Topic: Geological structure of Poland. Geological history of Poland

Author: Magdalena Jankun

Target group

7th grade students of an elementary school.

Core curriculum

IX. The natural environment of Poland compared to Europe: the geographical location of Poland.

The student:

5) shows the influence of mountain‑forming movements and glaciations in Europe on the shape of Poland's surface;

The material goes beyond the core curriculum

The general aim of education

The students discuss the most important events in the history of the geology of Poland, and recognize the geological structures that occur on the surface of our country.

Criteria of success

• You will name the main tectonic units of Poland;

• identify and characterize rocks and fossils in Poland;

• read rock layers from the oldest to the youngest;

• discuss geological events of Poland.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in a foreign language;

• mathematical competences;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn;

• social and civic competences.

Methods / forms of work

Work with text and with multimedia.

Individual work and work in pairs.

Teaching aids

• abstract;

• interactive or traditional board;

• multimedia projector;

• tablets/computers;

• stratigraphic table;

• videos from the internet.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher presents the topic, lesson goal and criteria of success.

2. The teacher discusses the most important events in the geological history of Poland: mountain‑forming movements, volcanic activity, sea transgressions and regressions, as well as the activity of the Scandinavian ice sheet.

Realization

1. The teacher presents a stratigraphic table. The teacher asks the students to read from the table the eras and periods in which mountain‑forming movements took place (Caledonian, Herman, Alpine folding) and to indicate the formed mountains on the map of Poland. The students’ next tasks is to read the period in which sea transgression and regression took place and to indicate the youngest geological event that shaped the surface of our country.

2. The teacher presents a film from the abstract entitled “How mountains are formed” - the students are to pay attention to how the rock material is formed and how do mountains uplift - what is the reason for their formation? They write their suggestions in the form in the abstract or in notebooks.

3. The teacher discusses the geological structure of our country, indicating individual geological structures on the physical map of Poland. The teacher instructs the students to get familiar with the material from the abstract, discussing the geological history of Poland.

4. On the map of Poland, presenting the main tectonic units, the students locate regions located in the area of the Precambrian platform, and in the area of Caledonian, Hercegovian and Alpine mountain‑forming.

5. The teacher presents the map entitled „Poland - types of rocks and their age”. The students discuss the location of rocks throughout the country, taking into account the reasons for their occurrence in a given area. They read which rocks are characteristic of the area in which they live.

6. The teacher instructs the students to find information in the abstract about the use and practical application of knowledge of the geological structure - eager students present their observations.

7. The students do interactive exercises to improve the ability to identify rocks and determine where they appear.

Summary

1. The teacher displays a video summarizing the issues discussed in class.

2. The teacher assesses the students' work during the classes, taking into account their activity and individual possibilities.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Geological structure of Poland. Geological history of Poland.

Rocks, present in crust, are usually arranged in layers. The rule of thumb is that older rocks lie at higher depths, and younger rocks lie at lower depths. Of course, some deviations might happen, for example, in folds, faults, shifts or other deformations of rock layers. On maps, profiles, diagrams and other drawings, older rocks are usually marked with darker colours, and younger ones are marked with brighter colours.

Knowledge of geological structure enables human to perform various activities in everyday life, such as:

• drawing water from underground sources;

• extraction of mineral resources;

• correct erection of buildings.

Knowledge of geological structure geological structure may also help find interconnections occurring in natural environment: rock – soil – water – vegetation – animals. The area of the Central Poland Plains and the Lakelands, covered in many places with Quaternary post‑glacial sands, may be an example. These layers triggered formation of rather infertile podzol soils, overgrown mainly by coniferous forests, what, in turn, led to development of specific vegetation and specific fauna.

Geological structure of Poland is a consequence of our geographical location in Central Europe, in a junction of large geological units of the continent:

• the zone of young Alpine folding;

• the zone of old Paleozoic foldings (Caledonides, Variscides);

• the Precambrian platform.

Widespread East European Platform of Precambrian origin, overlaps with the North‑East part of the territory of Poland. The edge of this platform, called the Tornquist Zone (T‑T zone), spans from Koszalin to Tomaszów Lubelski. Old Precambrian igneous rocks and metamorphic rocks in this area are covered with horizontal layers of sedimentary rocks from later periods.
The zone of Paleozoic foldings contains Sudetes with the fore‑Sudetic block, the Holy Cross Mountains, and the Upper Silesian basin. The area, stretching from these mountains to the East European Platform is so‑called Paleozoic West Europe Platform which includes old folded formations covered with younger sediments, slightly folded in late Mesozoic Era. These include the following:

• the Central Poland bank;

• the shoreline basin and the Szczecin‑Miechów basin;

• the fore‑Sudetic Monocline.

Currently, these unites are covered with Caenozoic formations. The zone of Alpine folding in our country includes Carpathians and pre‑Carpathian cavity, located northward.

Currently, there is sea in the north of Poland, and the mountains in the south. However, it was not always like that. For millions of years, the shape of Earth’s crust and distribution of lands and oceans underwent regular changes. Climate, and thus vegetation, underwent changes as well. Depending on which era to analyse, landscapes of modern territory of Poland differed to great extent.

The most important events from the geological history of Poland, with breakdown to specific eras, are provided in the following table.

Employing knowledge gained during the lessons, do the following exercises.

• Events from the geological history were decisive factors with regard to types of rocks and their arrangement in crust.

• Rocks emerged in various eras, places, and environmental conditions. Therefore, their composition and structure provide information on the date of formation. Arrangement of rock strata allows to reconstruct chronological sequence of geological events on the territory of Poland. Fossils may also prove useful for this purpose.

• In general, older rocks lie at higher depths, and younger rocks lie at lower depths.

• Processes occurring in geological history led to formation of, inter alia, various mineral resources, such as metallic, energy, and rock resources.

• Knowledge of geological structure of Poland may prove useful in everyday life as well as in economy.

• Poland lies on the border of three large geological units in Europe: the pre‑Cambrian East European Platform, the Paleozoic folded structure, the Alpine folded structure.