Geology (from Ancient Greek γῆ ( gê ) 'earth' and λoγία ( -logía ) 'study of, discourse') is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects , the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth sciences , including hydrology . It is integrated with Earth system science and planetary science .
176-725: Poland ( Polish : Polska ) is a country that extends across the North European Plain from the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south to the sandy beaches of the Baltic Sea in the north . Poland is the fifth-most populous country of the European Union and the ninth-largest country in Europe by area. The territory of Poland covers approximately 312,696 km (120,733 sq mi), of which 98.52%
352-501: A Fellowship of the Royal Society . In 1791, Great Sejm parliament adopted the 3 May Constitution , the first set of supreme national laws, and introduced a constitutional monarchy . The Targowica Confederation , an organisation of nobles and deputies opposing the act, appealed to Catherine and caused the 1792 Polish–Russian War . Fearing the reemergence of Polish hegemony, Russia and Prussia arranged and in 1793 executed,
528-535: A characteristic fabric . All three types may melt again, and when this happens, new magma is formed, from which an igneous rock may once again solidify. Organic matter, such as coal, bitumen, oil, and natural gas, is linked mainly to organic-rich sedimentary rocks. To study all three types of rock, geologists evaluate the minerals of which they are composed and their other physical properties, such as texture and fabric . Geologists also study unlithified materials (referred to as superficial deposits ) that lie above
704-485: A petrographic microscope , where the minerals can be identified through their different properties in plane-polarized and cross-polarized light, including their birefringence , pleochroism , twinning , and interference properties with a conoscopic lens . In the electron microprobe, individual locations are analyzed for their exact chemical compositions and variation in composition within individual crystals. Stable and radioactive isotope studies provide insight into
880-695: A coastline spanning 770 km (480 mi); extending from the shores of the Baltic Sea, along the Bay of Pomerania in the west to the Gulf of Gdańsk in the east. The beach coastline is abundant in sand dune fields or coastal ridges and is indented by spits and lagoons, notably the Hel Peninsula and the Vistula Lagoon , which is shared with Russia. The largest Polish island on the Baltic Sea
1056-434: A definite homogeneous chemical composition and an ordered atomic arrangement. Each mineral has distinct physical properties, and there are many tests to determine each of them. Minerals are often identified through these tests. The specimens can be tested for: A rock is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloids . Most research in geology is associated with the study of rocks, as they provide
1232-572: A discrete topographical unit in the relatively recent Tertiary Era , are the highest mountains in the country. They are the northernmost edge of a much larger range that extends into the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary , and Romania . Within Poland the range includes two major basins, the Oświęcim and Sandomierz , which are rich in several minerals and natural gas . To the north of
1408-888: A government-appointed voivode (governor), an elected regional assembly ( sejmik ) and an executive elected by that assembly. The voivodeships are subdivided into powiats (often referred to in English as counties), and these are further divided into gminas (also known as communes or municipalities). Major cities normally have the status of both gmina and powiat . Poland has 16 voivodeships, 379 powiats (including 65 cities with powiat status), and 2,478 gminas . Natural hazards: Occasional flooding National parks Environment - current issues: The situation has improved since 1989 due to decline in heavy industry and increased environmental concern by postcommunist governments; air pollution nonetheless remains serious because of sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants , and
1584-552: A leading power and a major cultural entity, exercising political control over parts of Central, Eastern , Southeastern and Northern Europe. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied approximately 1 million km (390,000 sq mi) at its peak and was the largest state in Europe. Simultaneously, Poland imposed Polonisation policies in newly acquired territories which were met with resistance from ethnic and religious minorities. In 1573, Henry de Valois of France ,
1760-667: A legendary ruler of the Lechites , or from the Lendians , a West Slavic tribe that dwelt on the south-easternmost edge of Lesser Poland . The origin of the tribe's name lies in the Old Polish word lęda (plain). Initially, both names Lechia and Polonia were used interchangeably when referring to Poland by chroniclers during the Middle Ages . The first Stone Age archaic humans and Homo erectus species settled what
1936-627: A length of less than a meter. Rocks at the depth to be ductilely stretched are often also metamorphosed. These stretched rocks can also pinch into lenses, known as boudins , after the French word for "sausage" because of their visual similarity. Where rock units slide past one another, strike-slip faults develop in shallow regions, and become shear zones at deeper depths where the rocks deform ductilely. The addition of new rock units, both depositionally and intrusively, often occurs during deformation. Faulting and other deformational processes result in
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#17327754322812112-520: A major industrialised nation, was alluded to by the 1945 Wedding to the Sea . The largest spits are Hel Peninsula and the Vistula Spit . The largest Polish Baltic island is Wolin . The largest sea harbours are Szczecin , Świnoujście , Gdańsk , Gdynia , Police and Kołobrzeg . The main coastal resorts are Świnoujście , Międzyzdroje (Misdroy), Kołobrzeg , Łeba , Sopot , Władysławowo and
2288-452: A means to provide information about geological history and the timing of geological events. The principle of uniformitarianism states that the geological processes observed in operation that modify the Earth's crust at present have worked in much the same way over geological time. A fundamental principle of geology advanced by the 18th-century Scottish physician and geologist James Hutton
2464-613: A new provisional pro-Communist coalition government in Moscow, which ignored the Polish government-in-exile based in London. This action angered many Poles who considered it a betrayal by the Allies. In 1944, Stalin had made guarantees to Churchill and Roosevelt that he would maintain Poland's sovereignty and allow democratic elections to take place. However, upon achieving victory in 1945,
2640-608: A number of fields, laboratory, and numerical modeling methods to decipher Earth history and to understand the processes that occur on and inside the Earth. In typical geological investigations, geologists use primary information related to petrology (the study of rocks), stratigraphy (the study of sedimentary layers), and structural geology (the study of positions of rock units and their deformation). In many cases, geologists also study modern soils, rivers , landscapes , and glaciers ; investigate past and current life and biogeochemical pathways, and use geophysical methods to investigate
2816-565: A political force. Despite persecution and imposition of martial law in 1981 by General Wojciech Jaruzelski , it eroded the dominance of the Polish United Workers' Party and by 1989 had triumphed in Poland's first partially free and democratic parliamentary elections since the end of the Second World War. Lech Wałęsa , a Solidarity candidate, eventually won the presidency in 1990 . The Solidarity movement heralded
2992-752: A rival Habsburg electoral candidate, Archduke Maximilian III , in the War of the Polish Succession (1587–1588) . In 1592, Sigismund succeeded his father and John Vasa , in Sweden . The Polish-Swedish union endured until 1599, when he was deposed by the Swedes. In 1609, Sigismund invaded Russia which was engulfed in a civil war , and a year later the Polish winged hussar units under Stanisław Żółkiewski occupied Moscow for two years after defeating
3168-451: A sedimentary rock. Sedimentary rocks are mainly divided into four categories: sandstone, shale, carbonate, and evaporite. This group of classifications focuses partly on the size of sedimentary particles (sandstone and shale), and partly on mineralogy and formation processes (carbonation and evaporation). Igneous and sedimentary rocks can then be turned into metamorphic rocks by heat and pressure that change its mineral content, resulting in
3344-499: A single environment and do not necessarily occur in a single order. The Hawaiian Islands , for example, consist almost entirely of layered basaltic lava flows. The sedimentary sequences of the mid-continental United States and the Grand Canyon in the southwestern United States contain almost-undeformed stacks of sedimentary rocks that have remained in place since Cambrian time. Other areas are much more geologically complex. In
3520-876: A tribal federation and later a centralised monarchical state. Poland began to form into a recognisable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty . In 966, ruler of the Polans Mieszko I accepted Christianity under the auspices of the Roman Church with the Baptism of Poland . In 968, a missionary bishopric was established in Poznań . An incipit titled Dagome iudex first defined Poland's geographical boundaries with its capital in Gniezno and affirmed that its monarchy
