Chapter 5 Janusz Guziur, Jan Pawluczuk, Józef Szarek, Krystyna A. Skibniewska, Katarzyna Sawicka-Kapusta, Marta Zakrzewska, Mirosław Grzybowski Characterization of the Pesticide Dump Area in Warlity Wielkie, Poland Location, geological and geomorphological conditions of the Iława Lakeland From an administrative point of view the village of Warlity Wielkie (Fig. 1) belongs to the Ostróda Commune in the Warmia and Mazury Province. As regards the physiographic system, the object under examination is situated in the mesoregion of the Iława Lakeland, which is characterized by a hilly topographic profile. Elevation differences in this area range from 5 to10 m and slope inclination is 4°. Such a form of landscape, rich in morainal features, results from the activity of the glacier and its meltwater in the Pomeranian phase of the Vistula glaciation. Glacier meltwater, which escaped outside, flowed away along postglacial channels, the depth of which reached 40 m, building a vast outwash field, known as Ostróda outwash. Bottoms of postglacial channels are currently occupied by lakes occurring in this area in great numbers, such as e.g. Szeląg Wielki Lake, located in the vicinity of the area under analysis. Hilly areas of the outwash are built of layered sands occurring on gravels. The outwash plains of the Mazurian Lakeland are in places strongly covered with dunes, which are frequently made up of morainic sands and sorted sands of water-glacial accumulation. Among the water-glacial deposits, loose and slightly loamy sands are prevalent. Due to their granulometric composition and poor mineralogical composition, they are among the poorest soil parent rocks. The area of the Mazurian Lakes is characterized by a large variety of landforms. A diversified relief, represented by the ground moraine and end moraine landscape, is typical for the Mazurian Lakeland. It features numerous bulges and hollows, in which a great number of small swamps were created. 55