268
M. Habel et al.
2% of the annual river flow of the Vistula River (33 km
3 /year) and the Oder River
(16.9 km
3 /year) to the Baltic Sea. Most of the large reservoirs are located in lowlands.
Hence the average height of the water reservoir is 18.5 m. Between 1945 and 1990 at
the time of the communist party in Poland, 50% of present dams were built upstream,
as the so-called ‘Headwater Dams,’ to generate hydropower, to prevent floods and to
assure shipping. Up to one-third of the facilities in the Oder River basin was created
before World War II. Only 4% of reservoirs were built before 1939 in the Vistula
River basin. On the Vistula, there are three artificial reservoirs along its course:
Czerniansk, Goczalkowice, and Włocławek. Oder River is an important waterway,
navigable throughout most of its length. There are ten dams on the upper reach. The
first dam is in K˛ edzierzyn Ko´ zle, the last in Malczyce (commissioned in 2018).
It is assumed that the average annual share of the dissolved load discharged by
rivers from Poland to the Baltic Sea constitutes approx. 85.6% of the total load and
the suspended load and bed load is respectively: 8.3 and 6.1%. However, this clastic
sediment (suspended and dragged in the channel) is a physical problem in the form
of sediment, which should be rationally managed [57].
It is assumed that the largest two Polish rivers Vistula and Oder provide the
sediment of the Baltic Sea sludge in the form of clastic sediment (suspended and
bed load) of about 2.5 million tons per year [58]. During the culmination of the
largest floods, Vistula River transferred around 9.55 thous. m
3 ·s
−1 to the Baltic Sea.,
Oder River 3.3 thous. m
3 ·s
−1 [59]. In 1960–2010, eleven great floods occurred in
Poland. During the largest snowmelt flood, which covered a large part of northern
Poland in March and April 1979, a flood wave that swept the Vistula River into the
Baltic Sea had a volume of 18.2 km
3 . It constituted approx. 53% of the average
annual outflow from the Vistula basin [60]. Analysis of characterizing the dynamics
of clastic sediment is carried out separately for the material transported in the form
of a suspension and dragged in the channel.
12.2.1 Sediments Transported as a Suspended Load
The Suspended Sediment Concentration (SSC), also known as the turbidity, of the
Polish rivers, shows regional diversity, determined by the morphogenetic conditions
of the catchment area and the degree of anthropopressure. As it turns out, in the
measurement cross-sections of rivers in the Vistula basin is much larger than in the
rivers of the Oder basin [61]. In the Vistula basin, the greatest turbidity of waters
(SSC >400 mg·l
−1 ) is characteristic in catchments basins of mountain rivers flowing
out of the Carpathians [62]. The middle course of the Vistula River is characterized
by a relatively high concentration of suspended load (SSC = 105 mg·l
−1 in Puławy
and 134 mg·l
−1 in Warsaw) as a consequence of the supply of sediment from the
Carpathian tributaries [63]. In the lower section, SSC decrease below 50 mg·l
−1 (in
Płock 43 mg·l
−1 and Toru´ n 15 mg·l
−1 [63]). The mountain tributaries of the Oder
River are characterized by a lower mean concentration of suspended load (below
50 mg·l
−1 ) from the upper Vistula River tributaries. This is due to the higher resistance
M. Habel et al.
2% of the annual river flow of the Vistula River (33 km
3 /year) and the Oder River
(16.9 km
3 /year) to the Baltic Sea. Most of the large reservoirs are located in lowlands.
Hence the average height of the water reservoir is 18.5 m. Between 1945 and 1990 at
the time of the communist party in Poland, 50% of present dams were built upstream,
as the so-called ‘Headwater Dams,’ to generate hydropower, to prevent floods and to
assure shipping. Up to one-third of the facilities in the Oder River basin was created
before World War II. Only 4% of reservoirs were built before 1939 in the Vistula
River basin. On the Vistula, there are three artificial reservoirs along its course:
Czerniansk, Goczalkowice, and Włocławek. Oder River is an important waterway,
navigable throughout most of its length. There are ten dams on the upper reach. The
first dam is in K˛ edzierzyn Ko´ zle, the last in Malczyce (commissioned in 2018).
It is assumed that the average annual share of the dissolved load discharged by
rivers from Poland to the Baltic Sea constitutes approx. 85.6% of the total load and
the suspended load and bed load is respectively: 8.3 and 6.1%. However, this clastic
sediment (suspended and dragged in the channel) is a physical problem in the form
of sediment, which should be rationally managed [57].
It is assumed that the largest two Polish rivers Vistula and Oder provide the
sediment of the Baltic Sea sludge in the form of clastic sediment (suspended and
bed load) of about 2.5 million tons per year [58]. During the culmination of the
largest floods, Vistula River transferred around 9.55 thous. m
3 ·s
−1 to the Baltic Sea.,
Oder River 3.3 thous. m
3 ·s
−1 [59]. In 1960–2010, eleven great floods occurred in
Poland. During the largest snowmelt flood, which covered a large part of northern
Poland in March and April 1979, a flood wave that swept the Vistula River into the
Baltic Sea had a volume of 18.2 km
3 . It constituted approx. 53% of the average
annual outflow from the Vistula basin [60]. Analysis of characterizing the dynamics
of clastic sediment is carried out separately for the material transported in the form
of a suspension and dragged in the channel.
12.2.1 Sediments Transported as a Suspended Load
The Suspended Sediment Concentration (SSC), also known as the turbidity, of the
Polish rivers, shows regional diversity, determined by the morphogenetic conditions
of the catchment area and the degree of anthropopressure. As it turns out, in the
measurement cross-sections of rivers in the Vistula basin is much larger than in the
rivers of the Oder basin [61]. In the Vistula basin, the greatest turbidity of waters
(SSC >400 mg·l
−1 ) is characteristic in catchments basins of mountain rivers flowing
out of the Carpathians [62]. The middle course of the Vistula River is characterized
by a relatively high concentration of suspended load (SSC = 105 mg·l
−1 in Puławy
and 134 mg·l
−1 in Warsaw) as a consequence of the supply of sediment from the
Carpathian tributaries [63]. In the lower section, SSC decrease below 50 mg·l
−1 (in
Płock 43 mg·l
−1 and Toru´ n 15 mg·l
−1 [63]). The mountain tributaries of the Oder
River are characterized by a lower mean concentration of suspended load (below
50 mg·l
−1 ) from the upper Vistula River tributaries. This is due to the higher resistance