3696-669: A variety of European migratory birds . Out of all of the migratory birds who come to Europe for the summer, one quarter of the global population of white storks (40,000 breeding pairs) live in Poland, particularly in the lake districts and the wetlands along the Biebrza , the Narew , and the Warta , which are part of nature reserves or national parks. The longest rivers are the Vistula ( Polish : Wisła ), 1,047 kilometres (651 mi) long;
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#17327754322813872-400: A variety of applications. Dating of lava and volcanic ash layers found within a stratigraphic sequence can provide absolute age data for sedimentary rock units that do not contain radioactive isotopes and calibrate relative dating techniques. These methods can also be used to determine ages of pluton emplacement. Thermochemical techniques can be used to determine temperature profiles within
4048-575: Is Mount Rysy at 2,501 metres (8,205 ft) in elevation, located in the Tatras. The highest summit of the Sudetes massif is Mount Śnieżka at 1,603.3 metres (5,260 ft), shared with the Czech Republic. The lowest point in Poland is situated at Raczki Elbląskie in the Vistula Delta , which is 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) below sea level. Geology Geology describes the structure of
4224-650: Is Trzy Korony with elevations of 982 metres (3,222 ft) (the highest mountain of this range, Wysokie Skałki (Wysoka), with elevations 1,050 metres (3,445 ft), is located outside of the national park). The lowest point in Poland – at 2 metres (6.6 ft) below sea level – is at Raczki Elbląskie, near Elbląg in the Vistula Delta. The only desert located in Poland stretches over the Zagłębie Dąbrowskie (the Coal Fields of Dąbrowa ) region. It
4400-793: Is Wolin , located within Wolin National Park . Poland also shares the Szczecin Lagoon and the Usedom island with Germany. The mountainous belt in the extreme south of Poland is divided into two major mountain ranges ; the Sudetes in the west and the Carpathians in the east. The highest part of the Carpathian massif are the Tatra Mountains , extending along Poland's southern border. Poland's highest point
4576-710: Is Śnieżnik , at 1,425 metres (4,675 ft). Tourists also frequent the Bieszczady Mountains in the far southeast of Poland, whose highest point in Poland is Tarnica , with an elevation of 1,346 metres (4,416 ft), Gorce Mountains in Gorce National Park , whose highest point is Turbacz , with elevations 1,310 metres (4,298 ft), and the Pieniny National Park in the Pieniny Mountains , whose highest point
4752-541: Is 173 metres (568 ft); around 25% of Polish territory is above this average elevation and 3% lies above 500 metres (1,600 ft). The country's highest peak is Rysy , which rises 2,501 meters in the Tatra Range of the Carpathian Mountains, 95 kilometers south of Kraków . Poland has an exclusive economic zone of 30,533 square kilometres (11,789 sq mi) within the Baltic Sea . Poland
4928-727: Is a founding member state of the United Nations and a member of the World Trade Organization , OECD , NATO , and the European Union (including the Schengen Area ). The native Polish name for Poland is Polska . The name is derived from the Polans , a West Slavic tribe who inhabited the Warta River basin of present-day Greater Poland region (6th–8th century CE). The tribe's name stems from
5104-422: Is accomplished in two primary ways: through faulting and folding . In the shallow crust, where brittle deformation can occur, thrust faults form, which causes the deeper rock to move on top of the shallower rock. Because deeper rock is often older, as noted by the principle of superposition , this can result in older rocks moving on top of younger ones. Movement along faults can result in folding, either because
5280-737: Is also a large number of mountain lakes in the Tatras, of which the Morskie Oko is the largest in area. The lake with the greatest depth—of more than 100 metres (328 ft)—is Lake Hańcza in the Wigry Lake District, east of Masuria in Podlaskie Voivodeship . Among the first lakes whose shores were settled are those in the Greater Polish Lake District. The stilt house settlement of Biskupin , occupied by more than one thousand residents,
5456-728: Is also the European Union 's fourth largest supplier of pork after Germany, Spain and France. Phytogeographically , Poland belongs to the Central European province of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom . According to the World Wide Fund for Nature , the territory of Poland belongs to three Palearctic Ecoregions of the continental forest spanning Central and Northern European temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregions as well as
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5632-460: Is an intimate coupling between the movement of the plates on the surface and the convection of the mantle (that is, the heat transfer caused by the slow movement of ductile mantle rock). Thus, oceanic parts of plates and the adjoining mantle convection currents always move in the same direction – because the oceanic lithosphere is actually the rigid upper thermal boundary layer of the convecting mantle. This coupling between rigid plates moving on
5808-541: Is called the Błędów Desert , located in the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland. It has a total area of 32 square kilometres (12 sq mi). It is one of only five natural deserts in Europe . But also, it is the warmest desert that appears at this latitude . Błędów Desert was created thousands of years ago by a melting glacier . The specific geological structure has been of great importance with
5984-617: Is formed by the Sudeten and Carpathian ranges. Within Poland, neither of these ranges is forbidding enough to prevent substantial habitation; the Carpathians are not densely populated. The rugged form of the Sudeten range derives from the geological shifts that formed the later Carpathian uplift. The highest elevation in the Sudeten is Śnieżka (1,602 meters) in the Karkonosze Mountains . The Carpathians in Poland, formed as
6160-462: Is generated when southern and eastern winds prevail. Early autumn is generally sunny and warm before a period of rainy, colder weather in November begins the transition into winter. Winter, which may last from one to three months, brings frequent snowstorms but relatively low total precipitation. The range of mean temperatures is 6 °C (42.8 °F) in the northeast to 10 °C (50 °F) in
6336-433: Is horizontal). The principle of superposition states that a sedimentary rock layer in a tectonically undisturbed sequence is younger than the one beneath it and older than the one above it. Logically a younger layer cannot slip beneath a layer previously deposited. This principle allows sedimentary layers to be viewed as a form of the vertical timeline, a partial or complete record of the time elapsed from deposition of
6512-616: Is important for mineral and hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation, evaluating water resources , understanding natural hazards , remediating environmental problems, and providing insights into past climate change . Geology is a major academic discipline , and it is central to geological engineering and plays an important role in geotechnical engineering . The majority of geological data comes from research on solid Earth materials. Meteorites and other extraterrestrial natural materials are also studied by geological methods. Minerals are naturally occurring elements and compounds with
6688-435: Is internal waters and 8,783 km (3,391 sq mi) is territorial sea. Topographically, the landscape of Poland is characterised by diverse landforms , water bodies and ecosystems . The central and northern region bordering the Baltic Sea lie within the flat Central European Plain , but its south is hilly and mountainous. The average elevation above the sea level is estimated at 173 metres. The country has
6864-402: Is land and 1.48% is water. The Polish coastline was estimated at 770 km (478 mi) in length. Poland's highest point is Rysy , at 2,500 m (8,202 ft). Geographically, Poland is a diverse country; although most of the central terrain is flat, there is an abundance of lakes, rivers, hills, swamps, beaches, islands and forests elsewhere. The Baltic coast has two natural harbours ,
7040-526: Is more than twice as high as the European average (with German and French forests being at the top), containing 2.304 billion cubic metres of trees. The largest forest complex in Poland is Lower Silesian Wilderness . More than 1% of Poland's territory, 3,145 square kilometres (1,214 sq mi), is protected within 23 Polish national parks . In addition, many wetlands along lakes and rivers in central Poland are legally protected, as are coastal areas in
7216-614: Is one of the oldest mountain ranges on earth. Poland has 70 mountains over 2,000 metres (6,600 feet) in elevation, all in the Tatras . The Polish Tatras, which consist of the High Tatras and the Western Tatras, is the highest mountain group of Poland and of the entire Carpathian range. In the High Tatras lies Poland's highest point, the north-western summit of Rysy , 2,500 metres (8,202 ft) in elevation. At its foot lies
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7392-484: Is primarily accomplished through normal faulting and through the ductile stretching and thinning. Normal faults drop rock units that are higher below those that are lower. This typically results in younger units ending up below older units. Stretching of units can result in their thinning. In fact, at one location within the Maria Fold and Thrust Belt , the entire sedimentary sequence of the Grand Canyon appears over
7568-539: Is quite flat, and earlier glacial lakes have been filled by sediment. The region is cut by several major rivers, including the Oder (Odra), which defines the Silesian Lowlands in the southwest, and the Vistula ( Polish : Wisła ), which defines the lowland areas of east-central Poland. To the south of the lowlands are the lesser Poland uplands, a belt varying in width from 90 to 200 kilometers , formed by
