Natalia Piotrowska

Silesian University of Technology · Division of Geochronology and Environmental Isotopes

Sediments from Lake Lubińskie, western Poland, were investigated to determine the limnological responses to environmental changes during the last 3,000 years. To identify the mechanisms driving the eutrophication in the lake, we distinguished six lithozones along with five major varve microfacies. An age-depth model based on varve counting and radi...

Here, we present the results of carbon isotope and elemental analysis of one-year-old Pinus Sylvestris L. needles collected in 2021 from 10 sampling sites in a highly populated and industrialized area of Poland. The needles were exposed to air pollution for one year. The chemical analysis of the samples was performed using different methods: radioc...

Red deer (Cervus elaphus) is one of the species that is rather wide spread and survived across Europe over the Holocene. The analyses of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in bone collagen of ungulate remains have been applied in paleoecological studies as environmental and dietary indicators. In this study we present the carbon and nitrogen stabl...

In the rich of archaeological sites dated from the late Palaeolithic to the Modern Period region of the Serteyka River, deposits of an extensive accumulative fan were studied in detail. In the lower sector of the present-day Serteyka River valley, the strict chronology and depositional conditions of an extensive accumulative fan deposits were studi...

The cemetery discovered in the village of Świbie, commune of Wielowieś (site 16), District Gliwice, was one of the few large biritual cemeteries with a predominance of inhumation graves belonging to the so-called Gliwice-Częstochowa subgroup of the Lusatian culture. It was only thanks to a grant from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in...

Wasted tires are the great source of fuel and valuable components but could be a cause of environmental and land pollution. This study shows the detailed method for the determination of radiocarbon isotope ( ¹⁴ C) concentration in tires and their pyrolysis products. Samples are taken from truck and passenger car tires in the form of shredded rubber...

This paper presents 66 radiocarbon (14C) dates obtained at 33 key sites from the Polish part of the European Sand Belt. These calibrated dating results were compared to 34 high-resolution 14C dates obtained from a fluvial-aeolian sediments to identify pedogenic phases from the late Pleniglacial interval to the early Holocene. These identified pedog...

Determining the biocomponents in liquid fuels using radiocarbon radioisotope ( ¹⁴ C) dating requires sample preparation adaptations to the conditions of the Gliwice Radiocarbon and Mass Spectrometry Laboratory. Liquid scintillation counting (LSC), and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) were investigated using six samples, including one ¹⁴ C-free f...

Landscape and ecosystem transformations depend on combined climatic forcing and human activity. The timing of changes can provide crucial information about the underlying mechanisms. One of the processes that reflects the sensitivity of lakes to environmental and climatic changes is eutrophication, which has serious consequences on both aquatic lif...

Biological diversity is inextricably linked to community stability and ecosystem functioning, but our understanding of these relationships in freshwater ecosystems is largely based on short-term observational, experimental, and modelling approaches. Using a multidecadal diatom record for the past ca. 16 000 years from Lake Baikal, we investigate ho...

Coastal hypoxia is a worldwide concern. Even though seasonal hypoxia has been reported on the northwestern Black Sea shelf since the 1970s, little is known about oxygenation in this area over the Holocene. With a multiproxy approach, this work aimed to detect potential hypoxic events in two gravity cores. Our results demonstrate that the most commo...

The present phylogeographic pattern of red deer in Eurasia is not only a result of the contraction of their distribution range into glacial refugia and postglacial expansion, but probably also an effect of replacement of some red deer s.l. mtDNA lineages by others during the last 50 000 years. To better recognize this process, we analysed 501 seque...

Aim: The Expansion-Contraction model has been used to explain the responses of species to climatic changes. During periods of unfavourable climatic conditions, species retreat to refugia from where they may later expand. This paper focuses on the palaeoecology of red deer over the past 54 ka across Europe and the Urals, to reveal patterns of change...

Praca zbiorowa pod redakcją: Sebastiana WERLE Joanny FERDYN-GRYGIEREK Marcina SZCZYGŁA PRZEDMOWA W ramach realizacji programu Inicjatywa Doskonałości – Uczelnia Badawcza, Politechnika Śląska kumuluje potencjał oraz znacząco rozwija współpracę wewnętrzną i zewnętrzną w sześciu Priorytetowych Obszarach Badawczych. Jednym z nich jest szósty Priorytet...

