BAŁTÓW



Commune: Bałtów (pow. ostrowiecki, woj. świętokrzyskie)

Framework element or context represented:
Coral patch-reef abounding in fossils.

Primary geological/geomorphological interest:
Patch-reef complex of the Jurassic age.

Comparative assessment justification:
Best exposed coral patch-reef and adjacent facies, unique in Jurassic palaeogeography of Central Europe.

Protection status and accessibility:
Inanimate nature monuments.

Character of site: Natural exposures along the riverbanks.

Area: 1 ha

Altitude: 160-190 m a.s.l.

Lithology: limestones

Discipline: Palaeobiology, Palaeoenvironment, Stratigraphy of Phanerozoic

Process Age: *all periods

Bedrock Age: Jurassic, *all periods




Description of primary interest:
Huge coral patch-reef with laterally and vertically adjacent organodetrital facies, all abounding in diverse biota (apart of various corals, some 30 taxa), of which the most prominent are red-algal colonies, and echinoids. The red-algal colonies of Solenopora jurassica, variable in shape and size, are typified by its primary pigment phycoerythrin having been preserved to give a pink-to-red colouration of colonies, comparable to "Beetroot Stones" of the English Jurassic. The echinoids are: Glypticus hieroglyphicus, Hemicidaris merryaca, and Paracidaris florigemma. Sedimentary structures and eco-taphonomy of contained biota indicate very shallow subtidal up to intertidal environmental conditions under which the coral-dominated facies developed at Oxfordian time.

Literature:

GUTOWSKI J. 2004–Middle Oxfordian coral facies of the Bałtów region, NE margin of the Holy Cross Mts., Poland. Tomy Jurajskie 2: 17-27.     RADWAŃSKA U. 2003–A monograph of the Polish Oxfordian echinoids; Part 1, Subclass Cidaroidea CLAUS, 1880. Acta Geol. Pol.,  53 (2): 143-165.     RADWAŃSKA U. 2004–Oxfordian echinoids of Bałtów. Tomy Jurajskie 2: 131-140.     RADWAŃSKI A. 2006–Life and death of Apiocrinites (Crinoidea: Articulata) in Early Kimmeridgian habitats of the Holy Cross Mountains. Acta Geol. Pol. 56.     RONIEWICZ E. 1966–Les Madréporaires du Jurassique supérieur de la bordure des Monts de Sainte-Croix, Pologne. Acta Geol. Pol. 11 (2): 157-264.     RONIEWICZ E. 2004–Jurassic corals in Poland. Tomy Jurajskie 2: 83-97.     RONIEWICZ E. & RONIEWICZ P. 1968–Hard ground in the coraliferous Kimmeridgian deposits of the Holy Cross Mts. (Central Poland). Acta Geol. Pol. 18 (2): 375-385.     RONIEWICZ E. & RONIEWICZ P. 1971–Upper Jurassic coral assemblages of the Central Polish Uplands. Acta Geol. Pol. 21 (3): 399-423.