EUSEDcollab: a network of data from European catchments to monitor net soil erosion by water

As a network of researchers we release an open-access database (EUSEDcollab) of water discharge and suspended sediment yield time series records collected in small to medium sized catchments in Europe. EUSEDcollab is compiled to overcome the scarcity of open-access data at relevant spatial scales for studies on runoff, soil loss by water erosion and sediment delivery. Multi-source measurement data from numerous researchers and institutions were harmonised into a common time series and metadata structure. Data reuse is facilitated through accompanying metadata descriptors providing background technical information for each monitoring station setup. Across ten European countries, EUSEDcollab covers over 1600 catchment years of data from 245 catchments at event (11 catchments), daily (22 catchments) and monthly (212 catchments) temporal resolution, and is unique in its focus on small to medium catchment drainage areas (median = 43 km(2), min = 0.04 km(2), max = 817 km(2)) with applicability for soil erosion research. We release this database with the aim of uniting people, knowledge and data through the European Union Soil Observatory (EUSO)

Runoff and soil erosion on sandy slope in the last-glacial area – plots measurements (Suwałki Lakeland, NE Poland)

The aim of the study performed in years 2007-2009 in the Suwałki Lakeland was assessed the intensity of soil erosion and runoff on a sandy slope under different cultivation. The study also focused on analysis of selected factors affecting the erosion (intensity of rainfalls, erosion susceptibility of soil, vegetation cover). Measurements were performed on the standard USLE plots inclined 8°. The mean annual erosion amounted to 0,2 t ha⁻¹ under cereals (rye and oat), 2,1 t ha⁻¹ under potatoes planted in rows parallel to the slope gradient, and 2,75 t ha⁻¹ on the black fallow. Experimentally determined index of erosion susceptibility K was 0,0041. The mean annual value of the canopy factor C was 0,064 for cereals and 0,8 for potatoes. Short rainfall events of 20-30mm and erosivity 100-200 MJ mm ha⁻¹h⁻¹ are characteristic for the study area. The results obtained for the sandy slope support previous findings that such short-term events play a significant role in soil erosion. Effectivity of such events strongly depends on the vegetation cover as they are responsible for 25-30% of soil loss under potatoes and 45-50% under cereals

Stefan Zbigniew Różycki

Stefan Zbigniew Różycki, geologist, geographer, and traveller, was born on 8 January 1906, in Konstantynówka, near Donetsk. He spent his childhood and early adolescence in Ukraine and later he continued education in gymnasiums in Warsaw and in Częstochowa. After obtaining his school-leaving certificate in 1925 he began geologic and geographic studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Warsaw. In 1931 he obtained the title of a Doctor of Philosophy in geology and physical geography on the basis of his thesis The Żoliborz 's Interglacial. In 1934 he participated in the Polish expedition to Spitsbergen. In 1939 he took part in the Battle of Modlin Fortress and during the occupation period he engaged in conspiratiorial activities in the Geographic Service at the Supreme Command of the Home Army (AK): he devised military maps, together with a group of architects he prepared the future plans of Warsaw development, and he participated in securement of the scientific geologic collection. After the war (1945-1946) he ran the Study of Town-planning Physiography at the Capital City Reconstruction Bureau. In 1945 he obtained habilitation at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the University of Warsaw on the basis of his dissertation The Bathonian, Callovian, and Oxfordian stage of the Kraków-Częstochowa Jurassic Highland Chain. He was the first post-war Director of the Department of Geography. In 1946 he was promoted an associated professor and until 1951 he was the Director of the Section of Physical Geography. In 1948- 1951 he was also a Deputy Dean and in 1949- 1950 an Associated Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. In 1951 the Council of Ministers assigned him to organize the Faculty of Geology at the University of Warsaw, and after that, in 1952, he brought into existence the Section of the Quaternary Period Geology (the first in the world) which he ran until 1968. In 1953-1954 he was the Director of the Institute of Geology at the Geological Survey. In 1954 he was promoted for a full professor and since that year he ran the Quaternary Geology Study at the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1955- 1959 he presided the Expedition Commission in the framework of the International Geophysical Year. He was both the organizer and a participant of many Polish scientific expeditions, among others to Spitsbergen (1958), to Vietnam and China (1956, 1965), to Antarctica (1958/1959), to India (1967), and to Sahara (1970). He was the editor-in-chief of the periodicals „Quaternary Studies in Poland” and „Studia Geologica Polonica”. He was a member of many Polish and many foreign scientific organizations and associations: among others he was a full member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the first President and a Honorary President of the Committee on Quaternary Studies, a honorary member of the Committee on Polar Research, of the Polish Geologic Society, of the Polish Geographic Society, and of the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA). He was also the President of the Polish Scientific Film Association. As a geologist he made a contribution to the Jurassic and Cretaceous deposits research; he is acknowledged to be the creator of the Polish school of the quaternary geology. In the field of geography he contributed mostly as a geomorphologist and a polar explorer. He tutored nearly 200 master's thesis and 26 doctor's dissertations and was the author of over 250 papers and many archival studies. For his scientific, didactic, and organizational output he was honoured with, among others, the National Award of I and II degree, the Commander's Cross with Star Polonia Restituta, the Nicolaus Copernicus Medal of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Stefan Zbigniew Różycki died on 16 September 1988, in Warsaw

Sedimentological features of the colluvial deposits on the example of the slope cover deposits of the hillock in Lopuchowo area (Suwalskie Lakeland)