Subfossil trunks of pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) from the Late Weichselian were discovered in the site Koźmin in the Koło Basin, central Poland (Dzieduszyńska et al., 2014a). Another part of organic sediments with trunks was excavated in the frame of the research project. Altogether 224 samples from Koźmin were analysed dendrochronologically; they re...

The climate of east-central Europe (ECE) is the result of a combination of influences originating in the wider North Atlantic realm, the Mediterranean Sea, and the western Asian and Siberian regions. Previous studies have shown that the complex interplay between the large-scale atmospheric patterns across the region results in strongly dissimilar s...

The climate variability and related sea-level changes during the Holocene are still under discussion, especially in a regional context. Very little information comes from the southern and south-eastern Baltic coast. The aim of the paper is to gain insight on the history of regional environmental changes, particularly sea-level and storminess, and t...

Remote Northern Hemisphere (NH) and Southern Hemisphere (SH) lake sediment and peat records of mercury (Hg) deposition have shown a ×3 to ×5 Hg enrichment since pre-industrial times (<1880 AD), leading to the perception that global atmospheric Hg enrichment is moderate and uniform across the hemispheres. Anthropogenic Hg emissions in the NH are, ho...

Significance Lake Baikal (Siberia) is the world’s oldest and deepest lake and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Containing an exceptionally high level of biodiversity and endemism, in addition to a fifth of global freshwater not stored in ice sheets, the lake has been cited by UNESCO as the “most outstanding example of a freshwater ecosystem.” Using ge...

A recent paper by Miszczak et al. (2020) examines metal contamination in mires in Poland and Norway. The authors conclude that lead (Pb) records in ombrotrophic peatlands cannot be used to reconstruct the chronological history of anthropogenic activities due to post-depositional mobility of the metal. We contest this general conclusion which stands...

Remote northern (NH) and southern hemisphere (SH) lake sediment and peat records of mercury (Hg) deposition show a ×3 to ×5 Hg enrichment since pre-industrial times (<1880AD), leading to the common perception that global atmospheric Hg enrichment is moderate and uniform. Anthropogenic Hg emission in the NH is, however, approximately four times high...

Palaeoecological analyses of Falkland Island peat profiles have largely been confined to pollen analyses. In order to improve understanding of long-term Falkland Island peat development processes, the plant macrofossil and stable isotope stratigraphy of an 11,550 year Falkland Island Cortaderia pilosa (‘whitegrass’) peat profile was investigated. T...

Biological diversity is inextricably linked to community stability and ecosystem functioning, but our understanding of these relationships in freshwater ecosystems are largely based on short-term observational, experimental, and modelling approaches. Using a multidecadal diatom record for the past 15,800 years from Lake Baikal, we investigate how t...

The southern westerly winds (SWW) play a major role in climate variability in Southern Hemisphere mid-and high-latitudes, regulating rainfall, ocean circulation, and the Southern Ocean carbon sink. Despite their importance, little is known about millennial scale changes in the SWW and how they have influenced the climate system in the past and inte...

In this paper we present data from the measurements of carbon isotopes (Δ ¹⁴ C and δ ¹³ C) from α-cellulose extracted from pine tree-rings. The samples were collected in four forests located in the most industrialized part of Poland, where coal mining and coal-based energy are an important branch of industry. The investigated period of time (1975–2...

The progress of science is tied to the standardization of measurements, instruments, and data. This is especially true in the Big Data age, where analyzing large data volumes critically hinges on the data being standardized. Accordingly, the lack of community-sanctioned data standards in paleoclimatology has largely precluded the benefits of Big Da...

The progradation of the Medjerda delta has been the subject of many studies since the 19th century. The scale and the rapidity of this phenomenon interested researchers in various fields early on, such as geomorphology, geology, palaeogeography, history, archaeology, or geoarchaeology. Indeed, the delta prograded by around 10 km over 3 millennia. A...

In this paper, a record of the ¹⁴ C and ¹³ C isotope content of atmospheric CO 2 for Gliwice is presented for samples collected on a weekly basis in the years 2011–2013. In addition, measurements were performed on the early and late wood from the annual rings of pine trees from five sites located 3–6 km from the atmospheric CO 2 sampling point. The...

