The mesoregion's boundaries are morphological. Because the Fordon Escarpment belongs to the Świecie Plateau, the Fordon Valley includes the Vistula valley floor along with preserved terrace fragments. The current valley floor formed during the Late Glacial and
Holocene erosion-accumulation processes, meaning it developed in several stages. In recent millennia, accumulation processes predominate, raising the floodplain level by about 4–5 meters. The valley floor consists of river
alluvium with nine terrace levels;
dunes and
oxbow lakes (water-filled or
peat-filled) are also present. The valley is protected from frequent Vistula floods by flood embankments. The right bank near
Chełmno is deeply incised by ravines; exposures on steep slopes allow reconstruction of the Lower Vistula region's history during the last glaciation. Particularly picturesque hills above the river course can be found near
Kozielec and
Świecie (Devil's Mountains, Wiąskie Mountains, Devil Mountains). The valley floor is used for
arable land and
meadows and has scattered settlements. Fertile river alluvium averaging 2–3 meters thick covers
Holocene river deposits on sandy sediments from the
Eemian interglacial or directly on
Tertiary formations (sands, silts, clays). Near
Ostromecko,
Rafa, and
Chełmno fragments of riparian forests with poplar, oak, elm, ash, and alder remain, partially protected in
nature reserves.
Towns The Fordon Valley covers parts of the municipalities of
Bydgoszcz,
Dąbrowa Chełmińska,
Dobrcz,
Unisław,
Pruszcz,
Kijewo Królewskie,
Świecie, and
Chełmno. The main urban center is
Bydgoszcz (
Fordon district). The town of
Świecie is located on a terrace near the mouth of the
Wda, one of the older Pomeranian towns, captured in 1309 by the Teutonic Knights who built a castle there.
Fordon, incorporated into Bydgoszcz in 1973, was a castellany stronghold in the 12th century. It is connected by the road-rail bridge with the village of
Ostromecko on the right bank of the Vistula, where there is an exploited source of alkaline water and the historic Ostromecko Palace and Park Complex of the Mostowski and Alvensleben families.
Valley of Death (Bydgoszcz) Valley of Death () in
Fordon,
Bydgoszcz, northern
Poland, is a site of
Nazi German mass murder committed at the beginning of
World War II and a
mass grave of 1,200–1,400
Poles and
Jews murdered in October and November 1939 by the local German
Selbstschutz and the
Gestapo.
Division into microregions T. Gacki and J. Szukalski in the work "Lower Vistula Valley" distinguished six microregions within the valley floor: • Left bank: • Świecie microregion – flood terrace south of the Wda River mouth to the Świecie Plateau near Kozielec, • Kozielec microregion – on the valley slope, • Fordon microregion – at the narrowing in the area of Fordon district of Bydgoszcz. • Right bank: • Ostromecko microregion – opposite Fordon, • Kokocki microregion – flood terrace along the Vistula protected by embankments, • Brucki microregion (named after the village Bruki) – on the higher terrace step in the Unisław escarpment bend. In the work "Natural Environment of Bydgoszcz", two microregions were distinguished in the southern part of the mesoregion (Bydgoszcz area): • Fordon Vistula Gorge (314.831), divided into the Strzelecka Plain and Rafa Plain, • Słońce Terrace (314.832). == Nature protection ==