New lake district in Europe: origin and hydrochemical characteristics

This article presents a new lake district in Southern Poland created as a result of human activity in the Upper Silesian region. The area has been named the Upper Silesian Anthropogenic Lake District. The lake density of the Lake District as delineated by the authors (with an area of 6766 km2) is 2.74%. It includes 4773 water bodies of various origins reservoirs retained by dams, flooded mineral workings, water bodies formed in subsidence basins and hollows, levee ponds, residual water bodies following river regulation and other water bodies. These are located in urban-industrial, rural-agricultural or quasi-natural areas. The hydrochemical diversity of water bodies is conditioned by their origin, location in the catchment and function. Studies have shown the widespread occurrence of eutrophication processes in limnic waters within the Lake District. The diverse origin and hydrochemical properties of water bodies within the Upper Silesian Anthropogenic Lake District make it special among other anthropogenic lake districts.