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This comprehensive study examines fossil remains from Niedźwiedzia Cave in the Eastern Sudetes, offering detailed insights into the palaeobiology and adversities encountered by the Pleistocene cave bear Ursus spelaeus ingressus. Emphasising habitual cave use for hibernation and a primarily herbivorous diet, the findings attribute mortality to resource scarcity during hibernation and habitat fragmentation amid climate shifts. Taphonomic analysis indicates that the cave was extensively used by successive generations of bears, virtually unexposed to the impact of predators. The study also reveals that alkaline conditions developed in the cave during the post-depositional taphonomic processes. Mortality patterns, notably among juveniles, imply dwindling resources, indicative of environmental instability. Skeletal examination reveals a high incidence of forelimb fractures, indicating risks during activities like digging or confrontations. Palaeopathological evidence unveils vulnerabilities to tuberculosis, abscesses, rickets, and injuries, elucidating mobility challenges. The cave's silts exhibit a high zinc concentration, potentially derived from successive bear generations consuming zinc-rich plants. This study illuminates the lives of late cave bears, elucidating unique environmental hurdles faced near their species' end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mercury content in peat layers of seven peat bogs in the Małopolska region (Wolbrom in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland and Otrębowskie Brzegi, Puścizna Wysoka, Puścizna Mała, Przybojec, Puścizna Długopole and Bór na Czerwonem in the Orawa-Nowy Targ Basin) was determined to a depth of 100 cm at a resolution of 1–2 cm. Geochemical background and level of anthropogenic mercury enrichment were determined for each peat bog. To establish the interdependence between mercury concentration, mineral matter content and selected metals, geochemical diagrams and models of the system were drawn up representing the correlational relationships between the selected geochemical variables for three of the peat bogs in the Orawa--Nowy Targ Basin (Otrębowskie Brzegi, Przybojec and Bór na Czerwonem). It was found that, comparing against other European raised bogs, the range of mercury concentrations in the peat layer down to 50 cm in the peatlands of Małopolska is similar to those in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Spain, and decidedly lower than in the peatlands in Scotland, Belgium and Czechia. Furthermore, the sites in the Orawa-Nowy Targ Basin were clearly lower, the lower the altitude of the peat bog surface, which is probably associated with local topoclimatic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of the work is a reconstruction of environmental conditions in the Lower Oder River Valley in the early Middle Ages with use multi-proxy research. This was considered in terms of natural determinants of the development of hydrogenic habitats in the estuary section of a large lowland river, but at the beginning of a headland of natural morainic plateau known as Castle Hill in Szczecin. In a relatively small area, three different types of geochemical landscapes were distinguished that had specific functions in matter cycles, including the water cycle. The article mainly presents the results of geochemical studies for a series of biogenic deposits separated by a series of lacustrine sediments with a large admixture of mineral material. An attempt was also made to determine subfossil animal remains in the sediments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a range of environmental variables to explore the possible drivers influencing the biota, especially the composition of aquatic invertebrates, during the Younger Dryas (YD) and Early Holocene (EH) in different river valley sites: a well-developed meandering river and the confluence zone of headwater streams. Using pollen, macrofossil, cladoceran, and chironomid as well as geochemical and lithological data as proxies for environmental factors (i.e., water depth and temperature), we attempt to show that these different sites display similar hydroclimatic signals (especially floods). The geochemical records in the studied valley are correlated with environmental factors, such as the evolution of the vegetation, the intensification phase of slope processes, and fluvial activities. Cladocerans and chironomids potentially play important roles in the recognition of flood episodes in the study sites, and any shift in their diversity and, especially, the co-occurrence of planktonic, sediment-associated cladocerans with rheophilic chironomids could be valuable indicators of floods and flow episodes. The variable changes in water levels at the sites reconstructed by the cladoceran-based water-depth model were positively associated with changes in lithophilic elements (K, Na, Al, Mg, and Ti), SiO 2(biog + ter) and Fe/Mn, and our estimates of the paleohydraulic parameters for the study sites are generally consistent with changes in the composition of