7744-568: Is that "the present is the key to the past." In Hutton's words: "the past history of our globe must be explained by what can be seen to be happening now." The principle of intrusive relationships concerns crosscutting intrusions. In geology, when an igneous intrusion cuts across a formation of sedimentary rock , it can be determined that the igneous intrusion is younger than the sedimentary rock. Different types of intrusions include stocks, laccoliths , batholiths , sills and dikes . The principle of cross-cutting relationships pertains to
7920-411: Is traditionally divided into five topographic zones from north to south. The largest, the central lowlands or "Polish Plain" ( Polish : Niż Polski or Nizina Polska ), is narrow in the west, then expands to the north and south as it extends eastward. Along the eastern border, this zone reaches from the far northeast to within 200 kilometers of the southern border. The terrain in the central lowlands
8096-523: Is used for geologically young materials containing organic carbon . The geology of an area changes through time as rock units are deposited and inserted, and deformational processes alter their shapes and locations. Rock units are first emplaced either by deposition onto the surface or intrusion into the overlying rock . Deposition can occur when sediments settle onto the surface of the Earth and later lithify into sedimentary rock, or when as volcanic material such as volcanic ash or lava flows blanket
8272-529: Is weak, however, especially in the lake region and the inland areas to its south. The predominance of swampland , level terrain, and small, shallow lakes hinders large-scale movement of water. The rivers have two high-water periods per year. The first is caused by melting snow and ice dams in spring adding to the volume of lowland rivers; the second is caused by heavy rains in July. Poland's long-term and short-term weather patterns are made transitional and variable by
8448-489: The Armia Krajowa ( Home Army ), fought against German occupation. It was one of the three largest resistance movements of the entire war, and encompassed a range of clandestine activities, which functioned as an underground state complete with degree-awarding universities and a court system . The resistance was loyal to the exiled government and generally resented the idea of a communist Poland; for this reason, in
8624-545: The Battle of Vienna . The Saxon era, under Augustus II and Augustus III , saw neighboring powers grow in strength at the expense of Poland. Both Saxon kings faced opposition from Stanisław Leszczyński during the Great Northern War (1700) and the War of the Polish Succession (1733) . The royal election of 1764 resulted in the elevation of Stanisław II Augustus Poniatowski to the monarchy. His candidacy
8800-772: The Carpathian Mountains . The moraine landscape of northern Poland contains soils made up mostly of sand or loam , while the ice age river valleys of the south often contain loess . The Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, the Pieniny , and the Western Tatras consist of limestone , while the High Tatras , the Beskids , and the Karkonosze are made up mainly of granite and basalts . The Polish Jura Chain
8976-409: The Carpathians on the Czech, Slovak and Ukrainian borders southeast. The central lowlands had been formed by glacial erosion in the Pleistocene ice age . The country's longest and most prominent river is the Vistula at 1,047 kilometres (651 miles) in length, also the ninth-longest in Europe. Other notable rivers within the administrative borders are Warta at 808 km (502 mi), and
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#17327754322819152-399: The Curzon Line by Stalin . The western border became the Oder-Neisse line . As a result, Poland's territory was reduced by 20%, or 77,500 square kilometres (29,900 sq mi). The shift forced the migration of millions of other people , most of whom were Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, and Jews. At the insistence of Joseph Stalin , the Yalta Conference sanctioned the formation of
9328-433: The Duke of Milan and queen consort to Sigismund I, made considerable contributions to architecture , cuisine , language and court customs at Wawel Castle . The Union of Lublin of 1569 established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , a unified federal state with an elective monarchy , but largely governed by the nobility. The latter coincided with a period of prosperity; the Polish-dominated union thereafter becoming
9504-407: The European Spring of Nations , Poles took up arms in the Greater Poland Uprising of 1848 to resist Germanisation , but its failure saw duchy's status reduced to a mere province ; and subsequent integration into the German Empire in 1871. In Russia, the fall of the January Uprising (1863–1864) prompted severe political, social and cultural reprisals , followed by deportations and pogroms of
9680-413: The Grand Duke of Lithuania , thus forming the Jagiellonian dynasty and the Polish–Lithuanian union which spanned the late Middle Ages and early Modern Era . The partnership between Poles and Lithuanians brought the vast multi-ethnic Lithuanian territories into Poland's sphere of influence and proved beneficial for its inhabitants, who coexisted in one of the largest European political entities of
9856-411: The Oder ( Polish : Odra ) which forms part of Poland's western border, 854 kilometres (531 mi) long; its tributary, the Warta , 808 kilometres (502 mi) long; and the Bug , a tributary of the Vistula, 772 kilometres (480 mi) long. The Vistula and the Oder flow into the Baltic Sea, as do numerous smaller rivers in Pomerania. The Łyna and the Angrapa flow by way of the Pregolya to
10032-416: The Oder at 741 km (460 mi). Poland's largest lake is Śniardwy with the surface area of 113.4 km (43.8 sq mi), followed by Mamry with 102.8 km (39.7 sq mi). The country extends 649 kilometers from north to south and 689 kilometers from east to west. The total area is 311,888 square kilometres (120,421 sq mi), including inland waters. The average elevation
10208-417: The Polish People's Republic was a founding signatory of the Warsaw Pact . Through the emergence and contributions of the Solidarity movement , the communist government was dissolved and Poland re-established itself as a democratic state in 1989, as the first of its neighbors, initiating the fall of the Iron Curtain . Poland is a parliamentary republic with its bicameral legislature comprising
10384-420: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . At the time, the Commonwealth was one of the great powers of Europe, with an elective monarchy and a uniquely liberal political system, which adopted Europe's first modern constitution in 1791. With the passing of the prosperous Polish Golden Age , the country was partitioned by neighbouring states at the end of the 18th century. Poland regained its independence at
10560-553: The Proto-Slavic noun pole meaning field, which in-itself originates from the Proto-Indo-European word *pleh₂- indicating flatland. The etymology alludes to the topography of the region and the flat landscape of Greater Poland. During the Middle Ages , the Latin form Polonia was widely used throughout Europe. The country's alternative archaic name is Lechia and its root syllable remains in official use in several languages, notably Hungarian , Lithuanian , and Persian . The exonym possibly derives from either Lech ,
10736-477: The Second Partition , which left the country deprived of territory and incapable of independent existence. On 24 October 1795, the Commonwealth was partitioned for the third time and ceased to exist as a territorial entity. Stanisław Augustus, the last King of Poland, abdicated the throne on 25 November 1795. The Polish people rose several times against the partitioners and occupying armies. An unsuccessful attempt at defending Poland's sovereignty took place in
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#173277543228110912-438: The Sejm and the Senate . Considered a middle power , it is a developed market and high-income economy that is the sixth largest in the EU by nominal GDP and the fifth largest by GDP (PPP) . Poland enjoys a very high standard of living , safety, and economic freedom , as well as free university education and universal health care . The country has 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites , 15 of which are cultural. Poland
11088-558: The Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September. On 28 September 1939, Warsaw fell . As agreed in the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , Poland was split into two zones, one occupied by Nazi Germany , the other by the Soviet Union . In 1939–1941, the Soviets deported hundreds of thousands of Poles. The Soviet NKVD executed thousands of Polish prisoners of war (among other incidents in the Katyn massacre ) ahead of Operation Barbarossa . German planners had in November 1939 called for "the complete destruction of all Poles" and their fate as outlined in
11264-419: The Teutonic Knights to aid in combating the Baltic Prussians; a decision that later led to centuries of warfare with the Knights. In the first half of the 13th century, Henry I the Bearded and Henry II the Pious aimed to unite the fragmented dukedoms, but the Mongol invasion and the death of Henry II in battle hindered the unification. As a result of the devastation which followed, depopulation and
11440-454: The University of Kraków , one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Europe. Upon his death in 1370, the Piast dynasty came to an end. He was succeeded by his closest male relative, Louis of Anjou , who ruled Poland, Hungary , and Croatia in a personal union . Louis' younger daughter Jadwiga became Poland's first female monarch in 1384. In 1386, Jadwiga of Poland entered a marriage of convenience with Władysław II Jagiełło ,
