Inland Dunes of the Kampinos National Park

The Kampinos National Park (KNP) was founded in 1959 to protect valuable natural features within two inland dune belts interspersed with swamps. The KNP landscape is associated with glacierGlacier activity during the last Ice Age, when Scandinavian Ice SheetIce sheet has reached its maximum extent north of the present-day border of KNP, dammed the meltwaterMeltwater and proto-Vistula outflow, which led to the creation of a huge lake filled with alluvia. Then the proto-Vistula flowed along the ice margins to the west, forming up to 10 km wide sandy Warsaw–Berlin Proglacial Valley. Around 13 ka cal BP, when ice sheetIce sheet retreated, the width of the proto-Vistula channel greatly decreased, exposing sandy terraces, which became the source of sediments for aeolianAeolian processes. The shape of the present-day dunes in the KNP indicates that they are related to the last phase of aeolianAeolian activity in Poland, to the Younger DryasYounger Dryas and locally to the Preboreal and historical times. Two belts of parabolic dunesDuneparabolic, i.e. transverse dunesDunetransverse with arms directed toward the west, anchored by vegetation and high sand moisture, were formed, indicating westerly wind as the dominant dune-forming wind. The tallest dunes of the KNP reach up to 30 m height. They are V-, U- or even C-shaped simple transverse ridges or compound dunes, when they developed close to each other and their arms coalesced. Around 10 ka cal BP the Vistula shifted to its present position, while abandoned channels began to transform into two parallel belts of swamps. As a result two latitudinal dune belts separated by two swamp belts were formed.