Polish geological research in Svalbard

The Polish geological investigations started in the Svalbard archipelago in 1934. The most diversified stratigraphic, tectonic, sedimentological and palaeontological work, along with detailed geological mapping, was carried out in the Homsund area, south Spitsbergen, between 1957 and 1960, in connection with the International Geophysical Year and its prolongation (International Geophysical Co-operation). Between 1962 and 1970, some Polish geologists worked in Spitsbergen for the Norwegian Polar Institute. From 1974 onwards, the Polish geological investigations extended from southern to central and eastern Spitsbergen. In south Spitsbergen, at Hornsund, they were based at the Polish Scientific Station built already in 1957, and renovated in 1978. The paper presents a review of mainly pre-Quaternary (Proterozoic through Tertiary) geological, structural-tectonic, petrological, stratigraphic, palaeontological and sedimentological problems of Svalbard elaborated by the Polish geologists.