The soils of Arctic regions are of great interest due to their high sensitivity to climate change. Kvartsittsletta coast in the vicinity of the Baranowski Research Station of the University of Wrocław constitutes a sequence of differently aged sea terraces covered with different fractions of beach material. It is a parent material for several developing soil types. Despite the low intensity of the modern soil-forming processes, the soil cover is characterized by high diversity. Soil properties are formed mainly by geological and geomorphological factors, which are superimposed by the influence of climate and living organisms.
The degree of development of soil is usually an indicator of its relative age. This article highlights the dominant influence of lithology and microrelief over other soil-forming factors, including the duration for which the parent material was exposed to external factors. The soils on the highest (oldest) terrace steps of the Kvartsittsletta rarely showed deep signs of soil-forming processes other than cryoturbations. On the youngest terraces, deep-reaching effects of soil processes associated with a relatively warm climate, including the occurrence of cambic horizons, were observed. Their presence in Arctic regions carries important environmental information and may be relevant to studies of climate change.

In the 2008 ablation season, subglacial springs discharge, flow rate and profiling of the proglacial river, physical-chemical parameters (pH, temperature, electrical conductivity) and chemical composition (HCO3−, SO42−, Cl−, NO3−, NO2−, PO43−, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, Fetot, Mn2+, Al3+, Zn2+, Pb2+ and SiO2) of water in the Werenskiold Glacier forefield were measured. Chemical composition of groundwater as well as water of lakes, the main watercourse, subglacial outflows and water representing direct meltwater recharge were studied to determine their origin, the depth of circulation and recharge systems. The results indicate that the main source of water in the glacial river were the subglacial outflows in the central part of the glacier. They generated 77% of the total amount of water in the glacier forefield. Direct inflow of groundwater from glacier moraine to proglacial river was marginally low and the water circulation system was shallow, fast and variable. There were no evidences for an important role of deeper than suprapermafrost water circulation systems. The water temperature, especially in the lakes, exceeding the mean daily air temperature during the ablation period, is due to the heating of the ground moraine rocks. A clear difference between groundwater chemical composition and surface water as well as subglacial runoff in terms of major ions, together with the homogeneity of chemical composition of the proglacial river from spring to mouth confirmed the marginal role of groundwater runoff in the drainage of the catchment area. It was confirmed that the chemical composition of groundwater and moraine lakes in the glacier forefield was shaped by geological factors, i.e., mainly chemical weathering of sulphides, carbonates and secondary sulphates. The possibility of secondary iron hydroxide precipitation and a high probability of complex aluminosilicate transformations were also demonstrated.

Evidence of recent geomorphic processes within debris cones, their spatial distribution and diversification on cones surface are interpreted in the context of contemporary slope morphogenesis. The detailed inventory of relief features on debris cones in the SW Spitsbergen revealed their great spatial diversity. It is linked with a dominance of different morphological processes in adjacent areas. Spatial and temporal diversity of process-relief assemblages on cones is strongly related with local factors, like bedrock lithology, slope aspect and inclination, local circulation and climatic conditions. However, the potential role of debris cones and their topographic features as geoindicators archiving information about the environmental impact of global changes, cannot be explicitly estimated. Local constraints obscure the regional expression of any global trends, which could be detected on the basis of process-relief assemblages on debris cones in polar regions.