51.31% MgO - 0.14% CO2 - 40.48% Fe2O3 - 0.66 % FeO - traces Al2O3 - 0.84% Mn - traces Average porosity is less than 0.5%, and water sorption is less than 0.1% (W. D. Grimm, R. Snethlage, 1984)