Search Results (17)

This study presents the first subfossil beetle (Coleoptera) records from Lithuania, from Late Glacial organic deposits. Bulk sediment samples were collected from the Pamerkiai and Zervynos Outcrops in SE Lithuania, and from the Ventė Outcrop at the eastern coast of the Curonian Lagoon, W Lithuania. Radiocarbon dating determined that the studied sediments accumulated between ~15,000–11,300 cal BP. The beetle assemblages (29–177 individuals per sample) consist of many cold-adapted species that are common from Late Glacial deposits in the British Isles, Southern Sweden, and continental Europe. True arctic species are absent from the assemblages, and it is likely that the Lithuanian beetle fauna was most similar to nearby southern regions (e.g., Poland) during the Late Glacial. Besides a variety of aquatic species and typical wetland species, many beetle species living in open environments and on sandy soils were identified. In almost all the samples, taxa associated with pine trees, willows, and birches were found, confirming previous reconstructions of a sparsely forested landscape during the climatic periods GI-1e–GI-1a (Bølling-Allerød). The species assemblages from the youngest samples, associated with GS-1 (Younger Dryas), indicate the disappearance of large aquatic macrophytes and decreasing temperatures in Southern Lithuania, but a persistence of trees in the region. Full article

Several examples of de-Neolithisation have been identified in the Eastern Baltic region, where communities of Neolithic cultures—particularly in areas rich in aquatic resources—shifted from animal husbandry to fishing, or at least significantly supplemented their subsistence with freshwater resources. One such case is Šventoji in Lithuania, on the southeastern Baltic coast, primarily known for its numerous waterlogged sites with excellent preservation of wooden artefacts, dated to the Subneolithic (ca. 4000–2900 cal BC). In 2021 and 2024, investigations of three short-term stationary fishing sites, dated to the earlier part of the Neolithic (ca. 2850–2500 cal BC), provided an opportunity to compare Neolithic stationary fishing with its Subneolithic counterparts. At the beginning of the Neolithic, we identified a technological shift in the construction of fish weirs and traps: pine laths were replaced by round shoots of deciduous trees. In addition, exceptionally rare archaeological finds were uncovered at the Neolithic fishing sites of Šventoji—two stone battle axes with preserved wooden handles. Accordingly, alongside the study of Neolithic stationary fishing, this paper presents the results of radiocarbon dating (¹⁴C), taxonomic identification of the wood, and use–wear analysis of these two axes. Full article

Hydrotechnical structures reshape sandy coasts by altering hydrodynamics and sediment transport, yet their long-term effects on sediment texture remain underexplored, particularly in the Baltic Sea. This study investigates the spatial and temporal variations in sediment grain size near two ports (Šventoji and Klaipėda) on the sandy Baltic Sea coast, considering the influence of jetties, nourishment, and geological framework. A total of 246 surface sand samples were collected from beach and foredune zones between 1993 and 2018. These samples were analyzed in relation to shoreline changes, hydrodynamic data, and geological context. The results show that sediment texture is most affected within 1–2 km downdrift and up to 4–5 km updrift of port structures. Downdrift areas tend to contain coarser, poorly sorted sediments because of erosion and the exposure of deeper strata, while updrift zones accumulate finer, well-sorted sands via longshore transport. In the long term, the geological framework controls sediment characteristics. In the medium term, introduced material that differs in grain size from natural beach sediments may alter the texture of the sediment, either coarsening or refining it. The latter slowly returns to its natural texture. Short-term changes are driven by storm events. These findings highlight the importance of integrating structural interventions, nourishment practices, and geological understanding for sustainable coastal management. Full article

