Review of the sedimentary types and stratigraphic positions of the Pleistocene glacial diamictons in the Bełchatów mine (Kleszczów Graben, Central Poland)

Abstract

The Quaternary overburden of the giant Belchatów browncoal mine has provided - and still provides - one of the world's best exposures of Pleistocene glacial sediments. The exceptional geological setting - a graben that has been active from the beginning of the Alpine orogeny - provides conditions for preservation of terrestrial glacial deposits that are unique. Outcrops in Pleistocene glaciation-related sediments are commonly small, but the well preserved glacial sediments in the Belchatów mine can be studied without significant interruptions in the walls for several kilometers. In addition, the ongoing exploitation provides an opportunity to obtain a 3-D picture of the faciès and facies transitions that have no counterpart elsewhere. The stratigraphie relationships between a large number of glacial and interglacial units, some of which have a limited lateral extent, could thus be unraveled. It appears that the glacigenic succession comprises at least eight (but probably more) stratigraphie levels with glacial diamictons, thus recording an unmatched history of a glaciated area.