| Abstract [eng] |
One of the unique places in Europe in both environmental and cultural terms is the Curonian Spit – a massive sandy barrier separating the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. Straddling both the Lithuanian and the Russian parts, the Spit is included into the UNESCO list of cultural heritage monuments. From the geological point of view, it is still an “alive” environment dominated by aeolian deposits. Detailed investigations of the Dead (Grey) Dunes massif along the Lithuanian part of the Spit using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetic susceptibility (MS) surveys, supported by radiocarbon ( 14 C) chronological framework of paleosols and infrared optically stimulated luminescence (IR-OSL) ages of sand horizons, have advanced understanding of aeolian landscape evolution. The detailed analysis of the received data did not allow distinguishing separate soil-forming generations and supported the idea of only one long continuous period of permanent formation of palaeosols. According to the data of palaeodynamic reconstructions carried out in the Dead (Grey) Dunes massif, mid-Holocene phase of dune activity was of a local character and likely did not exceed several centuries. GPR surveys enabled a series of paleogeographic reconstructions of the massif for different time intervals of its evolutionary history. |