The coastal zone consists of diverse littoral habitats, which we categorize into two primary types: linear and areal. Investigating linear littoral habitats is crucial for resolving the ‘coastal squeeze’ phenomenon in coastal and marine protected areas and in seaside resorts. Our research aims to identify the critical conditions for the conversion of defunct seaside military training areas as brownfields into coastal protected areas and small-scale seaside resorts and their sustainable planning and management. The development of seaside tourism facilities is taking place both on the coast and in the hinterland, but the coast is used for tourism much more intensively than the hinterland. It is challenging to ‘pull’ tourists away from the linear beach to the areal hinterland. We argue that the distinctiveness of the resource use conflicts in coastal and hinterland tourism lies in an essential difference between the system’s linear and areal littoral habitats, as 78% of summer visitors in Pajūris Regional Park in Lithuania come for active leisure in nature. The results of our study show that combining the GIS interpretation algorithms, supported by the innovative conjoining of DPSIR and Delphi analytical tools, ensures site-tailored integrated management of the linear waterfront and the areal hinterland. Full article

The NURSECOAST-II project addresses the challenge of managing wastewater in near-coastal tourist destinations around the Baltic Sea, particularly from small treatment plants (<2000 PE) that experience fluctuating flows due to seasonal tourism. These fluctuations make it difficult to meet environmental standards, potentially harming both the environment and tourism. The project has created a GIS-based inventory of small wastewater treatment plants within 100 km of the coast. This inventory includes crucial operational data like flow rates, pollutant levels, and treatment technologies. Initial findings reveal significant discrepancies in data management, regulations, and treatment standards across the Baltic Sea region countries, as EU legislation does not uniformly cover plants under 2000 PE. Key findings highlight that small treatment plants are often undocumented, their environmental impact underestimated, and regulations vary widely. Small plants can significantly contribute to nutrient pollution, affecting the Baltic Sea, particularly in local areas. The data gathered will support local authorities in identifying gaps and improving management strategies. This study stresses the need for harmonized data collection and reporting methods across countries and suggests establishing a unified database accessible to both specialists and the public. The status of the collected data depending on the type of data and country was as follows: 38.11% from Denmark, 46.14% from Estonia, 26.36% from Finland, 15.56% from Germany, 23.47% from Latvia, 34.77% from Lithuania, 14.51% from Poland, and 45.40% from Sweden. Ultimately, this project aims to enhance wastewater management, protect the environment, and improve tourist satisfaction in coastal regions. Full article

Emerald Growth is an overarching sustainable development framework for transitional waters situated between rivers and open sea. The emphasis on connectivity and ecosystem-based management as the underlying principles differentiates Emerald Growth from conventional approaches to managing transitional waters. The study’s primary objective was to conjoin the Emerald Growth concept with the Coastal Circles of Sustainability methodology, an analytical framework to assess indicators of critical processes determining the sustainability of the coastal zone. We hypothesized that applying the CCS is an apt approach to categorizing the Emerald Growth’s aspects using Lake Liepāja, a fresh-to-brackish water lagoon on Latvia’s Baltic Sea coast, as a case study. Based on the document scoping findings on Lake Liepāja’s hydrology, ecology, biodiversity, nature conservation, and management, we addressed the knowledge gaps through the field survey, 4 workshops, and 18 in-depth semi-structured interviews with local stakeholders. The research results show that the challenging socio-economic situation is a crucial obstacle to Emerald Growth in the Lake Liepāja area. Subsistence salary and Housing affordability (Economic Welfare aspect), Population growth and Aging population (Demographic aspect), and Traditional practices (Identity aspect) received the lowest sustainability score (Bad). The results imply that considering the Emerald Growth conditions and drivers for transitional waters worldwide, finding a ‘one-fits-all’ recipe to ensure their sustainability is impossible. The decision-makers, stakeholders, and external experts agreed that for Lake Liepāja, the priority was to bring back to nature part of the polder system, clean the bottom sediments from Soviet-era pollutants, and enhance the transboundary cooperation with Lithuania. These measures would set the right conditions for future Emerald Growth in the area. Full article

The Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—are situated on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea between Russia and the Scandinavian countries. This region is characterized by diverse landscapes and numerous bodies of water, including lakes, peat bogs, and marshes, which serve as natural habitats for aquatic invertebrates, including leeches. Despite the rare and uncertain taxonomic status of leech species in the area, research in the Baltic region has been inadequate. Therefore, this study aims to examine the composition of leech species in the Baltic countries, drawing on both past and current research. The study also seeks to assess the status of Hirudo medicinalis in the Baltic region and discuss the rare, questionable, and potentially present leech species in the Baltic states. A scoping review method was employed, surveying published references, books, and databases. In total, the study found records of 21 leech species in Estonia, 15 in Latvia, and 26 in Lithuania, belonging to the families Glossiphoniidae, Erpobdellidae, Hirudinidae, Haemopidae, and Piscicolidae. Hirudo medicinalis L. is distributed throughout all Baltic countries, but the most recent records on their location are only available for Estonia. The data on a few Piscicolidae species is questionable and requires verification, but further research on Piscicolid leeches can potentially lead to the discovery of rare species. Full article

The main problem presented in this paper is the safety inlet navigation of the waterway below the bridge in the city of Kaunas in Lithuania. The analyzed reach is located in the Nemunas river downstream of the Kaunas dam. It is a part of the waterway E–41 leading to the Klaipeda harbor on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. The work was initiated by the Lithuanian company UAB “Inžinerinis projektavimas” with funds from the project called European Union Trans-European Transport Network (EU TEN-T). The main requirement imposed along this reach is to keep sufficient depth even in the range of the lowest flows. The depth is sufficient if it is not lower than 1.15 m for minimum flows such as Q_95% and Q_95% with ice. The hydraulic conditions for maximum flow Q_50%, Q_5%, and Q_1% are also taken into account for control because the threat of hydraulic jump generation was also noticed. The research is based on georeferenced data from public and non-public sources. The hydrologic data were received from the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service. The physical model was created in the Water Laboratory of the Department of Hydraulic and Sanitary Engineering at Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poland. The preprocessing of spatial data in ArcGIS 10.8.2 and rules of hydraulic similarity were implemented in the process of physical model preparation. Three experiments were conducted in the laboratory with scaled values of Q_95%, Q_5%, and Q_1%. The measurements of the water surface and evaluations of the average velocity were used to validate the 2D numerical model prepared in HEC-RAS 6.3.1. The basic layers of the HEC-RAS model were preprocessed in ArcGIS 10.8.2 by ESRI company. The numerical model was implemented to test different values of unknown roughness of the channel bottom. The simulations were conducted for the real values of Q_95% and Q_95% with ice and Q_50%. The results of the simulations were depth and Froude number maps. These maps were classified into zones of no risk, middle risk, and high risk. ArcGIS in the post-processing phase was applied to identify the locations of the hazards. The magnitude of risk was expressed in terms of minimum depth achieved, maximum Froude number, as well as the length of the reaches with high risk related to these two factors. The threat of hydraulic jump formation below the bridge was also noticed. Conducted results confirmed that the combination of hydrodynamic simulations and geoprocessing in the pre- and post-processing stages could be a powerful tool in hydraulic engineering analyses. Additionally, it is worth noting that numerical modeling enables a wider analysis of potential conditions than could be possible with a physical model only. Full article

The Port of Klaipėda, located at the Klaipėda strait, divides the Lithuanian coast into two different geomorphological parts: southern—the coast of the Curonian Spit, and northern—the mainland coast. Port jetties interrupt the main sediment transport path along the South-Eastern Baltic Sea’s coast. Port of Klaipėda reconstruction in 2002 and the beach nourishment project which started in 2014 significantly influenced the northern part of the coast, which led to changes in the coastal zone evolution. The measurements in various periods are essential for cross-shore profile elevation to analyze seabed morphology and sedimentation patterns. These data highlight our understanding of the scale and timing of seabed erosion or sedimentation processes scale and timing. This study evaluates the impact of anthropogenic pressure and natural factors on coastal geomorphology and dynamics. In order to assess the latter changes, the cross-shore profile evolution and sediment budget were analyzed as well as nearshore bathymetry changes. The data illustrated a changing picture of the entire shore profile—on land and underwater. Full article

