Reconstruction of the morphology and hydrography of the centre of Kraków before the mid-13th century

Abstract

The paper concerns investigations on urban geomorphology. The subject of the paper is the historic centre of Kraków (or Cracow) where the pre-human relief became masked due to the rapid increase in cultural deposits from the mid-13th century onwards. The aim of the investigation is the reconstruction of the original topography, relief and hydrography of this area based on rich sources of materials in papers and non-published data on geology, geoengineering, archaeology, history, and also on maps and panoramic drawings of the town. A digital elevation model has been generated, which showed the topography of the study area in the period before the mid-13th century. Structural analysis, cross validation test and estimation by ordinary kriging method were carried out. The final cartographic work was prepared with the use of QGIS and Surfer software. The distribution of landforms in the study area in the mid-13th century is presented as a proposed variant of the geomorphological map prepared by the authors. The former relief was evaluated in terms of its potential for encouraging settlement.

Changes in the topography of Krakow city centre, Poland, during the last millennium

“…The foot of the escarpment of the Middle Pleistocene terrace and the foot of the limestone hills did not exceed 205 m a.s.l. The neck of the Middle Pleistocene terrace and isolated limestone hills with clearly marked boundaries looked like a 'peninsula' or 'islands' rising above the usually swampy area of the Vistula floodplain (Łajczak & Zarychta, 2020). Each of these landforms was of a tablelike shape with a flat plateau inclined towards the Vistula and bordered by steep slopes (limestone hillsstony slopes).…”

“…In geomorphology more and more attention has recently been paid to changes in urban topography, especially in the case of town centres with a long history. Changes in urban topography are defined as the building over and flattening of the land surface due to the increase of anthropogenic deposits, sometimes with the participation of natural sediments, and also as ground surface lowering caused, for example, by earthworks (Dall'Aglio et al, 2017;Brandolini et al, 2017Brandolini et al, , 2018Brandolini et al, , 2020Del Monte et al, 2016, Kaniecki, 2013Łajczak & Zarychta, 2020;Mandarino et al, 2020;Pica et al, 2017;Reynard et al, 2017;Zarychta et al, 2018;Zwoliński et al, 2017). Less frequently, spatial differentiation of the thickness of anthropogenic deposits in old towns is the subject of study (Kaniecki, 2013;Luberti, 2018;Luberti et al, 2019;Molewski & Juśkiewicz, 2014;Pröschel & Lehmkuhl, 2019).…”

Quantitative Assessment of Changes in Topography of Town Caused by Human Impact, Krakow City Centre, Southern Poland

“…Recently, more and more attention has been given to anthropogenic changes of towns topography, especially in the case of centrally located districts with long development history. These changes are associated with wetland drainage, river regulation, spatially uneven distribution of cultural deposits, earthwork, mining, development of convex landforms [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Camouflage of the initial land surface by the overlayer of cultural deposits may lead to fossilisation of natural landforms and, in some cases, to partial or total 'submergence' of historical buildings [3][4][5][6]12].…”

“…These changes are associated with wetland drainage, river regulation, spatially uneven distribution of cultural deposits, earthwork, mining, development of convex landforms [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Camouflage of the initial land surface by the overlayer of cultural deposits may lead to fossilisation of natural landforms and, in some cases, to partial or total 'submergence' of historical buildings [3][4][5][6]12]. Town topography transformed by human impact is the subject of research of various disciplines of Earth sciences, mainly geomorphology, geology, hydrology and geoengineering [1,2,7,[10][11][12][13][14].…”

“…Camouflage of the initial land surface by the overlayer of cultural deposits may lead to fossilisation of natural landforms and, in some cases, to partial or total 'submergence' of historical buildings [3][4][5][6]12]. Town topography transformed by human impact is the subject of research of various disciplines of Earth sciences, mainly geomorphology, geology, hydrology and geoengineering [1,2,7,[10][11][12][13][14]. The most reliable results are obtained from the research carried out at the interface between Earth sciences and archaeology [3][4][5][6][15][16][17][18][19][20], because it facilitates the study of changes in town topography in time.…”