Department of Environmental Resources and Geohazards

FIELD STATION - DOBIEGNIEWO

Research conducted at the Dobiegniewo station focuses on two main issues:
- Analysis of the influence of the dam reservoir on the functioning of the geoecosystem of the lower Vistula;
- characteristics of Late Vistulian-Holocene evolution of the environment of the Vistula River valley and conditions of functioning of its geoecosystem under conditions of changing climate and increasing human pressure on the environment.

The main achievements to date cover the following topics:
- morphodynamics of Włocławek Reservoir’s shore zone, including determinant factors behind the development of landslides on the right slope of the Vistula valley (Banach 1977, 1994, 1998; Kaczmarek et al. 2015);
- impact of impounding waters on hydrology of the lower Vistula (Babiński, Grześ 1995; Gierszewski 2018);
- course of ice cover forming and build-up and mechanisms of frazil ice jam formation in the Włocławek Reservoir and the lower Vistula (Grześ 1991);
- course of erosion-accumulation processes that take place in the Vistula riverbed beneath the Włocławek dam and above backwater of the reservoir (Babiński 1982, 1992, 1997);
- impact of hydrotechnical construction on the transformation of the layout and geometry of river channels (Gierszewski et al. 2015, 2020);
- influence of the Włocławek Reservoir on the transformation of water chemistry and the properties and conditions of suspended solids transport in the lower Vistula (Achrem, Gierszewski 2007; Babiński 1994; Gierszewski 2004, 2011, 2018; Gierszewski et al. 2005);
- course of sedimentation processes and determinants of geoaccumulation of heavy metals in bottom sediments of the Włocławek Reservoir (Banach 1993; Gierszewski 2008, 2018; Gierszewski, Szmańda 2007, 2010; Gierszewski et al. 2006);
- impact of the Włocławek Reservoir on changes in hydrographic conditions in the Vistula valley (Glazik 1978);
- properties of hydrochemical environment of surface water in the west of Płock Basin and conditions for circulation of water and dissolved material in the lake-river system of the Ruda river catchment (Gierszewski 2000, 2001);
- differentiation of the Skrwa Lewa river runoff (Brykała, 2009);
- environmental responses to global climatic pulses over the last 15 millennia based on analysis of annually laminated sediments of Lake Gościąż and paleoenvironmental studies in the Plock Basin (Bonk et al. 2021; Kruczkowska et al. 2020; Müller et al. 2020; Rychel et al. 2018);
- determinants of the functioning of river-lake ecosystems of the Płock Basin under increasing human pressure and modern climate change (Bartczak et al. 2009, 2019; Brykała et al. 2015; Fojutowski et al. 2021; Glazik, Gierszewski 2001).

Results of research conducted so far on the Włocławek Reservoir, on the lower Vistula River within the extent of the dam impact, and in the Płock Basin include five habilitation dissertations, six doctoral theses, and over 300 articles and scientific notes.

Current research problems focus on analyzes:
- influence of extreme weather and hydrological phenomena on sediment properties of Wloclawek Reservoir and water quality in the lower Vistula,
- impact of modern climatic changes and human pressure on the water and matter circulation in catchments with high hydrological inertia, on the example of a river-lake system of the Ruda stream.