Sea breezes, as one of the most important local varieties of daily wind dynamics, are responsible for the formation of the climate by coasts of large bodies of water. In recent decades, due to climate change, the air temperature is rising, causing larger temperature gradients to form and the dynamics of the atmosphere to change globally and locally. This research investigated the spread of sea breezes in the years 2018–2019 during the warm period of the year (June, July, and August) to the mainland territory of the southeastern Baltic and coastal Lithuania by applying in situ and remote methods. The results of the study showed that sea-breeze fronts are better identified by the formation line of convective clouds in the continental part seen in remote images. During the first half of the day (until noon), the effect of sea breezes extends on average about 20–30 km from the coast of the sea. However, maximum extension of the breeze fronts can penetrate the continent much further than previously thought. During the summer, when the westward movement of air masses prevails, the band of cumulus (Cu) clouds formed by the sea breeze marks the front of the sea breeze, and at the time of the most extended spread (around 5 pm) in the continental part of Lithuania, the sea-breeze front is an average of around 60 km away from the seacoast. Until noon, the area covered by sea breezes in the western part of Lithuania extends over 1886.2 km². During the second half of the day, the spatial spread of the breeze impacts an average area of about 6445.2 km² by around 5 pm. Hence, the sea breeze affects not only the coastal climate region of Lithuania, as previously recognized, but it also affects the climate of part of the region of the Samogitian (Žemaitijos) Uplands of Lithuania. Remote-sensing methods helped to identify sea-breeze fronts and evaluate the limits of marine climate expansion along the seashore. The methods used in this work can play a role in answering the question of how climate change can affect the coastal climate. Full article

The aim of the study is the evaluation of land cover changes in selected areas next to three lagoons (the Curonian Lagoon, the Vistula Lagoon and the Szczecin Lagoon) located on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea (in Lithuania, Russia, Poland and Germany) from 1984 to 2021. The changes are evaluated using multispectral (visible light—RGB and near infrared—NIR) satellite images from the Landsat 5 and Sentinel-2 sensors. Due to their high importance for ecosystem services, two main land cover types are evaluated, i.e., forest area and inland water reservoirs. The classification of the images is performed using a random forest algorithm. Areas of water bodies and forests are evaluated for the years 1984 and 2021. During period 1984–2021, positive changes in land cover are observed in all three regions included in the study. In almost all parts, with the exception of the Polish part of the area located next to the Szczecin Lagoon, of these regions, an increase in forest area is observed. The increase ranges from 0.1% (Poland, area next to the Vistula Lagoon) to 1.2% (Germany, area next to the Szczecin Lagoon). The area of inland water reservoirs has not changed significantly in the long term. Despite the global warming, no reduction in the area of these water reservoirs is observed, even new seminatural reservoirs have been created in some parts of the study area. Full article

Due to climate change, extreme floods are projected to increase in the 21st century in Europe. As a result, flood risk and flood-related losses might increase. It is therefore essential to simulate potential floods not only relying on historical but also future projecting data. Such simulations can provide necessary information for the development of flood protection measures and spatial planning. This paper analyzes the risk of compound flooding in the Danė River under different river discharge and Klaipėda Strait water level probabilities. Additionally, we examine how a water level rise of 1 m in the Klaipėda Strait could impact Danė River floods in Klaipėda city. Flood extent was estimated with the Hydrologic Engineering Center’s River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) and visualized with ArcGIS Pro. Research results show that a rise in the water level in the Klaipėda Strait has a greater impact on the central part of Klaipėda city, while that of the maximum discharge rates of the river affected the northern upstream part of the analyzed river section. A sea level rise of 1 m could lead to an increase in areas affected by Danė floods by up to three times. Floods can cause significant damage to the infrastructure of Klaipėda port city, urbanized territories in the city center, and residential areas in the northern part of the city. Our results confirm that, in the long run, sea level rise will significantly impact the urban areas of the Klaipėda city situated near the Baltic Sea coast. Full article

