Zmiany koryta dolnej i środkowej Wiernej Rzeki od XVIII wieku

The aim of this work is to show the influence human activity on small retention and channel changes of the Wierna Rzeka River in last centuries. The Wierna Rzeka River is located in the south-western part of the Holy Cross Mts. region in the Polish Uplands. The Wierna Rzeka River is left tributary of the Biala Nida River. It is classified as a 35.7 km long upland river with an 2.32‰ average slope. The 313.8 km2 large basin has an elongated shape with a meridional extension. The catchment area was located in the south-western part of the Old Polish Industrial District. From the Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century there were at least four forges on the Wierna Rzeka River. There were also water mills built on the former forges infrastructure. The most of mills on the Wierna Rzeka River was built in the second half of the 19th c. and at the beginning of the 20th c. The activity of the forges and mills led to changes in the development of the riverbed and created a pattern of anthropogenic anastomosis. Those changes are documented in archival and cartographic materials. In the second half of the 20th c. the water mills activity was stopped. On the floodplain many remains of metallurgy and mills infrastructure facilities have survived, embankments, canals, mill ponds. Currently, on the Wierna Rzeka River in the abandoned mills area, there are sections of anastomosing channel pattern. As a result of the renaturalization process, many anthropogenic forms disappeared and the drained water reservoirs became part of the floodplain.