Late Quaternary terraces and sediments in the Holy Cross Mountain region of Poland, emplaced within an environment that had evolved following multiple Pleistocene glaciations, provide evidence of increasing anthropogenic influence on landscape development since the Middle Ages, as revealed by research in the Kamionka, Kamienna, Czarna Konecka, and Nida valleys. The development of the “anthropogenic small-scale water retention system” (ASWRS), including numerous artificial ponds, channels, and forges and mills along the watercourses, resulted in changes in river patterns, with additional anthropogenic channels, which in turn reduced the maximum flood-stage levels during the Little Ice Age. With the collapse of the industries and the disappearance of the ASWRS, several major flood events took place. Unknown in the earlier Holocene, and caused by hydrotechnical failures, the geomorphic effects of these catastrophic flash floods significantly exceeded those of natural processes.

Two hundred and eighty specimens of paradoxidids from two localities in the Holy Cross Mountains (Poland) have been reanalysed using morphometric techniques. Revision of the dataset provided evidence for the presence of two endemic taxa: Acadoparadoxides kozlowskii (Orłowski, 1959) and Acadoparadoxides samsonowiczi (Orłowski, 1959), both belonging to the earliest group of Acadoparadoxides, initially considered to be present only in Gondwanan successions. Thus, this is the first description of the members of this group outside West Gondwana. The taxonomic revision, and the presence of representatives of the earliest acadoparadoxidines coupled with the absence of taxa typical of Scandinavia that were previously described from this locality have resulted in the modification of the biostratigraphic scheme hitherto used in the Holy Cross Mountains. The newly established A. samsonowiczi – A. kozlowskii Assemblage Zone is correlated with the Morocconus notabilis Zone of Morocco, and thus represents the Cambrian Series 2 and 3 boundary interval. Links with West Gondwana challenge the existing palaeogeographic interpretations for the southern part of the Holy Cross Mountains and point to an urgent need to revise the position of the Małopolska Block during the middle Cambrian.

Vertebrate microremains from the upper Silurian Winnica Formation in the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland are described from the Winnica and Rzepin sections. Both sites record the uppermost part of the Słupianka Member, but represent different depositional environments. The Winnica samples come from a low-energy environment, while the Rzepin sample was taken from a high-energy, oolitic facies. Both sites contain thelodonts Thelodus parvidens, Thelodus trilobatus, an anaspid cf. Liivilepis and a number of acanthodian scales of ‘nostolepid’, poracanthodid and ‘gomphonchid’ types. Notable differences between the sites are the addition of the osteostracan Tahulaspis cf. ordinata, the thelodont Paralogania ludlowiensis and acanthodian scales identified as Nostolepis gracilis in the Rzepin section. Placing the vertebrate faunas within the vertebrate biozonation established for the Silurian proved difficult. The suggested late Ludlow age for the Słupianka Member based on sequence stratigraphical and chemostratigraphical correlations cannot be definitely confirmed or refuted, but a late Ludfordian age seems the most plausible based on invertebrate and vertebrate faunas. The much lower abundance of poracanthodid acanthodians in the Rzepin sample supports the notion of Poracanthodes porosus Zone as a deep-water equivalent to a number of vertebrate biozones. The presence of P. ludlowiensis only in the oolitic sample confirms a long temporal range, but restricted environmental distribution for this taxon.

