Institute of Geology AS CR, v. v. i.
Medium-sized research center which main purpose is to gain, interpret and integrate the knowledge of the Earth System.
Moravian Sahara or Moravian Lake?
Research conducted in the Strážnické Pomoraví located in the Lower Moravian Basin is focused on climate and human impact on the Morava River behavior. The Morava River floodplain borders with an area called the Moravian Sahara covering with sand dunes up to 10 m high which were blown out from an underlaying deposits. These underlaying gravely sands (up to 30 m thick) have been traditionally interpreted as the wind-blown sediments. Our new rather surprising interpretation reveal that the gravely sands were deposited in a lake developed in the Lower Moravian Basin and probably along the Dyje River lower course between 15 and 14 ka. We have found the identical lake deposits on another places in both basins. A dam blocking the valleys was probably formed by eolian sandy accumulations originated during Last Glacial Maximum at the Morava and Dyje river confluence. The question is if the lake could affect mammoth migration routes along the Moravian rivers. In any case a recent construction of modern Nové Mlýny lakes in the Dyje River valley is a return to the glacial stage with lakes below the Pálava Mts.
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