Kot Rafał

Abstract:

The programme of identification, cataloguing and evaluation of Polish landscapes, part of the implementation of the European Landscape Convention, has caused an increase in interest in physico-geographical regionalisation over recent years. The commonly accepted regionalisation of Poland developed by J. Kondracki (Kondracki & Richling 1994) is sufficient for work at an overview scale (e.g. 1:500,000), whereas its spatial accuracy is too low to make use of it for the purpose of Polish landscape cataloguing. The aim of this article is to present a more up-to-date and detailed division of Poland into mesoregions, adjusted to the 1:50,000 scale. In comparison with older work, the number of mesoregions has increased from 316 to 344. In many cases, somefar-reaching changes in meso- and macroregions were made. Nevertheless, in most cases the previous system of units was maintained, with more detailed adjustment of boundaries based on the latest geological andgeomorphological data and the use of GIS tools for the DEM analysis. The division presented here is a creatively developing new work aligning the proposals of the majority of Polish researchers. At the same time, it is a regionalisation maintaining the idea of the work developed by J. Kondracki as well as his theoretical assumptions and the criteria used to distinguish units, which makes it a logical continuation of his regional division.

Keywords: regionalisation, spatial units, boundaries of regions, Poland

Jerzy Solon [j.solon@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, 00-818 Warsaw, Twarda 51/55, Poland
Andrzej Richling, Warsaw University
Piotr Migoń, Institute of Geography and Regional Development University of Wrocław pl. Uniwersytecki 1, 50-137 Wrocław: Poland
Urszula Myga-Piątek, University of Silesia Faculty of Earth Sciences Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec: Poland
Jerzy Nita, University of Silesia Faculty of Earth Sciences Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec: Poland

Abstract:

The study was based on the research completed by the authors. The research for the study was based on the use of a relatively broad selection of cartographic materials as well as scientific literature. The characteristics of 17 kinds1 of natural landscapes and 31 variations of landscape of the Chełmno-Dobrzyń Lakeland, Ursziilewo Plain and the neighbouring Vistida and Drwęca Valleys were described. The origins of the terrains provided the main criteria used for identifying the kinds of landscapes. A relationship to the appropriate sort of natural landscapes (glacial, glacioaquatic, aeolian, depression, river and channel valley), and the morphology and hypsometry of the land reliefs (flat plains, undulated plains, hills, ridges, high slopes) determined the terrain origin. When identifying the different variations of natural landscape, the following were of major importance: the land relief (defined as the kinds of landscape), and lithology of the surface deposits, and land use (forests, arable land, meadows and pastures). Urban areas and large excavations were described separately. Similar distinctions of kinds and variations of landscape used by other authors, are noted elsewhere.

Keywords: typology and evolution of natural landscapes, kinds and variations of landscape, phys-ico-geographical mesoregions

Niewiarowski Władysław, Institute of Geography, Nicholaus Copernicus University, Fredry 8. 87-100 Toruń, Poland