Integrated palynological, organic and inorganic geochemical and petrographical methods have been used for deciphering the depositional redox conditions and character of organic matter of the Famennian Dasberg event horizon from the deep-shelf Kowala succession of the Holy Cross Mountains. The ages of the investigated samples have been established, using miospore data, as VF (Diducites versabilis–Grandispora famenensis) and LV (Retispora lepidophyta–Apiculiretusispora verrucosa) miospore Zones of the Middle/Upper Famennian. In the standard conodont zonation, this corresponds to the uppermost postera to lowermost praesulcata Zones. The presence of green sulphur bacteria biomarkers and dominance of small-sized framboids together with the presence of large framboids and low values of the U/Th ratio may indicate that during sedimentation of the lower Dasberg shale, intermittent anoxia occurred in the water column, or the anoxic conditions prevailed in the upper part of the water column, while the bottom waters were oxygenated, at least briefly. Deposition of the upper Dasberg shale was characterized by both bottom water and water column anoxia. The lack of acritarcha taxa from these intervals could have been due to anoxia in the photic zone. Moreover, organic content is high in those samples. There is no geochemical evidence for anoxia during sedimentation of the deposits sandwiched between the lower and upper Dasberg shales, or in the deposits which underlie and overlie both Dasberg shale horizons. The two discrete anoxic events are interpreted to be the result of major transgressions and the blooming of primary producers. Above the Dasberg shales, small fragments of charcoal and raised concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are detected. This supports the presence of wildfires during deposition of shales just above the boundary of VF/LV palynological zones. Temperatures calculated from the fusinite reflectance values suggest that the charcoal was formed in low-temperature ground and/or surface fires. The typical marine character of sedimentation combined with the high proportion of charcoals suggests that wildfires were large-scale, and that there was intensive transport of terrestrial material. The main causes of intensive wildfires were a significant rise of O2 in the atmosphere and important progress in the land plant diversity during Late Devonian times. Palynofacies studies suggest that the transgression corresponds to the part IIf of the Late Devonian sea-level curve.

A palynological study of the uppermost Famennian section from Kowala Quarry (Holy Cross Mountains, central Poland) allowed recognition of two miospore zones: LV (Retispora lepidophyta–Apiculiretusispora verrucosa) and LN (Retispora lepidophyta–Verrucosisporites nitidus). Based on palynology and sedimentology, the black shale within the upper part of the section is identified as equivalent to the Hangenberg Black Shale, which is known globally. This black shale contains compounds characteristic of photic zone euxinia, including isorenieratane and its derivatives. Such compounds are absent in the organic-poor marls and shales occurring below the LN Zone, and are present only as traces in the layers just above the black shale, indicating fluctuations in the oxygen minimum zone during uppermost Famennian sedimentation. Palynofacies show high amounts of amorphous organic matter and prasinophyte concentrations in the black shale, and a subsequent significant decrease of amorphous organic matter concomitant with a rapid increase of terrestrial input (mainly miospores with common tetrads) in the layers above the black shale. This supports the relatively rapid change in the taxonomic composition of phytoplankton caused by fluctuations of the chemocline. The whole succession corresponds to one sea-level rise and fall. The presence of high concentrations of peri-condensed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and large amounts of small charcoal particles at the Hangenberg event horizon indicate the occurrence of wildfires. Such observations suggest that atmospheric O22 levels had exceeded the critical threshold of 13 %, above which wildfires may occur, by latest Famennian time.

A revision of the trilobite fauna from Brzechów in the Holy Cross Mountains (Poland) shows that the assemblage consists of Palaeolenus medius (Bednarczyk), Issafeniella orlowinensis (Samsonowicz), Kingaspidoides sanctacrucensis (Czarnocki), Paradoxides (Acadoparadoxides) oelandicus Sjögren, P. (A.) cf. mureroensis Sdzuy and P. (A.) sp. It is earliest Middle Cambrian in age according to the West Gondwana standard of Geyer & Landing (2004) and can be correlated with the Cephalopyge notabilis Zone of Morocco. Moreover, the co-occurrence of the ranges of P. (A.) oelandicus with P. (A.) cf. mureroensis might suggest that P. (A.) oelandicus appears earlier in the Brzechów sandstones than in Scandinavia, thus the strata exposed here do not find their correlative in the Scandinavian succession. As a result, the Banian/Agdzian boundary (Lower–Middle Cambrian boundary according to the West Gondwana standard) probably lies within the Kamieniec Formation, and also below the Brzechów sandstones, in the upper part of the Ociesęki Formation. Close similarity of the discussed assemblage with contemporaneous assemblages from Morocco, Jordan or New Brunswick indicates that the fauna is generally of peri-Gondwanan and Gondwanan aspect.