Keď rieky väznil ľad. Príbeh "bežnej" dunajskej povodne obdobia Malej doby ľadovej

Pišút, P., Čejka, T. 2011. Keď rieky väznil ľad. Príbeh "bežnej" dunajskej povodne obdobia Malej doby ľadovej (Rivers imprisoned in the Ice). Thoe story of "commonplace" Danube flood of the Little Ice Age period). In: Říční krajina /River Landscape 7, Olomouc 2011, s. 136 - 141.

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Plán, znázorňujúci novovybudovaný úsek petržalskej cestnej hrádze aj zvyšky starej, s úsekom, pretrhnutým pri ľadovej povodni v r. 1809, ktorým vzdutá voda v marci 1826 zaplavila  rozsiahle oblasti pravobrežnej nivy  

Since 1965, the Danube River in Bratislava, Slovakia has not been completely frozen. However, in the past the ice on Slovak rivers was a common phenomenon. But river ice  also signalled the imminent threat of dangerous and hard-to-predict ice floods. Floods due to ice barriers often accompanying ice break-up were common in our latitudes  during periods of  wetter and cooler climate (e. g. Little Ice Age). The ice was responsible for some of the most disastrous floodings in European rivers. Despite the current extent of river regulations and ongoing global warming, the threat of ice-jam floods is far from being over. In this respect, study of past winter type floodings can provide us with precious knowledge of the origin, course and possible consequences of these natural hazards. In this paper we report of so far little known ice-breakup flood of 1826, that occurred in the Danube River, Slovakia. After six weeks of frozen Danube the relatively cold winter eventually ended with the ice disintegration and movement on February 27, 1826. Clogging of the Danube channel with ice resulted into succesive ice jam flooding in the Bratislava reach and in some parts of Žitný ostrov Island. Our findings are based on reports from local newspaper (Preßburger Zeitung) and cartographic evidence.

Výsledky analýzy rastlinných makrozvyškov z výplne paleomeandra Dunaja pri obci Vrakúň (Žitný ostrov).

Pišút, P., Procházka, P. 2012. Výsledky analýzy rastlinných makrozvyškov z výplne paleomeandra Dunaja pri obci Vrakúň (Žitný ostrov). (Results of the analysis of plant macrofossil of the sedimentary fill of the Danube River palaeomeander (Vrakúň site, Žitný ostrov Island).

The paper presents results of a palaeobotanical study of the Danube River terrestrialised meander Vrakúň (Žitný ostrov Island, SW Slovakia). In total 1 470 diaspores separated from the 280 cm deep core contained mainly seeds of aquatic and marsh plant species, but also the charophyte oospores. Based on plant-macrofossil record supported by radiocarbon data, four local analytical zones were distinguished in the studied core. After the meander abandonment around 510 BC, local hydroseral succession started with the (1) initial calcareous, oligotrophic lake with algae, advanced through (2) eutrophic lake with aquatics and rich littoral vegetation into the (3) lake overgrown with Typha or reed beds and 4. shallow open marsh with Cyperaceae, which have eventually develeoped into the current fen grasslands. The study brings new data on past distribution of several species, which are currently listed as endangered, rare and protected (e. g. Cladium mariscus, Nymphaea alba, Nuphar lutea) and elucidates a formation of local vegetation over the past millenia.

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Fig. 1 Plant macrofossil diagram from the profile Vrakúň, palaeomeander (histogram based on absolute numbers of diaspore in the horizons). Legend: LAZ - local analytical zone, C - layer with greater number of charred plant remains.

Geomorphic response to the Little Ice Age in Slovakia.

Stankoviansky, M., Pišút, P. 2011. Geomorphic response to the Little Ice Age in Slovakia. Geographia Polonica, 84, Special Issue Part 1, 127 - 146.

Geomorphic response to the Little Ice Age (LIA; ca 1250-1890 AD) in Slovakia was marked by the increased occurence and effectiveness of fluvial, runoff, and some gravitational processes. We identified four periods of increased frequency of big floods, namely: (1250) 1378-1526 AD, the 1560s-1570s, the 1590s-1620s, and the 1660s-1850s, while the last period shows two stages (the 1660s-1720s and the 1760s-1850s). Three identified periods of disastrous gullying accompanied by muddy floods (the 14th century, the mid-16th century - the 1730s, the 1780s - the mid-19th century) refer to temporal conformity of both fluvial and runoff processes. High frequency of debris flows in the Slovak part of the Tatra Mts. occured in the period of 1400-1860 AD. Sparse mentions on precipitation -induced particular events of debris flows, landslides or rockfalls are mostly linked with simultanoues occurrence of floods.








Breaches to the side-channel closure (and dike) at the village of Rusovce (Carlburg), illustrating the destructive force of the 1780 and 1784 ice floods.

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Paleofloristic and paleofaunistic analysis of Dudváh River oxbow and implication for Late Holocene paleoenvironmental development...

Pišút, P., Břízová, E., Čejka, T., Pipík, R. 2010: Paleofloristic and paleofaunistic analysis of Dudváh River oxbow and implication for Late Holocene paleoenvironmental development of the Žitný ostrov Island (SW Slovakia). Geologica Carpathica, 2010, 61 (6): 513-533.

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Abstract: Žitný ostrov, the largest island of the Danube River (SW Slovakia) was formed to its present-day shape in the Neoholocene period. As a result of increased flood and geomorphological Danube river activity dated to 1378-1528 AD, the lower Dudváh River was abandoned and its alluvium became a part of the Žitný ostrov. Study of Dudváh terrestrialised palaeomeander by means of pollen and macrofossil analysis provides new information about the palaeoenvironments of the Danube Plain. Meander under study was cut-off during the Sub-Boreal period when the land was mostly covered by oak-dominated mixed forest with a notable high frequency of Fagus and Abies. At low-lying depressions, Alnus glutinosa have formed typical alder carrs. The largest decline of the mixed forest occurred during the Sub-Atlantic period. Until the mid-19^th century the region was strongly influenced by shallow groundwater and periodical floods, as reflected by pollen of aquatics and marsh species. Amongst non-arboreal taxa, pollen of Cyperaceae, Brassicaceae/Cuscuta, Poaceae and Apiaceae prevailed. Local successional changes started with i. stage of abandoned oxbow still with influx of moving water, poor in both macrophytes and molluscs, ii. shallow eutrophic oxbow lake with slowly flowing or stagnant water overgrowing with aquatics (Ranunculus subgen. Batrachium, Potamogeton sp., Ceratophyllum demersum etc.) abound with molluscs, iii. an open marsh dominated by Cyperaceae (mainly Carex riparia) with Atriplex prostrata, supporting diverse molluscan and Ostracod fauna. Present-day habitat is a result of landscape changes, which have been associated with draining, intensified agriculture, ruderalisation and spread of invasive species.