This study focuses on diatom assemblages occurring in cores of Late-glacial and Holocene deposits retrieved from the mouth of the lower Rega River valley, of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. Sediment samples from four cores were the subject of the present study. Diatom-inferred environmental characteristics, e.g., water level; water salinity (conductivity), trophic status and pH, within each core are presented. Diatom assemblage zones (DAZ) were distinguished, based on differences in the distribution of particular ecological groups. Each DAZ appears to be related to environmental changes during the deposition of a given sediment interval. The Lateglacial (Allerød) sediments originated in a shallow lake with increasing concentrations of solutes and nutrients. The Holocene record begins in the early Atlantic Chronozone and the diatoms point to weakly brackish-water sediments deposited in a shallow water environment. During the period of 8,500-5,800 cal year BP sedimentation took place in a shallow embayment and/or lagoon. From ca. 5,800 cal year BP onwards sedimentation took place in a peat bog environment alternating with Aeolian deposition. Changes in diatom community structure imply a close relationship with the climate-controlled eustatic rise of the ocean level and its consequence Littorina transgression. As with other southern Baltic Sea localities, brackish-water diatoms appear in the sediments, signaling the onset of marine transgression somewhat earlier than previously accepted. Differences and similarities in diatom assemblages and the palaeogeographic development of nearby regions within the Baltic Sea basin and lagoons (coastal areas) from different geographic regions, are also discussed.

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Abstract:In recent years, a team at the Geology and Paleogeography Unit, Marine Sciences Institute, University of Szczecin, has been performing geological, geochronological and paleogeographic surveys in (i) the Szczecin Lagoon and Świna Gate Sandbar and (ii) the estuary section of the Rega river valley near Mrzeżyno. These studies have helped to examine and identify not only the distribution of fossil marine sediments but also their lithological and sedimentological characteristics. The age of marine ingressions and regressions in the coastal zone of the Pomeranian Bay were determined using approximately 170 radiocarbon assays. It was found that the marine ingression associated with the 'Littorina transgression' was not synchronous at these two areas. It started earlier in the Mrzeżyno area, ca. 8300-8200 cal BP. In that first phase, marine sediments developed as tightly packed sands containing a few fragments of shells. In several profiles, these deposits were separated from the bottom and top with layers of peat, thus allowing an indirect determination of their age. The next phase of ingression began about 7300 cal BP. These younger marine sediments already contained quite numerous shells of marine malacofauna, especially Cardium glaucum, often found in a life position. In the area of the Szczecin Lagoon and Swina Gate Sandbar, the oldest marine ingression started as early as about 7350 cal BP. The quite clear trace is a considerably thicker series of marine sands with numerous sea shells representing marine and brackish-marine environments, including Cardium glaucum shells in a life position, which made it possible to identify the age and the rate of accumulation of marine sands.

Abstract:The River Rega valley near Łobez was formed by a rapid icesheet degradation. Evolution of valleys of rivers (including the Rega) discharging into the Baltic Sea began in late Plenivistulian; it was then that glacifluvial outwash levels and kame terraces were formed. At that time, the water was flowing southward and further on towards the south-west, in a broad channel. That period was terminated at the turn of Plenivistulian and late Vistulian, when the discharge became directed northwards. The net result was the onset of the formation of the modern Rega valley system, buried chunks of dead ice still in the process of melting. Dead ice melt-down proceeded at the fastest rate during Allerød. It was then that deposits of organic matter were formed, the deposits being most probably remnants of fossil soil. Plant macro-fossils and remains of freshwater malacofauna point to a sporadic occurrence of sediments of a shallow water body which existed on the melt-down site of a huge chunk of dead ice. The thickness of the overlaying mineral cover (up to 6 m) is indicative of a fast sediment accretion rate. Sandy and silty sediments were deposited in synchrony with the dead ice melting. As a result, today's Rega valley features traces of small melt-water lakes as well as fossil sedimentation basins (underlain by the Allerød organic level), rapidly filled with fluvial and fluviolimnic sediments. Since the Preboreal, the Rega has been flowing along a meandering channel.