Ports are an important part of the global and regional freight supply chain and transport network. Background: as port activities have a significant impact on the economic growth of these countries, it is necessary to constantly analyse and plan port activities, anticipate market changes and improve the ability of ports to withstand the growing general competitive pressure. This article analyses studies conducted by researchers on the topic of seaports, thus, and find that there are no analyses comparing more than two ports. Methods: a comparative analysis of the ports on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea was conducted using the analysis of statistical data. Results: The Baltic Sea is surrounded by nine countries. Four countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Russia) have different coasts and different numbers of seaports. In this article, according to the selected parameters, 10 ports on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea are analyzed. Conclusions: The comparative analysis of ports on the eastern Baltic Sea revealed that Klaipeda port is the most diversified port in the eastern Baltic Sea region, given that it does not have any single most important type of cargo. The largest ports in terms of bulk cargo are in Tallinn, Riga and Ventspils. Primorsk is the largest port for liquid cargo and St. Petersburg handles the greatest volumes of cargo of a general type and while the distribution of cargo flows in the port of Visotsk is best correlated with the selected parameters, which allows us to state that the infrastructure of this port is used to the maximum. Full article

Baltic Seaports are a part of the sustainable global transport infrastructure. The main competitors of the Baltic countries in Baltic Sea region are the ports of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. The ports of all three Baltic States are important transit corridors, connecting not only East and West, but also South and North. Periodical investments, modernization, and the construction of new terminals allow the Port of Klaipeda to successfully compete with neighbouring ports and strive for leadership positions. Thus, the aim of our study is to investigate the competitive environment of the Baltic Sea region. We use systematization, grouping, summarization of the scientific literature, data collection, comparison, financial analysis, and capacity calculation. The main results show that the Port of Klaipeda, a seaport on the eastern Baltic coast, is an important hub of the East-West (IXB) transport corridor, connecting roads and sea routes in this direction. With the accession of new members, including Lithuania, to the EU in 2004, the Baltic Sea became the internal Sea of the Union. Many Baltic seaports belong to the same system and organizations (ESPO, BPO). EU ports policy provides them with equal requirements for security, transport regulation, environmental protection, anti-air pollution, and sustainable development. The results obtained enable exploration perspectives. This includes a feasibility study for port development and attracting new investment from foreign capital markets in the Baltic Sea region. Full article

Sandy coasts are one of the most dynamic spheres; continuously changing due to natural processes (severe weather and rising water levels) and human activities (coastal protection or port construction). Coastal geodynamic processes lead to beach sediment erosion or accumulation. The coast’s dynamic tendencies determine the changes in the volume of beach sediments; grain size; mineralogical; and geochemical composition of sediments. In addition to lithological and mineralogical analysis of sediments, geochemical analysis can provide valuable information about the local and regional patterns of sediment transport, distribution, provenance, and coasts’ conditions. The study aims to assess trace metals’ temporal and spatial distribution determined in the sandy beach sediments along the south-eastern Baltic Sea coast (Lithuania) during 2011–2018. The Lithuanian seacoast is divided into two parts: mainland and spit coast. Our results revealed that the dominant group of elements on the mainland includes Ca–Mg–Mn–Ti and on the Curonian Spit Fe–Pb–As–Co–Cr–Ni–Al, which remain unchanged during the years. The analysis included additional parameters such as beach volume, grain size and sorting, and heavy mineral concentration on the beach. The spatial analysis of trace elements indicated that the trace metal content depends on the coastal processes, but it differs in the mainland and spit sea coast. We identified a higher concentration of trace metals in the erosion-dominated areas in all analysed years on the mainland coast. On the spit coast, the trace metal concentration increased in areas associated with relict coarse sand and where the loading of sediments was active on the beach due to the northward along-shore transport. Full article