11616-421: The War of the Fourth Coalition . In accordance with the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit , Napoleon proclaimed the Duchy of Warsaw , a client state ruled by his ally Frederick Augustus I of Saxony . The Poles actively aided French troops in the Napoleonic Wars , particularly those under Józef Poniatowski who became Marshal of France shortly before his death at Leipzig in 1813. In the aftermath of Napoleon's exile,
11792-459: The armistice with Germany in November 1918, Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic . The Second Polish Republic reaffirmed its sovereignty after a series of military conflicts , most notably the Polish–Soviet War , when Poland inflicted a crushing defeat on the Red Army at the Battle of Warsaw . The inter-war period heralded a new era of Polish politics. Whilst Polish political activists had faced heavy censorship in
11968-436: The beaver in Masuria, Pomerania, and Podlaskie. In the forests, one also encounters game animals, such as red deer , roe deer and wild boars . In eastern Poland there are a number of ancient woodlands, like Białowieża forest , that have never been cleared by people. There are also large forested areas in the mountains, Masuria, Pomerania, Lubusz Land and Lower Silesia . Poland is the most important breeding ground for
12144-448: The bedrock . This study is often known as Quaternary geology , after the Quaternary period of geologic history, which is the most recent period of geologic time. Magma is the original unlithified source of all igneous rocks . The active flow of molten rock is closely studied in volcanology , and igneous petrology aims to determine the history of igneous rocks from their original molten source to their final crystallization. In
12320-472: The collapse of communist regimes and parties across Europe . A shock therapy program, initiated by Leszek Balcerowicz in the early 1990s, enabled the country to transform its Soviet-style planned economy into a market economy . As with other post-communist countries , Poland suffered temporary declines in social, economic, and living standards, but it became the first post-communist country to reach its pre-1989 GDP levels as early as 1995, although
12496-420: The early medieval period the region became inhabited by the West Slavic tribal Polans , who gave Poland its name . The process of establishing statehood coincided with the conversion of a pagan ruler of the Polans to Christianity, under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church in 966. The Kingdom of Poland emerged in 1025, and in 1569 cemented its long-standing association with Lithuania , thus forming
12672-579: The fifth largest EU country by land area, covering a combined area of 312,696 km (120,733 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Warsaw ; other major cities include Kraków , Wrocław , Łódź , Poznań , and Gdańsk . Prehistoric human activity on Polish soil dates to the Lower Paleolithic , with continuous settlement since the end of the Last Glacial Period . Culturally diverse throughout late antiquity , in
12848-512: The geochemical evolution of rock units. Petrologists can also use fluid inclusion data and perform high temperature and pressure physical experiments to understand the temperatures and pressures at which different mineral phases appear, and how they change through igneous and metamorphic processes. This research can be extrapolated to the field to understand metamorphic processes and the conditions of crystallization of igneous rocks. This work can also help to explain processes that occur within
13024-402: The mantle below (separated within itself by seismic discontinuities at 410 and 660 kilometers), and the outer core and inner core below that. More recently, seismologists have been able to create detailed images of wave speeds inside the earth in the same way a doctor images a body in a CT scan . These images have led to a much more detailed view of the interior of the Earth, and have replaced
13200-434: The ' Polish Corridor ', the only internationally recognised Polish territory which afforded the country access to the sea. However, after World War II, the redrawing of Poland's borders and resulting 'shift' of the country's borders left it with a greatly expanded coastline, thus allowing for far greater access to the sea than was ever previously possible. The significance of this event, and importance of it to Poland's future as
13376-563: The 1794 Kościuszko Uprising , where a popular and distinguished general Tadeusz Kościuszko , who had several years earlier served under George Washington in the American Revolutionary War , led Polish insurgents. Despite the victory at the Battle of Racławice , his ultimate defeat ended Poland's independent existence for 123 years . In 1806, an insurrection organised by Jan Henryk Dąbrowski liberated western Poland ahead of Napoleon's advance into Prussia during
13552-591: The 1950s. Despite widespread objections, the new Polish government accepted the Soviet annexation of the pre-war eastern regions of Poland (in particular the cities of Wilno and Lwów ) and agreed to the permanent garrisoning of Red Army units on Poland's territory. Military alignment within the Warsaw Pact throughout the Cold War came about as a direct result of this change in Poland's political culture. In
13728-440: The 1960s, it was discovered that the Earth's lithosphere , which includes the crust and rigid uppermost portion of the upper mantle , is separated into tectonic plates that move across the plastically deforming, solid, upper mantle, which is called the asthenosphere . This theory is supported by several types of observations, including seafloor spreading and the global distribution of mountain terrain and seismicity. There
13904-657: The Allies, providing much of the intelligence from Europe and beyond, Polish code breakers were responsible for cracking the Enigma cipher and Polish scientists participating in the Manhattan Project were co-creators of the American atomic bomb . In the east, the Soviet-backed Polish 1st Army distinguished itself in the battles for Warsaw and Berlin . The wartime resistance movement , and
14080-986: The Baltic, and the Czarna Hańcza flows into the Baltic through the Neman . While the great majority of Poland's rivers drain into the Baltic Sea, Poland's Beskids are the source of some of the upper tributaries of the Orava , which flows via the Váh and the Danube to the Black Sea . The eastern Beskids are also the source of some streams that drain through the Dniester to the Black Sea. Poland's rivers have been used since early times for navigation. The Vikings , for example, traveled up
14256-713: The Brave . In 1000, at the Congress of Gniezno , Bolesław obtained the right of investiture from Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor , who assented to the creation of additional bishoprics and an archdioceses in Gniezno. Three new dioceses were subsequently established in Kraków , Kołobrzeg , and Wrocław . Also, Otto bestowed upon Bolesław royal regalia and a replica of the Holy Lance , which were later used at his coronation as
14432-693: The Carpathian montane conifer forest. Many animals that have since died out in other parts of Europe still survive in Poland, such as the wisent in the ancient woodland of the Białowieża Forest and in Podlaskie . Other such species include the brown bear in Białowieża , in the Tatras, and in the Beskids, the gray wolf and the Eurasian lynx in various forests, the moose in northern Poland, and
14608-716: The Duchy of Warsaw was abolished at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and its territory was divided into Russian Congress Kingdom of Poland , the Prussian Grand Duchy of Posen , and Austrian Galicia with the Free City of Kraków . In 1830, non-commissioned officers at Warsaw's Officer Cadet School rebelled in what was the November Uprising . After its collapse, Congress Poland lost its constitutional autonomy , army and legislative assembly. During
14784-465: The Earth on and beneath its surface and the processes that have shaped that structure. Geologists study the mineralogical composition of rocks in order to get insight into their history of formation. Geology determines the relative ages of rocks found at a given location; geochemistry (a branch of geology) determines their absolute ages . By combining various petrological, crystallographic, and paleontological tools, geologists are able to chronicle
14960-424: The Earth, such as subduction and magma chamber evolution. Structural geologists use microscopic analysis of oriented thin sections of geological samples to observe the fabric within the rocks, which gives information about strain within the crystalline structure of the rocks. They also plot and combine measurements of geological structures to better understand the orientations of faults and folds to reconstruct
15136-583: The European Union were dismantled, allowing for full freedom of movement within most of the European Union. On 10 April 2010, the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński , along with 89 other high-ranking Polish officials died in a plane crash near Smolensk , Russia. In 2011, the ruling Civic Platform won parliamentary elections . In 2014, the Prime Minister of Poland , Donald Tusk ,
15312-611: The European scene, it came to characterise the full-fledged integration of Poland into the brotherhood of communist nations. The new communist government took control with the adoption of the Small Constitution on 19 February 1947. The Polish People's Republic ( Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa ) was officially proclaimed in 1952 . In 1956, after the death of Bolesław Bierut , the régime of Władysław Gomułka became temporarily more liberal, freeing many people from prison and expanding some personal freedoms. Collectivisation in
