Title: Anthropogenic deposits in the city and their impact on land changes. Case study of historical centre of Cracow, Poland

Biography:

Adam Lajczak, geomorphologist, hydrologist, current employment: Institute of Geography, Pedagogical University of Cracow, Poland (head of Department of Geoinformation and Environmental Research). Recently he has been focusing on the research on geoecology of mountains and their forelands, rivers valleys, marshy areas and anthropogenically degraded areas (including towns).

Abstract

In research on land changes in historic town centres, the focus is on assessing the spatial differentiation of the thickness of cultural deposits and ultimately on assessing changes in some parameters that write the morphometry of the study areas. The material intentionally deposited in towns with a long tradition of development (hundreds or even several thousand years) comes  mainly from demolished buildings. The second way in land changes of towns was to build up the level of streets and squares mainly with mineral material. Other changes in the topography of towns were associated with the deposition of garbage, often outside town borders. The purpose of the presentation is to reconstruct the differences between paleotopography and modern topography of the historic centre of Cracow in the last millennium. The research area (9 km²) is located in the Vistula river valley in southern Poland, in which there are limestone hills surrounded by fluvial forms. The paleotopography studied represents the situation before the 8th century without significant human impact. On the basis of rich data sources (e.g. geoengineering and archaeology), a hypsometric map and digital elevation model (DEM) were generated, which showed the reconstructed paleotopography of the researched area. DEM from aerial laser scanning (ALS DEM) shows the contemporary topography of Cracow centre. The use of selected morphometric parameters allows quantitative assessment of spatial changes in absolute height, in  local levelling, slopes and exposures. In the centre of Cracow, these changes included building up and flattening the area.

In research on land changes in historic town centres, the focus is on assessing the spatial differentiation of the thickness of cultural deposits and ultimately on assessing changes in some parameters that write the morphometry of the study areas. The material intentionally deposited in towns with a long tradition of development (hundreds or even several thousand years) comes  mainly from demolished buildings. The second way in land changes of towns was to build up the level of streets and squares mainly with mineral material. Other changes in the topography of towns were associated with the deposition of garbage, often outside town borders. The purpose of the presentation is to reconstruct the differences between paleotopography and modern topography of the historic centre of Cracow in the last millennium. The research area (9 km²) is located in the Vistula river valley in southern Poland, in which there are limestone hills surrounded by fluvial forms. The paleotopography studied represents the situation before the 8th century without significant human impact. On the basis of rich data sources (e.g. geoengineering and archaeology), a hypsometric map and digital elevation model (DEM) were generated, which showed the reconstructed paleotopography of the researched area. DEM from aerial laser scanning (ALS DEM) shows the contemporary topography of Cracow centre. The use of selected morphometric parameters allows quantitative assessment of spatial changes in absolute height, in  local levelling, slopes and exposures. In the centre of Cracow, these changes included building up and flattening the area.