Sedimentary deformations in Saalian Glaciolimnic deposits near Wlostów (Żary area, Western Poland)

Abstract

Three quarries near the village of Wlostów show a sequence of 16 m of glaciolimnic deposits, dating from the Odra (= Drenthe) and Warta stadials of the Saalian glaciation. Eighteen units can be distinguished, many of them with deformational structures: diapiric folding, breccias, load casts, fault structures and cryogenic disturbances. An analysis of the deformations shows that some of them must be considered to be syn- or metasedimentary; others are formed by early diagenetic processes. The sediments are also deformed in a postsedimentary stage, viz. by cryogenic and diapiric (glacitectonic) activity. The nature of these deformations is explained and examples are depicted. A scheme with spatial and genetic relationships between the various sediments in a glacial environment is presented, in order to facilitate the environmental interpretation of the eighteen units exposed.