The aim of the study was the analysis of scructural and texcural features of the slope cover deposits in relation to the character of the substratum deposits. The slope of a small hillock formed of fluvioglacial deposits was chosen as representative of the last glaciation area. Structure of the near-surface parts of the hillock and the slope cover deposits were analysed based on five pies dug along the longitudinal profile. The grain size distribution was established using the sieve method. The granulometric indices were calculated according to the Folk and Ward (1957) formulae. The slope cover deposits are uniform and consist of sand of varied grain size, with share of fine and very fine grains. Thickness the slope cover is of up to 150 cm. At the floor two colluvial mineral series appear, of 30-40 cm thickness, with flow structures and laminated. The main mass of this cover consists of soil colluvia. Within the soil colluvia three humus horizons were distinguished. The lowermost fossil humic horizon, dated at 2740 ±70 BP, points to deposition of material at the slope base mainly as a result of anthropogenic denudation. The overlying humic horizon proved to be older (3160±90 BP), which points to stepwise erosion of successive older slope covers and their redeposition at the hillock base. The slope deposits are finer and worse sorced in comparison to their source deposits. Frequency curves for colluvia from wash are chracterised by higher number of distinguishable modes in comparison with the source material. Over the whole slope length of 75 m a slow sorting occurred. It resulted in the changed relationship becween the main grain diameter and the standard deviation, from type I, representing fluvioglacial deposits, into type II, comprising colluvial deposits. Cumulacive curves of colluvial deposits differ from those of fluvioglacial origin in a weaker separation of populacion corresponding to the kinds of transport and in a narrower inclination angle

Climate and human impact in stages of gully erosion on Suwalki Lakeland

The dating and lithological features of the analysed gully fan sediments allow to determine of 4 stages of gully erosion. Based on thickness of the sediments and their age, the rate of accumulation can be calculated. Based on the Visher's granulometric curves and relations between sedimentological indexes were established source of gully erosion products. The stages of gully erosion were compared with archaeological and palynological data. The first stage (from 1500 BC to 3rd century AD) of the development of the gullies was probably determined by climatic factors, because erosion began at the bottoms of the dellies before forest clearance. In this period, the oldest sediments of alluvium type were deposited. The analysis of the values of mean grain size and d-5%, allowed to identify the source and mechanism of sediments transport. The first of gully erosion stage in the studied area was triggered by natural climatic changes linked to the humid periods of the late Holocene. The next stages are linked to both human and climatic influences

On the origin of came cones

In North-East Poland, in the Riss Glaciation zone there occur hills of a characteristic conical shape. They have asymmetric slopes: one is usually short and steep, the opposite is longer and softer. They are connected with depressions left by blocks of dead ice and usually situated on the border of such basins. They are built of fluvioglacial deposits, sometimes with added ablation clays. They are formed through the accumulation of deposits into cones in large fissures of ice slopes. Their genesis is shown by their inner structure. All the layers originate in the culmination of the cone and thin out in accordance with the longer slope; the measurements of their dip direction indicate a fanshaped disposition of the directions of transport. By way of example two such forms have been described; they are situated in the western part of the Białystok Upland and in the North-East part of the Wysokie Mazowieckie Upland. Because of their morphometric and structural features they are called came cones (R. F. Flint 1957, A. Karczewski 1971, A. Musiał, K. Straszewska, M. Ziembińska-Tworzydło 1982, A. Musiał 1983)

Assessment of soil erosion processes based on sedimentological analyses of contemporary deluvial sediments on the example of the Suwalki Lakeland

Research on soil erosion undertaken on selected slopes of the Suwałki Lakeland (NE Poland) in years 1986–1989, 1998–1999 and in 2007 allowed to determine features of deposits transported and deposited within the slopes. Sedimentological analyses were used and following granulometric indices calculated: mean grain size diameter, sorting and skewness. Organic matter content was also determined by loss on ignition. Size of mineral grains (Mz and d-5%) were analysed in relation to rainfall erosivity. Analyses of sediments originated from soil erosion supports previous fi ndings regarding their structural and textural features. Granulometric composition of deluvial deposits is determined by the source material – soil cover. Analysed slope deposits were medium and weakly sorted and their skewness was positive which shows similarity to the slope soil cover. Deposits originated from rill erosion had skewness varying from slightly positive to slightly negative. Rainfall erosivity weakly correlates with the size of mineral grains transported and deposited. This is explained by the fact that transported material included not only separate grains but also grain aggregates and because the material partially originated from rainsplash. Following juxtaposition of sedimentological indices: Mz-σ1, Mz-Sk1, Sk1-σ1 and also Mz with loss on ignition proved helpful in determining conditions of the erosion-transportdeposition process. Multimodal frequency curves with a low amplitude of the modes are characteristic and typical for deluvial sediment. It is found that the minimum transport distance needed for registration of the process in sedimentological properties of the deposits is 30 m. Moreover, only rainfall of a high intensity was able to modify sedimentological proporties of the deposits

Fan sediments as indicator of gully erosion sta ges on the example of the Suwałki Lakeland (NE Poland)

Study of sediments at gullies mouths conducted in the Suwałki Lakeland (NE Poland) showed that fan sediments are significantly diversified. The changes of sediment type could be linked to forest clearance and farmland expansion. Dating and lithological properties of fan sediments allowed to determine the stages of gully erosion. The research also included studies of sediments accumulated within last 200 years in 6 small gully catchments of different degree of cultivation. Supply of the sediments derived from soil erosion to the gully fans was very limited in catchments where only 15% of the land was cultivated. This process was intensively active in catchments where cultivated land occupied 77% of the area