15488-628: The German occupation of Poland , including between 50,000 and 100,000 members of the Polish intelligentsia – academics, doctors, lawyers, nobility and priesthood. During the Warsaw Uprising alone, over 150,000 Polish civilians were killed, most were murdered by the Germans during the Wola and Ochota massacres. Around 150,000 Polish civilians were killed by Soviets between 1939 and 1941 during
15664-484: The Grand Canyon in the southwestern United States being a very visible example, the lower rock units were metamorphosed and deformed, and then deformation ended and the upper, undeformed units were deposited. Although any amount of rock emplacement and rock deformation can occur, and they can occur any number of times, these concepts provide a guide to understanding the geological history of an area. Geologists use
15840-590: The Hel Peninsula. Nearly all of Poland is swirled northward into the Baltic Sea by the Vistula , the Oder , and the tributaries of these two major rivers. About half the country is drained by the Vistula, which originates in the Silesian Beskids in far south-central Poland. The Vistula Basin includes most of the eastern half of the country and is drained by a system of rivers that mainly join
16016-560: The Polish People's Republic failed. A similar situation repeated itself in the 1970s under Edward Gierek , but most of the time persecution of anti-communist opposition groups persisted. Despite this, Poland was at the time considered to be one of the least oppressive states of the Eastern Bloc. Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union " Solidarity " (" Solidarność "), which over time became
16192-614: The Polish-Jewish population. Towards the end of the 19th century, Congress Poland became heavily industrialised; its primary exports being coal, zinc , iron and textiles. In the aftermath of World War I , the Allies agreed on the reconstitution of Poland, confirmed through the Treaty of Versailles of June 1919. A total of 2 million Polish troops fought with the armies of the three occupying powers, and over 450,000 died. Following
16368-708: The Prussian rulers to pay tributes . The Jagiellonian dynasty also established dynastic control over the kingdoms of Bohemia (1471 onwards) and Hungary. In the south, Poland confronted the Ottoman Empire (at the Varna Crusade ) and the Crimean Tatars , and in the east helped Lithuania to combat Russia . Poland was developing as a feudal state, with a predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly powerful landed nobility that confined
16544-570: The Russians at Klushino . Sigismund also countered the Ottoman Empire in the southeast; at Khotyn in 1621 Jan Karol Chodkiewicz achieved a decisive victory against the Turks, which ushered the downfall of Sultan Osman II . Sigismund's long reign in Poland coincided with the Silver Age . The liberal Władysław IV effectively defended Poland's territorial possessions but after his death
16720-538: The Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands Poland – in Europe (green & dark grey) – in the European Union (green) – [ Legend ] Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in
16896-785: The Soviet Union's occupation of eastern Poland ( Kresy ), and another estimated 100,000 Poles were murdered by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) between 1943 and 1944 in what became known as the Wołyń Massacres . Of all the countries in the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: around 6 million perished – more than one-sixth of Poland's pre-war population – half of them Polish Jews. About 90% of deaths were non-military in nature. In 1945, Poland's borders were shifted westwards . Over two million Polish inhabitants of Kresy were expelled along
17072-612: The Vistula and the Oder in their longships . In the Middle Ages and in early modern times, when the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was the breadbasket of Europe; the shipment of grain and other agricultural products down the Vistula toward Gdańsk and onward to other parts of Europe took on great importance. With almost ten thousand closed bodies of water covering more than 1 hectare (2.47 acres) each, Poland has one of
17248-467: The Vistula forms a large delta at the head of the latter. Sandbars with large dunes form lagoons and coastal lakes along much of the coast. The geological structure of Poland has been shaped by the continental collision of Europe and Africa over the past 60 million years on the one hand and the other by the Quaternary glaciations of northern Europe. Both processes shaped the Sudetes and
17424-475: The Vistula from the east. One of the tributaries, the Bug , defines 280 kilometers of Poland's eastern border with Ukraine and Belarus. The Oder and its major tributary, the Warta , and a few smaller rivers as Kłodnica , Mała Panew , Bóbr , Lusatian Neisse (Nysa Łużycka) and Ina , form a basin that drains the western third of Poland into the Bay of Szczecin . The drainage effect on a large part of Polish terrain
17600-552: The Warta River in Poznań . Nowadays the Polish lakes provide a location for the pursuit of water sports such as yachting and wind-surfing . The Polish Baltic coast is approximately 528 kilometres (328 mi) long and extends from Świnoujście on the islands of Usedom and Wolin in the west to Krynica Morska on the Vistula Spit in the east. For the most part, Poland has a smooth coastline, which has been shaped by
17776-567: The average thickness of the sand layer 40 metres (131 ft), with a maximum of 70 metres (230 ft), which made the fast and deep drainage very easy. The Baltic Sea activity in Słowiński National Park created sand dunes which in the course of time separated the bay from the sea. As waves and wind carry sand inland the dunes slowly move, at a speed of 3 to 10 metres (9.8 to 32.8 ft) meters per year. Some dunes are quite high – up to 30 metres (98 ft). The highest peak of
17952-537: The beginning of the 20th century, advancement in geological science was facilitated by the ability to obtain accurate absolute dates to geological events using radioactive isotopes and other methods. This changed the understanding of geological time. Previously, geologists could only use fossils and stratigraphic correlation to date sections of rock relative to one another. With isotopic dates, it became possible to assign absolute ages to rock units, and these absolute dates could be applied to fossil sequences in which there
18128-493: The border with Ukraine, where the greatest seasonal differences occur and winter temperatures average 4.5 °C below those in western Poland. The hottest cities in Poland are Tarnów , Wrocław and Słubice . The average temperatures are rising. In the period of 1980 to 2010, there were 19 Decembers without snow, and in the period of 2000 to 2010 seven. December 2006 was the warmest one in Poland since 1779. In most of Poland, average temperatures rose by 3-5 degrees Celsius during
18304-488: The central lowlands, the lake region includes primeval forests - one of the last remaining in Europe and much of Poland's shrinking unspoiled natural habitat. Glacial action in this region formed lakes and low hills in the otherwise flat terrain adjacent to Lithuania and the Baltic Sea. Small lakes dot the entire northern half of Poland, and the glacial formations that characterize the lake region extend as much as 200 kilometers inland in western Poland. Wide river valleys divide
18480-612: The collision of diverse air masses above the country's surface. Maritime air moves across Western Europe , Arctic air sweeps down from the North Atlantic Ocean , and subtropical air arrives from the South Atlantic Ocean . Although the Polar air dominates for much of the year, its conjunction with warmer currents generally moderates temperatures and generates considerable precipitation , clouds, and fog. When
18656-541: The continual movement of sand by currents and winds. This continual erosion and deposition has formed cliffs, dunes, and spits, many of which have migrated landwards to close off former lagoons, such as Łebsko Lake in Słowiński National Park. Prior to the end of the Second World War and subsequent change in national borders , Poland had only a very small coastline; this was situated at the end of
18832-399: The country's historic regions, whereas those of the past two decades (to 1998) had been centred on and named for individual cities. The new units range in area from less than 10,000 square kilometres (3,900 sq mi) for Opole Voivodeship to more than 35,000 square kilometres (14,000 sq mi) for Masovian Voivodeship. Administrative authority at voivodeship level is shared between
19008-515: The creation of topographic gradients, causing material on the rock unit that is increasing in elevation to be eroded by hillslopes and channels. These sediments are deposited on the rock unit that is going down. Continual motion along the fault maintains the topographic gradient in spite of the movement of sediment and continues to create accommodation space for the material to deposit. Deformational events are often also associated with volcanism and igneous activity. Volcanic ashes and lavas accumulate on
19184-437: The crust, the uplift of mountain ranges, and paleo-topography. Fractionation of the lanthanide series elements is used to compute ages since rocks were removed from the mantle. Other methods are used for more recent events. Optically stimulated luminescence and cosmogenic radionuclide dating are used to date surfaces and/or erosion rates. Dendrochronology can also be used for the dating of landscapes. Radiocarbon dating
19360-403: The decades up until World War I , a new political tradition was established in the country. Many exiled Polish activists, such as Ignacy Jan Paderewski , who would later become prime minister, returned home. A significant number of them then went on to take key positions in the newly formed political and governmental structures. Tragedy struck in 1922 when Gabriel Narutowicz , inaugural holder of