Spring-fed fen deposits (peat-tufa sequences) from northern Poland were investigated for Holocene environmental reconstruction (climate and hydrology) using multi-proxy analysis (lithofacies, molluscs, pollen, plant macrofossils, geochemistry, and stable oxygen-and carbon-isotopes). The main aims of these studies were: (1) comparison of several sim...

Biological studies on Mesolithic human remains from the Polish region are a rare subject of scientific research due to the limited number of these relics and their poor state of preservation. From the project titled “Old material with new methods: Using the latest bio-chemical analysis in studies of Mesolithic human remains from the Polish areas,”...

Chronology of the last ice sheet decay on the southern Baltic area based on dating of glaciofluvial and ice-dammed lake deposits. Geological Quarterly, 63 (1): 193-208, doi: 10.7306/gq.1453 The paper presents the results of the first OSL dating of glaciofluvial and ice-marginal lake sediments which occur between end moraines of the Słupsk Bank and...

Biological studies on Mesolithic human remains from the Polish region are a rare subject of scientific research due to the limited number of these relics and their poor state of preservation. From the project titled "Old material with new methods: Using the latest biochemical analysis in studies of Mesolithic human remains from the Polish areas," t...

Mean value of Δ14Co in the atmosphere (from April to September of the given year) and Δ14C in tree ring cellulose in the given year. Δ14Co in the atmosphere for the period 1975–1986 was taken from the work of Hua et al. (2013), whereas for the period 1986–2014 from the work of Hammer et al. (2017).

Spatial and temporal variation of δ13C in pine growing in forests

The Cyrilka Cave is the second longest pseudokarst cave and the longest crevice-type cave in Czechia. Developed within the headscarp area of a deep-seated landslide, the cave became a focus of scientific research in recent years when new passages were discovered. Structural analysis provided a general tectonic plan of the cave, as well as more deta...

This paper reviews the reconstruction of European Atlantic storm events with the contribution of a new stormy reconstruction in its central part. Three marsh environments on the island of Yeu were chosen to identify disturbing storm events from the Mid- to Late Holocene with vibracore sampling, radiocarbon dating and sedimentary analysis. Nine prob...

Stable carbon isotope ratios and radiocarbon (14C) concentrations in samples of pine wood (AD 1975–2012) from 3 sites, as well as needles (AD 2012–2014) collected from 15 sites, in a heavily urbanized area in proximity to heavy industrial factories in Poland were analyzed as bio-indicators of CO2 emissions. The sampling sites were located at differ...

An analysis was performed on samples from a series of well-preserved tree trunks and in situ stumps of Allerød/Younger Dryas age found in Koźmin and Kwiatków, Kolska Basin, Central Poland. Five different types of wood preparation methods were investigated in three Polish radiocarbon laboratories (Gliwice, Poznań and Krakow) in order to find the mos...

Local weather and climate pattern in Central Eastern Europe have favored the development of ice caves in temperate latitudes. In Romania, the existence of many perennial ice caves (in the Carpathian Mountains) opened a new research pathway-obtaining paleoclimatic information with a wide range of potential indirect indicators (i.e. stable isotopes i...

Our project aimed to construct a Scots Pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) chronology for part of the Late Glacial and reconstruct changes in the ¹⁴ C concentrations during this period. Kwiatków (Kolska Basin, central Poland) proved to be very prospective site, in which wood from the end of Allerød was recognized. A level of organic deposits with so-called...

Loess formations in Poland display a close relationship with cooling and warming trends of the Northern Hemisphere during the Pleistocene. Loess sequences sensitively record regional palaeoclimatic and palaeoecological changes. The Złota loess profile (21°39’E, 50°39’N) provides a unique opportunity to reconstruct climate conditions in the past in...

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An isotopic monitoring was undertaken in 2012–2014 at Lake Żabińskie (Mazurian Lakeland, NE Poland). The aim was to identify the factors and processes controlling an isotopic composition of the lake water and to explore the mechanism responsible for recording the climatic signal in stable isotope composition of deposited carbonates. δ¹⁸O and δ²H in...

