LATE PLENIVISTULIAN DEGLACIATION AND THE EXPANSION OF THE PERIGLACIALZONE IN NW POLAND

In NW Poland, in the area of the last Scandinavian icesheet, periglaci al phenomena occur mostly in outwash plains, till plains and pradolina terraces, and sporadically also in alluvial fans and inland dunes. So me of them contain indications of former permafrost and can be used in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of the Late Pleistocene deglaciat ion. They include epigenetic and syngenetic ice-wedge casts, fossil sa nd-wedge polygons, ice-vein network casts and oriented icing depressio ns. The cryostratigraphic record of permafrost indicators and their ge omorphic distribution testify to the presence of continuous permafrost or at least vast permafrost patches in the deglaciated area in NW Pol and during the Late Plenivistulian and during cold spells of the Late Vistulian.