19536-567: The demand for craft labour spurred a migration of German and Flemish settlers into Poland, which was encouraged by the Polish dukes. In 1264, the Statute of Kalisz introduced unprecedented autonomy for the Polish Jews , who came to Poland fleeing persecution elsewhere in Europe. In 1320, Władysław I the Short became the first king of a reunified Poland since Przemysł II in 1296, and
19712-549: The doctrine of the so-called Polish Brethren , who separated from their Calvinist denomination and became the co-founders of global Unitarianism . The European Renaissance evoked under Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus a sense of urgency in the need to promote a cultural awakening . During the Polish Golden Age , the nation's economy and culture flourished. The Italian-born Bona Sforza , daughter of
19888-711: The earliest evidence of European cheesemaking (5500 BC) was discovered in Polish Kuyavia , and the Bronocice pot is incised with the earliest known depiction of what may be a wheeled vehicle (3400 BC). The period spanning the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (1300 BC–500 BC) was marked by an increase in population density, establishment of palisaded settlements ( gords ) and the expansion of Lusatian culture . A significant archaeological find from
20064-549: The elections organised by the occupying Soviet authorities were falsified and were used to provide a veneer of legitimacy for Soviet hegemony over Polish affairs. The Soviet Union instituted a new communist government in Poland, analogous to much of the rest of the Eastern Bloc . As elsewhere in Communist Europe , the Soviet influence over Poland was met with armed resistance from the outset which continued into
20240-602: The end of World War I in 1918 with the creation of the Second Polish Republic , which emerged victorious in various conflicts of the interbellum period. In September 1939, the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union marked the beginning of World War II , which resulted in the Holocaust and millions of Polish casualties . Forced into the Eastern Bloc in the global Cold War ,
20416-666: The far northwest, average less than 500 mm (19.7 in). In winter about half the precipitation in the lowlands and the entire amount in the mountains falls as snow. On average, precipitation in summer is twice of that in winter, providing a dependable supply of water for crops. The growing season is about 40 days longer in the southwest than in the northeast, where spring arrives latest. The highest temperature recorded in Poland occurred on 29 July 1921 at Prószków. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Poland occurred on 11 January 1940 in Siedlce. The highest winter temperature in Poland
20592-570: The fault is a normal fault or a thrust fault . The principle of inclusions and components states that, with sedimentary rocks, if inclusions (or clasts ) are found in a formation, then the inclusions must be older than the formation that contains them. For example, in sedimentary rocks, it is common for gravel from an older formation to be ripped up and included in a newer layer. A similar situation with igneous rocks occurs when xenoliths are found. These foreign bodies are picked up as magma or lava flows, and are incorporated, later to cool in
20768-403: The faults are not planar or because rock layers are dragged along, forming drag folds as slip occurs along the fault. Deeper in the Earth, rocks behave plastically and fold instead of faulting. These folds can either be those where the material in the center of the fold buckles upwards, creating " antiforms ", or where it buckles downwards, creating " synforms ". If the tops of the rock units within
20944-503: The first King of Poland in c. 1025 , when Bolesław received permission for his coronation from Pope John XIX . Bolesław also expanded the realm considerably by seizing parts of German Lusatia , Czech Moravia , Upper Hungary , and southwestern regions of the Kievan Rus' . The transition from paganism in Poland was not instantaneous and resulted in the pagan reaction of the 1030s . In 1031, Mieszko II Lambert lost
21120-647: The first elected king, approbated the Henrician Articles which obliged future monarchs to respect the rights of nobles. When he left Poland to become King of France , his successor, Stephen Báthory , led a successful campaign in the Livonian War , granting Poland more lands across the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. State affairs were then headed by Jan Zamoyski , the Crown Chancellor . Stephen's successor, Sigismund III , defeated
21296-524: The first to be crowned at Wawel Cathedral in Kraków. Beginning in 1333, the reign of Casimir III the Great was marked by developments in castle infrastructure , army, judiciary and diplomacy . Under his authority, Poland transformed into a major European power; he instituted Polish rule over Ruthenia in 1340 and imposed quarantine that prevented the spread of Black Death . In 1364, Casimir inaugurated
21472-483: The folds remain pointing upwards, they are called anticlines and synclines , respectively. If some of the units in the fold are facing downward, the structure is called an overturned anticline or syncline, and if all of the rock units are overturned or the correct up-direction is unknown, they are simply called by the most general terms, antiforms, and synforms. Even higher pressures and temperatures during horizontal shortening can cause both folding and metamorphism of
21648-404: The formation of faults and the age of the sequences through which they cut. Faults are younger than the rocks they cut; accordingly, if a fault is found that penetrates some formations but not those on top of it, then the formations that were cut are older than the fault, and the ones that are not cut must be younger than the fault. Finding the key bed in these situations may help determine whether
21824-652: The genocidal Generalplan Ost . Poland made the fourth-largest troop contribution in Europe, and its troops served both the Polish Government in Exile in the west and Soviet leadership in the east . Polish troops played an important role in the Normandy , Italian , North African Campaigns and Netherlands and are particularly remembered for the Battle of Britain and Battle of Monte Cassino . Polish intelligence operatives proved extremely valuable to
22000-523: The gently sloping foothills of the Sudeten and Carpathian mountain ranges and the uplands that connect the ranges in south-central Poland. The topography of this region is divided transversely into higher and lower elevations, reflecting its underlying geological structure. In the western section, the Silesia-Kraków Upthrust contains rich coal deposits. The third topographic area is located on either side of Poland's southern border and
22176-579: The geological history of the Earth as a whole. One aspect is to demonstrate the age of the Earth . Geology provides evidence for plate tectonics , the evolutionary history of life , and the Earth's past climates . Geologists broadly study the properties and processes of Earth and other terrestrial planets. Geologists use a wide variety of methods to understand the Earth's structure and evolution, including fieldwork , rock description , geophysical techniques , chemical analysis , physical experiments , and numerical modelling . In practical terms, geology
22352-410: The highest numbers of lakes in the world. In Europe, only Finland has a greater density of lakes. The largest lakes, covering more than 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi), are Lake Śniardwy and Lake Mamry in Masuria , and Lake Łebsko and Lake Drawsko in Pomerania . In addition to the lake districts in the north (in Masuria, Pomerania, Kashubia , Lubuskie, and Greater Poland ), there
22528-423: The internal composition and structure of the Earth. Seismologists can use the arrival times of seismic waves to image the interior of the Earth. Early advances in this field showed the existence of a liquid outer core (where shear waves were not able to propagate) and a dense solid inner core . These advances led to the development of a layered model of the Earth, with a lithosphere (including crust) on top,
22704-406: The lake region into three parts. In the northwest, Pomerania is located south of the Baltic coastal region and north of the Warta and Noteć rivers. Masuria occupies the remainder of northern Poland and features a string of larger lakes. Most of Poland's 9,300 lakes that are more than 10,000 square metres in area are located in the northern part of the lake region, where they occupy about 10% of
22880-422: The larger situated in the Gdańsk - Gdynia region, and the smaller near Szczecin in the far northwest. The northeastern region, also known as the Masurian Lake District with more than 2,000 lakes, is densely wooded and sparsely populated. To the south of the lake district, and across central Poland a vast region of plains stretches all the way to the Sudetes on the Czech and German borders southwest, and to
23056-413: The last three decades. These changes can be attributed to climate change . The average annual precipitation for the whole country is 600 mm (23.6 in), but isolated mountain areas receive as much as 1,300 mm (51.2 in) per year. The total is slightly higher in the southern uplands than in the central plains. A few areas, notably along the Vistula between Warsaw and the Baltic Sea and in
23232-409: The later end of the scale, it is marked by the present day (in the Holocene epoch ). The following five timelines show the geologic time scale to scale. The first shows the entire time from the formation of the Earth to the present, but this gives little space for the most recent eon. The second timeline shows an expanded view of the most recent eon. In a similar way, the most recent era is expanded in