One of the best archives to reconstruct past climatic variability in the Romanian Carpathians are ice caves, rock-hosted caves containing perennial accumulations of ice. Ice in such caves forms through the freezing of shallow (5-15 cm deep) lakes accumulated from percolating water, preserving the climatic signal recorded by the isotopic composition...

We present ancient mitochondrial DNA analyses of 31 complete cytochrome b gene sequences from subfossil red deer remains from the Tyrrhenian islands (Corsica and Sardinia) and mainland Italy in a European-wide phylogeographic framework. Tyrrhenian and North African red deer, both going back to human introductions, were previously the only red deer...

The chronology of the late-Holocene coastal storms was reconstructed from vibracore samplings, radiocarbon dating and sedimentary analysis from Yeu island (French Atlantic coast). The methodology used is based on the identification of disturbing sedimentary events recognized within three Holocene sedimentary transgressive sequences selected along t...

Perennial ice deposits in caves host various proxies of past climate variability, most notable, the isotopic composition of ice, which has been shown to reflect, generally, the temperature outside the cave during the formation of ice (usually, autumn though spring). This ice forms by the freezing of water, water that contains large amounts of disso...

Silesia is one of the regions with the highest levels of air pollution in Europe, highly industrialized over the years and highly populated. In this study, trees (Pinus Sylvestris L.)growing in the heavily urbanized area in close proximity to point-source pollution emitters, such as a heat and power plant, nitrogen plant, and steelworks in Silesia...

The forest–steppe ecotone in southern Siberia is highly sensitive to climate change; global warming is expected to push the ecotone northwards, at the same time resulting in degradation of the underlying permafrost. To gain a deeper understanding of long-term forest–steppe carbon dynamics, we use a highly resolved, multiproxy, palaeolimnological ap...

Atmospheric mineral dust is intrinsically linked with climate. Although dust flux variability on glacial–interglacial timescales is well documented, Holocene dust records remain scarce. To fill this gap, we conducted elemental, isotopic and sedimentological analyses on a peat core from the Karukinka Natural Park in Tierra del Fuego. An 8000-year-ol...

The main aim of this study was to analyze the variability of width as well as content of stable oxygen and carbon isotopes, and radiocarbon in Finns sylvestris L. tree rings. Analysed Scots pine stand grew on the fresh mixed coniferous forest habitat type on site located in the vicinity of the power plant in Laziska Gorne (southern Poland). The com...

The presented results concern the first attempt of OSL dating of glaciofluvial sediments from Słupsk Bank and ice marginal lake deposits occurring on the sea bed between the Słupsk Bank and the Polish coast. Dating was applied to 22 samples of sandy-gravelly sediments from 2 glaciofluvial deltas, 11 samples of sandy-silty sediment of ice-damed lake...

Rapid ecosystem transitions and adverse effects on ecosystem services as responses to combined climate and human impacts are of major concern. Yet few long-term (i.e. >60 years) quantitative observational time series exist, particularly for ecosystems that have a long history of human intervention. Here, we combine three major environmental pressur...

Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, charcoal and geochemical analyses of sediments from Lakes Salęt and Ruskowiejskie (NE Poland) were used to reconstruct vegetation changes in the former Galindia territory (Old Prussia) related to human activity and the climatic instability of the medieval period. Among archaeologists and historians, there is a wides...

Radiocarbon-dated spring-fed fen deposits from the Komarów site (Volhynia Upland, SE Poland) with its multi-proxy data (macrofossils, molluscs, geochemistry, pollen, stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon) enable us (1) to distinguish four main stages of fen evolution, which reflected a distinct variability of water supply conditions and (2) to recon...

Atmospheric dust loadings play a crucial role in the global climate system. Southern South America is a key dust source, however, dust deposition rates remain poorly quantified since the last glacial termination (~17 kyr ago), an important timeframe to anticipate future climate changes. Here we use isotope and element geochemistry in a peat archive...

In this study we investigated morphologically and geochemically a skull from an open pit situated on the Călineasa-Şesu Gârzii Plateau, Bihor Mountains. The study presents the first 14C dating and stable isotope composition of bison skeletal remains from the Romanian Carpathians. The result of 14C determination yielded two relevant maxima: one is a...