Topic: Still surface waters in Poland. Underground waters in Poland

Written by: Magdalena Jankun

Target group

Third‑grade student of secondary school, basic programme

Core curriculum

XIV. Regional diversification of the natural environment of Poland: division into physical geographic regions, geological structure and raw material resources, surface formation, water network, climatic conditions, forms of nature protection, the state of the natural environment.

Student:

8) shows natural, social and economic significance, including tourist lakes and artificial reservoirs in Poland;

Purpose of the lesson

Students characterise genetic types of lakes and indicate them on a map as well as discuss types of mineral waters and their locations in Poland.

Conditions to be met to succeed

• to provide genetic types of lakes and indicate them on a map;

• to characterise moraine‑dammed lakes, tunnel‑valley lakes, cirque lakes, coastal lakes, delta lakes, and karst lakes;

• to categorise underground waters;

• to indicate spa towns in Poland on a map.

Key competences

• communication in native language;

• communication in non‑native language;

• IT competences;

• ability to learn;

• social and civic competences.

Methods/forms of work

A mental map method, work with text and multimedia and work with a map.

Individual work, work in pairs and work in groups.

Teaching accessories

• an abstract;

• an interactive or traditional writing board;

• a multimedia projector;

• tablets/computers;

• a physical map of Poland;

• geographical atlases;

• LearningApps application.

Stages of the lesson

Introduction

1. The teacher provides a topic and a purpose of the lesson as well as conditions to be met to succeed.

2. The teacher asks some students to write down characteristics specific for a lake on an interactive thought map.

3. Students check on the meaning of “lake” in sources specified by the teacher. Next, they compare found information with answers written previously on the thought map and correct mistakes, if any.

Realization

1. Students, while working in pairs, use a geographical atlas to find
lakes in the territory of Poland. Volunteers indicate them on a physical wall map of Poland and provide the name of the geographical region such lake belongs to.

2. The teacher asks students to indicate the regions of Poland with the largest amount of lakes (lakelands). He/she explains the cause of this and characterises post‑glacial lakes, specifying moraine‑dammed lakes, tunnel‑valley lakes and post‑glacial kettle holes. He/she presents photographs depicting these lakes. Students describe any visible differences.

3. Students read the names of the lakes located close to the sea and indicate them on a physical map of Poland. Next, working in pairs, they find information on the formation of coastal lakes in available source materials. Volunteers share them with the class.

4. The teacher comments on information retrieved by students and shows a video: “Formation of a coastal lake”.

5. Students find Druzno Lake and Dąbie Lake on a map. Together with the teacher, they consider their genesis. The teacher explains these are delta lakes which have been formed as a result of cutting of a part of a sea lagoon by river sedimentation.

6. The teacher shows a picture of a karst lake. He/she describes traits of such lakes and shows their location on the map of Poland.

7. The teacher asks selected students to remind how an oxbow lake is being formed.

8. The teacher divides class into four groups, and assigns to each group one of the following issues:

• division of underground waters with regard to the depth;

• the causes of formation of mineral waters and their examples;

• prevalence of artesian aquifers in the territory of Poland and their formation methods;

• spa towns in Poland, operating due to existence of mineral and thermal waters.

9. Representatives of groups show results of work in front of the class, and the teacher corrects any possible mistakes.

10. Students perform selected interactive exercises, provided in the abstract.

Summary

1. The teacher runs LearningApps and asks students to perform exercises checking knowledge obtained during the lesson:

• https://learningapps.org/1923351 (determining locations of natural lakes in Poland);

• https://learningapps.org/2315511 (quiz).

2. The teacher evaluates efforts of students during the lesson, considering their commitment and individual abilities.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Still surface waters in Poland. Underground waters in Poland

Before the lesson, ponder about your knowledge concerning lakes. Write down your thoughts below.

