The ascension and intrusion processes of salt water into aquifers along the tectonic discontinuities in the Żarnowieckie Lake area

¹ Mineral Raw Materials and Fossil Fuels Department, Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland
² Marine Geology Branch in Gdańsk, Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute, Gdańsk, Poland

Contact Information: Rafał Warumzer, Polish Geological Institute – National Research Institute, Marine Geology Branch, Kościerska 5 str., 80-328 Gdansk, Poland, Tel. +48 58 554 29 09 ext. 213, Email: rwar@pgi.gov.pl

Abstract

In this article, the authors want to pay attention to the intensity of the phenomenon of ascension of salt water from the Permo-Mesozoic formation in the geological structures of the Dębki - Żarnowiec trough. This is a unique area in Poland. The sediments (up to 320 m in thickness) of the deep Pleistocene trough, cross the Tertiary, Cretaceous and Jurassic deposits, and reach the Triassic layers in the deepest place. An additional aspect is the unquestionable presence of older structures and tectonic loosening, which conditioned the formation of such a large erosion structure. Younger tectonic (neotectonic) activity, both large-scale and resulting from isostatic movements, certainly uses the existing fault network, which in combination with the deeper layer of relatively well-permeable Pleistocene sediments is a system extremely conducive to ascension brines.