Primary features of the relief, surface geology, and water relations of the Old Town of Toruń and its close suburbs on the based geospatial analysis

Abstract

The article presents an attempt to reconstruct the original, i.e. prior to the town’s incorporation in the 13th century, features of the relief, surface geological structure and water conditions in the Old Town of Toruń and its close suburbs based on geological geoinformation as well as historical information that was integrated, analysed and visualized on a GIS platform. What is considered in this article are the reconstructed features of selected abiotic components of the natural environment of the area, where, in the 13th century, Toruń was chartered and where its suburbs begun to develop, that differ significantly from the today’s ones. During the eight centuries of the eventful history of the town, the almost primeval landscape of this area, influenced by intensive human activity was transformed into a cultural landscape that combined elements of the natural and cultural environment. The relief, the surface geology, and above all water conditions underwent fundamental transformations. The presented reconstruction of the aforementioned natural environment’s components of the Old Town of Toruń and its close suburbs is of an estimated nature. The applied procedure, despite many simplifications and limitations, is the first attempt at their quantitative reconstruction. The results may be the foundation for the reconstruction of the biotic characteristics of the natural environment in the period in question, for example, the natural soil and vegetation cover. In addition, it may be a premise for the verification of specific hypotheses concerning the conditions of the establishment and spatial development of Toruń.