In the territory of Poland, there is about 9.3 thousands of lakes which in total cover the area of 3169.3 kmIndeks górny 2² (a bit more than 1% of Poland’s total area). These lakes, in their majority, originate from the erosive and accumulative activity of the latest glaciation.
Lake distribution in Poland is very uneven – the largest concentrations are in the north. These include 3 major lakelands: Pomeranian, Masurian and Greater Poland Lakeland.
Most lakes are located in the Pomeranian Lakeland (about 4130), however, a mere fraction achieved significant size. In the Masurian Lakeland, there are far fewer lakes (about 2560), however, they cover up much larger area (almost 45% of total lake area in Poland). This region boasts with the largest one – Śniardwy (113,8 kmIndeks górny 2²) – and the deepest one – Hańcza (108.5 m).
In the southern part of Poland, in the Tatra Mountains and the Giant Mountains (Karkonosze), post‑glacial depressions contributed to the formation of cirque lakes. Most frequently, they are called “staw”, as in Czarny Staw, Przedni Staw in the Tatra Mountains, Wielki Staw and Mały Staw in Karkonosze.
The most popular mountain lake in Poland is Morskie Oko.

The list below contains types of lakes present in Poland.

The applicationin e‑book depicts the process of formation of a coastal lake. What lakes of this type do you know of?

Apart from natural lakes, there are also many artificial lakes in the territory of Poland. Such reservoirs have various functions, e.g. they enable river engineering or hold water surplus during increased water discharge or may be used for sports and recreation; banked up water is used to drive turbines of hydropower plants.

Another work of a human, related to hydraulic engineering, are canals. These are used, inter alia, for inland transport. The most important artificial waterways in Poland are the following canals: Augustów Canal, Gliwice Canal, Ślesiński Canal, Notecki Canal, Bydgoszcz Canal, Żerański Canal, and ElblągCanal, with an inclined plane system, unique on a global level, which assists vessels in overcoming more than 100 m level difference. The longest waterway in Poland is the Wieprz‑Krzna Canal, a drainage channel reaching 140 km.

Lands permanently saturated with water, namely swamps and marshes, are formed on an impermeable bed. They are overgrown with typical hygrophilous vegetation, dominated by moss (e.g. peat moss), grass (e.g. reed) and sedge. The largest concentrations of swamps and marshes in Poland are located in the catchment area of Narew and Biebrza and in the Lublin Polesie. Besides, boggy lands may be encountered, inter alia, in other river valleys and in the lakelands.

Currently, water in the permanently frozen state - meaning ice‑sheet, mountain glaciers, floating ice or permafrost - does not appear in Poland. Neither do salt plains which are typical for dry and hot climate.

Underground waters exist under the surface of rocky aquifers which were formed on an impermeable bed.

Underground waters are categorised in the following way, according to their depth:

Underground waters in Poland are present in loose Caenozoic rocks and solid rocks as crevice waters and, locally, karst waters. Some of the confined groundwater, accumulated mainly in sands and clays, formed a system of artesian aquifers and subartesian aquifers where water is subject to hydrostatic pressure. An example may be found in the Masovian Lowland.

Some waters circulating underground becomes highly mineralised, as a result of the dissolution of some elements. This is a way of formation of mineral waters such as:

• saline waters – containing dissolved rock salt;

• oxalates – containing acid calcium carbonates and sodium carbonates;

• sulphur waters - containing sodium sulphates and calcium sulphates.

The towns located in places where mineral water is present may obtain spa status. Their distinctive trait is a suffix “Zdrój” in their names. In Poland, spa towns are concentrated in three major regions:

• Sudetes - e.g. Kudowa‑Zdrój, Polanica‑Zdrój, Duszniki‑Zdrój, Szczawno‑Zdrój, Świeradów‑Zdrój;

• Carpathians and Subcarpathia - e.g. Krynica‑Zdrój, Piwniczna‑Zdrój, Rabka‑Zdrój, Iwonicz‑Zdrój, Busko‑Zdrój;

• Kuyavia and West Pomerania - e.g. Ciechocinek, Połczyn_Zdrój, Kamień Pomorski.

Such locations as Cieplice Śląskie‑Zdrój (a district of Jelenia Góra), Lądek‑Zdrój, and Zakopane are rich in thermal source waters, also called hot springs. These waters are warmer than average annual air temperature on location, for example, in Cieplice, the water temperature of 61.5°C has been recorded, setting the record for Polish underground waters.
Thermal waters are universally applied in medicine and recreation, and are also more and more frequently used for home heating.