This study presents the results of the influence of the specific geological landforms occurring in a lowland river floodplain on the recharge and drainage conditions in an agricultural area. Particular attention has been paid to the presence of the buried erosional channels of flood waters, which may constitute the preferential paths for migration of agricultural contaminants. Moreover, the changes of effective infiltration which affect the hydrogeological regime of the tested area were analyzed. Priority was also given to the use of laboratory techniques in order to determine the parameters influencing the contaminant migration in the soil-water environment for the purpose of hydrogeological modeling. Laboratory tests, based on a column experiment, were performed in a Trautwein apparatus with reference to the constant head procedure, using conservative and reactive markers. The parameters of advection, dispersion, and sorption, obtained in the laboratory experiment were then used as the input data for the hydrodynamic model of groundwater flow and contaminant migration in the research area. Based on the created digital model of groundwater flow, the multi-variant analysis of the effect of specific geological features on the conditions of contaminant transport in a valley was performed. The presented tools and methods contributed to a significant increase in the accuracy of recognizing zones susceptible to water pollution and should be adopted in other valley areas exposed to contamination.

Using ALS LIDAR DEM and OpenStreetMap data we visualise in ArcGIS the geomorphic features of a large, lowland river which flows through the area impacted by urbanisation of a big city – the capital of Poland. We present on one map the main geomorphological surfaces and their exact boundaries: valley edge, terrace front and floodplain juxtaposed with buildings and the main transportation corridors. We identify convex aeolian and fluvial landforms: dunes, levees, sandy lobes including crevasse splays, ridges between swales, sandy bars, islands; and concave erosional landforms: floodplain channels, crevasse channels, oxbow lakes, palaeo-meanders, tributary channels, and chute channels. We draw implications for flood management, geo-archaeology geo-heritage conservation. We search for traces of extreme flood events in the Holocene, also on the higher terraces which the river developed by its deposition in the Pleistocene.

We aim to answer a question: how does the evolution of fluvial environment affect to risk of embankments failure in lowland rivers and how can we identify and describe places at risk of levees failure using the remote sensing data? The study was carried out in the Vistula River valley near Magnuszew (middle Vistula course, central Poland). 24 geological boreholes were drilled to a depth of 2.0–8.5 m and groundwater table observations were conducted in a monitoring network consisting of 22 wells, 5 piezometers (screened within the Holocene alluvial aquifer) and 2 temporary water gauges. Identification of the diversity of the geological structure of the floodplain was supported by airborne laser scanning imaging, as well as high resolution satellite images and aerial photos. This remote sensing study allowed the creation of a conceptual model of hydrogeological conditions. Study takes into account the effects of the land forming activity of flood waters resulting from the evolution of the fluvial environment in the Holocene. Created conceptual model subsequently fed into the construction and calibration of a mathematical groundwater flow model using MODFLOW software. The study allowed the identification and characterisation of intensified groundwater flow zones. Concentrated flow in the substrate of flood protection levees constitutes a threat to their stability. Documented in many publications climate change will induce in future climate scenarios an increase in rainfall and prolongation of dry periods. The implementation of the methodology of identifying the geological forms with the use of presented techniques allows the identification of sections of flood embankments potentially at risk of failure.

The present paper discusses studies related to the preparation of a hydrogeological model of groundwater flow and nitrate transport in an area where a precision farming system is applied. Components of water balance were determined using the UnSat Suite Plus software (HELP model), while the average infiltration rate calculated for the study area equalled 20 per cent. The Visual MODFLOW software was used for the purpose of modelling in the saturated zone. Hydrogeological parameters of the model layers, inclusive of hydraulic conductivity, were defined on the basis of results of column tests that were carried out under laboratory conditions (column experiment). Related to the dose of mineral nitrogen used in precision fertilisation (80 kg N/ha), scenarios of the spread of nitrates in the soil-water environment were worked out. The absolute residual mean error calculated for nitrate concentrations obtained from laboratory and modelling studies equalled 0.188 mg/L, the standard error of the estimate equalling 0.116 mg/L. Results obtained were shown graphically in the form of hydroisohypse maps and nitrate isolines. Conclusions were drawn regarding the possibility of using numerical modelling techniques in predicting transport and fate of nitrates from fertilisers applied in precision agriculture systems.

The integrated use of minerals facilitates the reduction in the impact of mining on the environment. Many industries are in need of quartz sand in huge quantities. Quality requirements for quartz sand often refer to a high percentage of SiO₂ and low content of Fe₂O₃, as well as the absence of clay impurities. The extraction of conditioned quartz sands and their close geographic location to consumers are economically profitable. Due to their wide distribution in Ukraine and their subsurface occurrence, glauconite-bearing Paleogene sands attract special attention. It has been experimentally confirmed that such sands are capable of dry magnetic separation. As a result of dry magnetic separation, three magnetic fractions and a nonmagnetic fraction were isolated. Glauconite was the dominant mineral in the magnetic fraction at 0.8 Tl. Their content was 5.1% and 2.8% in sand, respectively. The nonmagnetic fractions obtained from two studied samples were at 80.4 and 80.7%, respectively. XRF analyses showed that in each nonmagnetic fraction the content of SiO₂ is at 96.9 wt.% and 93.7 wt.%, and Fe₂O₃ at 0.26 wt.% and 0.87 wt.%, respectively. In XRD, the nonmagnetic fractions contained 94.8% and 93.1% of sand, and 0.8% and 1.9% of glauconite, respectively. The values of the fineness moduli for the nonmagnetic fractions were 1.10 and 1.85. The size classes of quartz sands were 0.63 + 0 mm and −0.8 + 0 mm. Compared with current Ukrainian standards, the nonmagnetic fractions can be used in the building industry as well as in the manufacturing of glass, with the addition of a certain amount of glass from recycling.