Why are lowlands the dominant landform in Poland?

Lowlands are the dominant landform in Poland because the country is situated within the North European Plain, a vast structural basin. More than three-fourths of Poland’s territory lies below 650 feet (198 metres) in elevation, resulting in an average national elevation of only 568 feet (173 metres) above sea level.12

The specific relief of these lowlands was shaped by the repeated advance and recession of ice sheet glaciers during the Pleistocene Epoch. These glacial actions left behind extensive deposits that cover the underlying structural basin, creating the characteristic monotonous, low-relief landscape that defines the Polish heartland. While the southern portion of the country features older, more diverse geologic formations—including the Carpathian Mountains and the Sudeten—the remainder of the nation is defined by these geologically recent, glacially influenced lowland deposits.1