Exhibition
GEA - MEANS THE EARTH

GDANSK BAY (satellite image)
fragment of the southern Baltic shore identified with Poland.

HEL PENINSULA
sandy spit created by sea currents

MIELIZNA RYBITW
the sandy shoal separates the Puck Bay from the Gulf of Gdansk

CLIFF EROSION IN JASTRZĘBIA GÓRA
seashore erosion resulting from undercutting by waves and by groundwaters

RUINS OF A CHURCH IN TRZĘSACZ
the church was built 2 km from the seashore in the 15th century

ORŁOWO CLIFF
fragment of an photomap of the Baltic sea bottom with post-glacial boulders

PRZEKOP WISŁY
a canal near Świbno being now the major Vistula River outlet into the Gdansk Bay

ŻUŁAWY DELTA PLAIN
mouth of the Nogat, a branch of the Vistula, opening into the Vistula Lagoon

VANISHING MARINE BAY
Druzno Lake - a remnant of a Medieval sea bay

ELBLĄG CANAL
ships are pulled on ramps from one level to another

PIAŚNICA RIVER MOUTH
suspended humus colours the water entering the Baltic Sea

REDA-ŁEBA ICE-MARGINAL VALLEY
carved in the Quarternary by meltwaters from the Pleistocene ice-sheet

LOBELIA LAKES OF THE POMERANIAN LAKE DISTRICT
rare relic plant species grow in their clean waters

MAZURIAN LAKE DISTRICT
lakes Inulec, Mikołajskie, Śniardwy, and Łuknajno in the foreground

GREAT LAKES AREA
Lake Kisajno, Lake Dargin in the background

CORMORANT ISLAND
on Lake Tuchlin

DRAWSKO LAKE DISTRICT
a natural postglacial landscape

BŁĘDÓW DESERT
forested remnants of a former Pleistocene sand dune

POPPY FIELDS AMONG GRAIN CROPS
biodiversity enhances the landscape's aesthetic appeal

MOLEHILLS NETWORK
animals of meadows and pastures - each individual has a territory within a common ground

OVERGROWING LAKE
mid-forest dystrophic Lake Smolak situated in a depression among moraines

DUNES IN THE SŁOWIŃSKI NATIONAL PARK
one of the largest moving dunes in Europe march along the Łeba Spit. The highest one-Łącka Mountain (40 metres above sea level)-in the foreground

GNIEW
a Teutonic Order stronghold on a moraine plateau

ODRA RIVER VALLEY
a post-glacial stagnant lake plain in the Lower Odra Valley, upstream from Szczecin

MOUTH OF BIEBRZA TO NAREW RIVERS
a pattern of old riverbeds

WEŁNA AND NIELBA RIVERS
two rivers cross without mixing

A WINTER LAKE
freezing Lake Pierty reveals hidden currents

NAREW RIVER
a unique braided riverbed system

ŁEBA RIVER STORM DELTA
a result of flow reversals and periodic influx of seawater into a shore lake

SUBTATRAN BIAŁKA RIVER
a fast flowing mountain river without water retention capabilities

MIDDLE VISTULA RIVER GORGE
natural riverbed of the Vistula River in Małopolska

VISTULA RIVER AT WORK
the sand from an island undercut by the Vistula is accumulated on a nearby sandbank

ABANDONED CZERSK
a castle on the high Vistula River bank now stands several kilometers away from the river

"WARTA MOUTH" NATIONAL PARK
energy of a flood wave is dissipated on vast polders

ODRA RIVER FLOOD
the impact of a flood often reaches beyond the submerged area

CZORSZTYN RESERVOIR
the largest earth dam in Poland: the Czorsztyn-Niedzica hydroelectric dam

VISTULA RIVER GORGE BY KAZIMIERZ DOLNY
a high escarpment of the valley carved in limestones and chalks provides a picturesque vista

DOBRE ESCARPMENT
a steep tectonic discontinuity separates the Bełżyce Plain from the Chodel Basin

WESTERN PART OF PIENINY CLIPPEN BELT
limestone cones tower over the surrounding Carpathian Flysch

LOWER NAREW VALLEY
a wealth of geomorphological forms within a river valley

MEANDER SCROLLS
ox-bow lakes-cut off meanders of the Prosna River

LAKE WITH A PAST
filled-up basin of an overgrowing lake is an early stage of moor formation

TURBARY NEAR PASŁĘK
peat is used as fuel, as gardening fertilizer and is important in natural water retention

STRIP MINE IN BEŁCHATÓW
the most abundant and the youngest brown coal deposit in Poland

MACHÓW - SULPHUR STRIP MINE
sulphur deposits originated via microbial decay of sulphates (e.g., gypsum)

MACHÓW -RECULTIVATION (AUTUMN 2003)
recultivating the mining pit as an artificial lake requires an insutative lining

SULPHUR MINE IN GRZYBÓW
sulphur exploitation with a Polish method of underground melt-out

GRANITE QUARRY
granite from Strzegom is valued as construction stone

UNDERGROUND GAS STORAGE
the world's oil and gas mining industry was originated in Poland

VOLCANIC CONE IN LUTYNIA
a volcanic core in the Kłodzko Basin is quarried for basalt

GABRO QUARRY IN NOWA RUDA-SŁUPIEC
the agglomerate is used for paving roads

A POSTFLOTATION TANK FOR COPPER ORE RESIDUE "ŻELAZNY MOST"
a place for applying new environment-friendly biotechnology

SILESIA
contemporary coal mining and metallurgy centre

MINE SPOIL-HEAPS: A CONTROVERSIAL LANDSCAPE ELEMENT
they can be turned into attractive recreational facilities and heat source

SUDETY MOUNTAINS-A LANDCAPE AFTER ACID RAINS
only dead tree trunks remain among vast deforested slopes

EXTRATERRESTRIAL TRACES
Morasko near Poznań: the only Polish meteorite preserve

BRWINÓW - WHERE THE FATE OF ANCIENT EUROPE WAS FORGED
the area is a site of one of several dozens of large ancient iron-making settlements

BISKUPIN
a prehistoric farming settlement built 2700 years ago on a lake island

CASTLES ON LIMESTONE INSELBERGS
Olsztyn - one of the castles along the Eagles Nests Trail, built of local limestone

GRAVEL AND CLAY PITS
seminatural landscape of abandoned pits

CASUS PILCE
a village on the Nysa Kłodzka River, rebuilt after a flood of 1997 and then dislodged

LACHOWICE LANDSLIDE
the last major flood re-activated 20 thousand dormant landslides in the Carpathians

CIECHOCINEK
inhalatoriums of therapeutical brines

WARSAW ESCARPMENT
dense urban housing developed over the old Vistula River Valley floor and climbs the high escarpment

ŁUBNA NEAR WARSAW
the site of Warsaw's municipal dump in Łubna

SZCZELINIEC WIELKI
the highest point of the Góry Stołowe (Table Mountains)

MOUNT ŚNIEŻKA
the Karkonosze Mountains were once called Riesengebirge: Great Mountains

TARNICA, BIESZCZADY MOUNTAINS
alpine meadows typical of the Bieszczady Mountains are called "połoniny"

PIENINY MOUNTAINS
part of the Trzy Korony massif

TATRA MOUNTAINS - DOLINA PIĘCIU STAWÓW POLSKICH
the mountain lakes

PANORAMA OF THE TATRAS
a picture taken during a group balloon flight over the Tatra Mountains