Wybrane przemiany geomorfologiczne mis zbiorników wodnych i ocena zanieczyszczeń osadów zbiornikowych w warunkach zróżnicowanej antropopresji (na przykładzie regionu górnośląsko-zagłębiowskiego)

In geomorphological terms, the existence of water bodies entails a number of environmental consequences. The very emergence of such water bodies results in changes to the local erosion base and leads to the activation of qualitatively new morphogenetic processes. Geomorphological transformations concern each aspect of a depression that retains water. The contact zone between fluvial and limnic waters is subject to geomorphological modelling. As a result of sedimentation processes, the configuration of the bottom is altered. The coastal zone and even the area situated above, which is outside the reach of waves, are also transformed. Geomorphological transformations within water bodies exhibit varied natural and socio‑economic impacts, which are largely due to the fact that their occurrence is conditioned by diverse environmental factors. The water bodies studied are situated in the so‑called Upper Silesia‑Dąbrowa Basin region (Figs. 1 and 2) whose western part belongs to Upper Silesia and the eastern one to Western Lesser Poland in historical and ethnographic terms. In physical and geographical terms, it includes the Silesian Upland and the adjacent parts of several other macroregions. This area is considered the most anthropogenically transformed part of Poland, which has lately lost its industrial importance to the rapidly growing service sector. In the Upper Silesia‑Dąbrowa Basin region, a significant number of water bodies have emerged, especially in the recent few decades. The group of 53 water bodies selected for geomorphological studies, which range from a few years to ca. 150 years in age, with an average of ca. 60 years, is a representative sample of all water bodies that form the anthropogenic lake district (Table 1). The different origins, morphometric and hydrochemical parameters and also catchment parameters of these water bodies make it possible to conduct studies that are unique due to the peculiar characteristics of the geomorphological transformations, which provide evidence of spontaneous natural response to anthropogenic changes in land relief resulting from diverse but sustained human impact on the environment (Figs. 3—5). Against the background of other anthropogenic water bodies around the world, the geomorphological transformations of water bodies in the Upper Silesia‑Dąbrowa Basin region occur on a micro scale but can at the same time be analysed under peculiar “field laboratory” conditions