aquatic invertebrates. The recorded YD floods appear to be synchronous, regardless of the size and the different geological and geomorphological settings of each part of the river catchment. Our investigation demonstrates that flood magnitude increases in the downstream direction along the valley. The common increases in the water level at all study sites from the Grabia River valley are significant from 12,400 to 12,200 and from 11,900 to 11,800 cal BP and are comparable with those from elsewhere in Poland and Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The developmental history, from the Oldest Dryas to the Late Holocene, of a paleolake and mire located in a river valley in Central Poland was studied using high-resolution records of pollen, macrofossils, Cladocera, sedimentology, and geochemistry from a 14 C dated sediment core. We inferred temperature and water level dynamics using cladocerans and palynological and geochemical methods were employed to investigate natural fluvial activity, particularly for these elements that are difficult to find through sedimentological methods. Our research demonstrates how climate fluctuation in the Late Glacial and Holocene periods influenced the development of a paleolake and mire in a small river valley and shows the importance of long-term research to establish hydroclimatic conditions in biogenic sediments. We propose that water level fluctuations were important in modifying biotic assemblages. The results of our multiproxy analysis clearly suggest that the main driver of changes in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, as well as in geomorphological processes in the valley, was climate: reconstructed temperatures generally follow the known trends, showing an increase at the beginning of the Bølling, Allerød, and Holocene and a decrease at the beginning of the Oldest and Younger Dryas. Similarly, periods of water level increase are synchronous with climatic changes. However, the local environmental forces were a significant factors affecting biotic diversity in the studied time span. Fish predation, macrophyte structure, pH, and calcium content partly influence the results of the cladoceran-based water depth reconstruction in particular. Interestingly, the cladoceran-inferred summer temperature reconstruction for Pawłowa appear realistic. Although the temperature trends can be considered reliable, our results indicate the important role of local factors which control the species composition of the subfossil assemblages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical composition of organic deposits from the site Koźmin Las are the basis of reconstruction of environment conditions of the Warta River valley at the end of the Alleröd and in the Younger Dryas. Environmental archives presented in this study, comprise organic matter content, mineral matter content, calcium carbonate content, reaction and macro- (Na, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Mn) and microelements (Cu, Zn and Pb). The sorption of metals by organic matter and hydrated iron oxides, clay minerals accumulation variability in depositional environment, water relations of the ecosystem and bioaccumulation of some elements are the factors determining the chemical composition of organic sediments in the Warta river valley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Chemistry of sediments of Yinggehai basin E slope is correlated to SL- change. • Statistical PCA analysis confirms the essence of chemical variability of sediments. • Largest differences in lithology occur in deltaic sediments near the Hainan island. • Strong seismic reflectors are associated with high content of shell and gravels. • Lithology & chemistry of sediments allow to distinguish prodelta and delta front. The study was aimed at elucidating relationships between lithological and geochemical characteristics of sediments as indicators of sea level changes during the Late Quaternary on the eastern slope of the Yinggehai-Song Hong basin. The focus was on sediments of the late Pleistocene paleodelta formed on the shelf off the Hainan Island. Examination of two cores revealed a significant lithological and geochemical variability of the sediments, particularly in the lower segments of the delta deposits, associated with the delta front (core LDW) and with the distal part of the prodelta (core ZBW). The upper segment of the deltaic sediments in core LDW most likely represents a delta plain formed under the prevalent trend of increasing sea level. On other hand the upper segment of the deltaic sediments in core ZBW should be regarded as associated with sediments of the proximal part of the prodelta, formed when the delta front was advancing and the sea level was first rising and then stabilised. Attention was paid to the relationship between lithological and geochemical features of the sediments and the seismic profiling records, particularly with respect to the paleodelta sediment series. An attempt was also made to link and correlate the sediment series with sea level changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]