23408-454: The lowest layer to deposition of the highest bed. The principle of faunal succession is based on the appearance of fossils in sedimentary rocks. As organisms exist during the same period throughout the world, their presence or (sometimes) absence provides a relative age of the formations where they appear. Based on principles that William Smith laid out almost a hundred years before the publication of Charles Darwin 's theory of evolution ,
23584-445: The mantle and show the crystallographic structures expected in the inner core of the Earth. The geological time scale encompasses the history of the Earth. It is bracketed at the earliest by the dates of the first Solar System material at 4.567 Ga (or 4.567 billion years ago) and the formation of the Earth at 4.54 Ga (4.54 billion years), which is the beginning of the Hadean eon – a division of geological time. At
23760-405: The matrix. As a result, xenoliths are older than the rock that contains them. The principle of original horizontality states that the deposition of sediments occurs as essentially horizontal beds. Observation of modern marine and non-marine sediments in a wide variety of environments supports this generalization (although cross-bedding is inclined, the overall orientation of cross-bedded units
23936-415: The moderating influences are lacking, winter temperatures in mountain valleys may drop to a minimum of −20 °C (−4 °F). The spring arrives slowly in March or April, bringing mainly sunny days after a period of alternating wintertime and springtime conditions. Summer, which extends from June to August, is generally less humid than winter. Showers and thunderstorms alternate with dry sunny weather that
24112-429: The mountain lakes of Czarny Staw pod Rysami (Black Lake below Mount Rysy), and Morskie Oko (the Marine Eye). The second highest mountain group in Poland are the Beskids, whose highest peak is Babia Góra , at 1,725 metres (5,659 ft). The next highest mountain group are the Giant Mountains in the Sudetes , whose highest point is Śnieżka , at 1,603 metres (5,259 ft); Śnieżnik Mountains whose highest point
24288-426: The new Prime Minister leading a coalition made up of Civic Coalition , Third Way , and The Left . Law and Justice became the leading opposition party. Poland covers an administrative area of 312,722 km (120,743 sq mi), and is the ninth-largest country in Europe . Approximately 311,895 km (120,423 sq mi) of the country's territory consists of land, 2,041 km (788 sq mi)
24464-403: The nobility. The failed attempts at government restructuring as well as the domestic turmoil provoked its neighbours to invade. In 1772, the First Partition of the Commonwealth by Prussia, Russia and Austria took place; an act which the Partition Sejm , under considerable duress, eventually ratified as a fait accompli . Disregarding the territorial losses, in 1773 a plan of critical reforms
24640-473: The north. There are over 120 areas designated as landscape parks , along with numerous nature reserves and other protected areas (e.g. Natura 2000 ). Present-day Poland is a country with favorable agricultural prospects, and over two million private farms. It is the leading producer of potatoes and rye in Europe, the world's largest producer of triticale , and one of the more important producers of barley, oats, sugar beets , flax, and various fruits. It
24816-430: The park – Rowokol (115 metres or 377 feet above sea level ) — is also an excellent observation point . Forests cover around 29.6% of Poland's territory as of 2021, making it the seventh most forested country in the EU, though the forest cover continues to increase year-on-year. The Polish government is carrying out a plan to increase forest coverage to 33% in 2050. The richness of Polish forests (per SoEF 2011 statistics)
24992-484: The period known as Golden Liberty , when the state was ruled by the seemingly free and equal Polish nobles . The 16th century saw Protestant Reformation movements making deep inroads into Polish Christianity, which resulted in the establishment of policies promoting religious tolerance, unique in Europe at that time. This tolerance allowed the country to avoid the religious turmoil and wars of religion that beset Europe. In Poland, Nontrinitarian Christianity became
25168-407: The population to private manorial farmstead known as folwarks . In 1493, John I Albert sanctioned the creation of a bicameral parliament composed of a lower house, the Sejm , and an upper house, the Senate . The Nihil novi act adopted by the Polish General Sejm in 1505, transferred most of the legislative power from the monarch to the parliament, an event which marked the beginning of
25344-414: The presence of Roman Legions sent to protect the amber trade . The Polish tribes emerged following the second wave of the Migration Period around the 6th century AD; they were Slavic and may have included assimilated remnants of peoples that earlier dwelled in the area. Beginning in the early 10th century, the Polans would come to dominate other Lechitic tribes in the region, initially forming
25520-400: The presidency, was assassinated at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw by a painter and right-wing nationalist Eligiusz Niewiadomski . In 1926, the May Coup , led by the hero of the Polish independence campaign Marshal Józef Piłsudski , turned rule of the Second Polish Republic over to the nonpartisan Sanacja ( Healing ) movement to prevent radical political organisations on both the left and
25696-413: The primary record of the majority of the geological history of the Earth. There are three major types of rock: igneous , sedimentary , and metamorphic . The rock cycle illustrates the relationships among them (see diagram). When a rock solidifies or crystallizes from melt ( magma or lava ), it is an igneous rock . This rock can be weathered and eroded , then redeposited and lithified into
25872-569: The principles of succession developed independently of evolutionary thought. The principle becomes quite complex, however, given the uncertainties of fossilization, localization of fossil types due to lateral changes in habitat ( facies change in sedimentary strata), and that not all fossils formed globally at the same time. Geologists also use methods to determine the absolute age of rock samples and geological events. These dates are useful on their own and may also be used in conjunction with relative dating methods or to calibrate relative methods. At
26048-407: The protohistory of Poland is a fortified settlement at Biskupin , attributed to the Lusatian culture of the Late Bronze Age (mid-8th century BC). Throughout antiquity (400 BC–500 AD), many distinct ancient populations inhabited the territory of present-day Poland, notably Celtic , Scythian , Germanic , Sarmatian , Baltic and Slavic tribes. Furthermore, archaeological findings confirmed
26224-554: The resulting acid rain has caused forest damage; water pollution from industrial and municipal sources is also a problem, as is disposal of hazardous wastes. Disposal of the country's coal ash is aided by revegetation . Żołnierz et al. , 2016 find the return of bush species is naturally phytoremediating fly ash dumps. Environment - international agreements: party to: Air Pollution, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of
26400-441: The right from destabilizing the country. By the late 1930s, due to increased threats posed by political extremism inside the country, the Polish government became increasingly heavy-handed, banning a number of radical organisations, including communist and ultra-nationalist political parties, which threatened the stability of the country. World War II began with the Nazi German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, followed by
26576-428: The rocks. This metamorphism causes changes in the mineral composition of the rocks; creates a foliation , or planar surface, that is related to mineral growth under stress. This can remove signs of the original textures of the rocks, such as bedding in sedimentary rocks, flow features of lavas , and crystal patterns in crystalline rocks . Extension causes the rock units as a whole to become longer and thinner. This
26752-433: The simplified layered model with a much more dynamic model. Mineralogists have been able to use the pressure and temperature data from the seismic and modeling studies alongside knowledge of the elemental composition of the Earth to reproduce these conditions in experimental settings and measure changes within the crystal structure. These studies explain the chemical changes associated with the major seismic discontinuities in
26928-444: The south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south, and Germany to the west. The territory is characterised by a varied landscape, diverse ecosystems, and temperate transitional climate. Poland is composed of sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 million people, and
27104-408: The southwest, but individual readings in Poland's regions vary widely by season. On the highest mountain peaks, the mean temperature is below 0 °C (32 °F). The Baltic coast, influenced by moderating west winds, mostly in Świnoujście , Międzyzdroje , Dziwnów , Nowe Warpno , Police and Szczecin , has cooler summers and warmer winters. The other temperature extreme is in the southeast along
27280-429: The southwestern United States, sedimentary, volcanic, and intrusive rocks have been metamorphosed, faulted, foliated, and folded. Even older rocks, such as the Acasta gneiss of the Slave craton in northwestern Canada , the oldest known rock in the world have been metamorphosed to the point where their origin is indiscernible without laboratory analysis. In addition, these processes can occur in stages. In many places,
