Basins without outlets are natural storage reservoirs that can hold rainwater surpluses in a catchment for a time. In Poland, they have been an object of detailed fieldwork in the upper Parsęta and Potok Oliwski catchments, where they occupy a substantial proportion of the area. It was found that the prevailing weather conditions had a notable effect on the chemical composition of the surface water in the kettle ponds examined. The basic method of indoor work was an analysis of topographic maps and the statistical processing of the material collected. The fieldwork included a cycle of measurements in the hydrological years 2006 and 2007 and for 8 kettle ponds in the upper Potok Oliwski catchment. Hydrochemical mapping was carried out for 20 kettle ponds located in two subcatchments of the upper Parsęta catchment and for 8 kettle ponds in the upper Potok Oliwski catchment. Ion concentrations in surface water were determined with the help of analytic methods complying with the ISO and EPA standards. On the basis of the results obtained for those two geographically and hydrographically distinct catchments, great hydrochemical diversity was recorded, visible not only in a wide range of ion concentrations or such indices as specific electrolytic conductivity and pH, but also in the hydrogeochemical types found among the surface waters of individual basins. Because of their isolation from the horizontal inflow, the chief cause of the chemical differences in their waters is the vertical exchange.  

22.1.2017