Changes in the Szczecin lagoon shoreline as determined from selected seventeenth and nineteenth century maps

Abstract

One of the major consequences of the Little Ice Age (1350–1820) was a drop of the sea level. This change, revealed by the geological record, coincided with the beginning of survey and cartography activities in Pomerania. The paper addresses a hypothesis that the water level of the Szczecin Lagoon, recorded on seventeenth and eighteenth century maps, was lower than the present one by about 1 m. An attempt was made to reconstruct fragments of the Lagoon shoreline based on selected old maps. The comparative analysis covered Lagoon areas with broad and shallow slopes adjacent to the shoreline: The Nowowarpieński Sandbank, the Płocin Shallow, and the Pomeranian Shallow. It was assumed that the present shoreline in the areas selected would differ mostly from what it was like in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. The Island of Wolin shoreline between the Rów Peninsula and the village of Sułomino showed a 200–700 m change to have occurred between 1695 and 1886. In addition, depths of the Szczecin Lagoon in 1755 and 1886 were compared and other map components that supported the hypothesis were indicated. A comparison of the Płocin Cove on four maps from the seventeenth century was been conducted, the results showing 1.8–2 km shifts of the Szczecin Lagoon shore.