27456-550: The subsurface. Sub-specialities of geology may distinguish endogenous and exogenous geology. Geological field work varies depending on the task at hand. Typical fieldwork could consist of: In addition to identifying rocks in the field ( lithology ), petrologists identify rock samples in the laboratory. Two of the primary methods for identifying rocks in the laboratory are through optical microscopy and by using an electron microprobe . In an optical mineralogy analysis, petrologists analyze thin sections of rock samples using
27632-562: The summer of 1944 it initiated Operation Tempest , of which the Warsaw Uprising that began on 1 August 1944 is the best-known operation. Nazi German forces under orders from Adolf Hitler set up six German extermination camps in occupied Poland, including Treblinka , Majdanek and Auschwitz . The Germans transported millions of Jews from across occupied Europe to be murdered in those camps. Altogether, 3 million Polish Jews – approximately 90% of Poland's pre-war Jewry – and between 1.8 and 2.8 million ethnic Poles were killed during
27808-401: The surface area. The Baltic coastal plains are a low-lying region formed of sediments deposited by the sea. The coastline was shaped by the action of the rising sea after the Scandinavian ice sheet retreated. The two major inlets in the smooth coast are the Pomeranian Bay on the German border in the far northwest and the Gulf of Gdańsk in the east. The Oder River empties into the former, and
27984-407: The surface of the Earth and the convecting mantle is called plate tectonics . The development of plate tectonics has provided a physical basis for many observations of the solid Earth . Long linear regions of geological features are explained as plate boundaries: Plate tectonics has provided a mechanism for Alfred Wegener 's theory of continental drift , in which the continents move across
28160-488: The surface of the Earth over geological time. They also provided a driving force for crustal deformation, and a new setting for the observations of structural geology. The power of the theory of plate tectonics lies in its ability to combine all of these observations into a single theory of how the lithosphere moves over the convecting mantle. Advances in seismology , computer modeling , and mineralogy and crystallography at high temperatures and pressures give insights into
28336-423: The surface, and igneous intrusions enter from below. Dikes , long, planar igneous intrusions, enter along cracks, and therefore often form in large numbers in areas that are being actively deformed. This can result in the emplacement of dike swarms , such as those that are observable across the Canadian shield, or rings of dikes around the lava tube of a volcano. All of these processes do not necessarily occur in
28512-742: The surface. Igneous intrusions such as batholiths , laccoliths , dikes , and sills , push upwards into the overlying rock, and crystallize as they intrude. After the initial sequence of rocks has been deposited, the rock units can be deformed and/or metamorphosed . Deformation typically occurs as a result of horizontal shortening, horizontal extension , or side-to-side ( strike-slip ) motion. These structural regimes broadly relate to convergent boundaries , divergent boundaries , and transform boundaries, respectively, between tectonic plates. When rock units are placed under horizontal compression , they shorten and become thicker. Because rock units, other than muds, do not significantly change in volume , this
28688-407: The third timeline, the most recent period is expanded in the fourth timeline, and the most recent epoch is expanded in the fifth timeline. Horizontal scale is Millions of years (above timelines) / Thousands of years (below timeline) Epochs: Methods for relative dating were developed when geology first emerged as a natural science . Geologists still use the following principles today as
28864-442: The time. In the Baltic Sea region, the struggle of Poland and Lithuania with the Teutonic Knights continued and culminated at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, where a combined Polish-Lithuanian army inflicted a decisive victory against them. In 1466, after the Thirteen Years' War , king Casimir IV Jagiellon gave royal consent to the Peace of Thorn , which created the future Duchy of Prussia under Polish suzerainty and forced
29040-561: The title of king and fled amidst the violence. The unrest led to the transfer of the capital to Kraków in 1038 by Casimir I the Restorer . In 1076, Bolesław II re-instituted the office of king, but was banished in 1079 for murdering his opponent, Bishop Stanislaus . In 1138, the country fragmented into five principalities when Bolesław III Wrymouth divided his lands among his sons. These were Lesser Poland , Greater Poland, Silesia , Masovia and Sandomierz , with intermittent hold over Pomerania . In 1226, Konrad I of Masovia invited
29216-433: The unemployment rate increased. Poland became a member of the Visegrád Group in 1991, and joined NATO in 1999. Poles then voted to join the European Union in a referendum in June 2003, with Poland becoming a full member on 1 May 2004, following the consequent enlargement of the organisation . Poland has joined the Schengen Area in 2007, as a result of which, the country's borders with other member states of
29392-405: The vast Commonwealth began declining from internal disorder and constant warfare. In 1648, the Polish hegemony over Ukraine sparked the Khmelnytsky Uprising , followed by the decimating Swedish Deluge during the Second Northern War , and Prussia's independence in 1657. In 1683, John III Sobieski re-established military prowess when he halted the advance of an Ottoman Army into Europe at
29568-494: Was chosen to be President of the European Council , and resigned as prime minister. The 2015 and 2019 elections were won by the national-conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) led by Jarosław Kaczyński , resulting in increased Euroscepticism and increased friction with the European Union. In December 2017, Mateusz Morawiecki was sworn in as the Prime Minister, succeeding Beata Szydlo , in office since 2015. President Andrzej Duda , supported by Law and Justice party,
29744-615: Was datable material, converting the old relative ages into new absolute ages. For many geological applications, isotope ratios of radioactive elements are measured in minerals that give the amount of time that has passed since a rock passed through its particular closure temperature , the point at which different radiometric isotopes stop diffusing into and out of the crystal lattice . These are used in geochronologic and thermochronologic studies. Common methods include uranium–lead dating , potassium–argon dating , argon–argon dating and uranium–thorium dating . These methods are used for
29920-410: Was established, in which the Commission of National Education , the first government education authority in Europe, was inaugurated. Corporal punishment of schoolchildren was officially prohibited in 1783. Poniatowski was the head figure of the Enlightenment , encouraged the development of industries, and embraced republican neoclassicism . For his contributions to the arts and sciences he was awarded
30096-454: Was extensively funded by his sponsor and former lover, Empress Catherine II of Russia . The new king maneuvered between his desire to implement necessary modernising reforms, and the necessity to remain at peace with surrounding states. His ideals led to the formation of the 1768 Bar Confederation , a rebellion directed against the Poniatowski and all external influence, which ineptly aimed to preserve Poland's sovereignty and privileges held by
30272-501: Was founded before the 7th century BC by people of the Lusatian culture . Lakes have always played an important role in Polish history and continue to be of great importance to today's modern Polish society. The ancestors of today's Poles, the Polanie , built their first fortresses on islands in these lakes. The legendary Prince Popiel ruled from Kruszwica tower erected on the Lake Gopło . The first historically documented ruler of Poland, Duke Mieszko I , had his palace on an island in
30448-432: Was re-elected in the 2020 presidential election . As of November 2023 , the Russian invasion of Ukraine had led to 17 million Ukrainian refugees crossing the border to Poland. As of November 2023 , 0.9 million of those had stayed in Poland. In October 2023, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party won the largest share of the vote in the election , but lost its majority in parliament. In December 2023, Donald Tusk became
30624-422: Was recorded occurred on 25 February 2021 and lowest in summer was recorded on 21 July 1996. The highest temperature in January, 18.9 °C, was reported in Warsaw on 1 January 2022, at 11:30 AM. The New Year's Eve night was also among the warmest winter nights in history of the region, with temperatures reaching 17 °C in Słubice around midnight. Poland's current voivodeships (provinces) are largely based on
30800-447: Was to become Poland approximately 500,000 years ago, though the ensuing hostile climate prevented early humans from founding more permanent encampments. The arrival of Homo sapiens and anatomically modern humans coincided with the climatic discontinuity at the end of the Last Glacial Period ( Northern Polish glaciation 10,000 BC), when Poland became habitable. Neolithic excavations indicated broad-ranging development in that era;
30976-412: Was under the protection of the Apostolic See . The country's early origins were described by Gallus Anonymus in Gesta principum Polonorum , the oldest Polish chronicle. An important national event of the period was the martyrdom of Saint Adalbert , who was killed by Prussian pagans in 997 and whose remains were reputedly bought back for their weight in gold by Mieszko's successor, Bolesław I
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