Commune: Kielce (pow. Kielce, woj. świętokrzyskie)
Framework element or context represented:
Upper Devonian carbonates of the Paleozoic core of the Świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Mts, Kielce subregion with fold formed during Varisciam tectonic movements.
Primary geological/geomorphological interest:
Variscan tectonic forms, stratigraphic sequence o Upper Devonian.
Comparative assessment justification:
Śluchowice site is the most illustrative outcrop of fold documenting Variscan tectogenesis in Poland; as an instructive form the fold is quoted (shown in pictures) in manuals of tectonics and geological guidebooks.
Protection status and accessibility:
Partly protected as “Jan Czarnocki nature reserve” (since 1952; 0,55 ha), partly city park – well accessible, located in the town.
Character of site: Abandoned quarry.
Area: 6 ha
Altitude: 250-300 m a.s.l.
Lithology: conglomerates, breccias, limestones, marls
Discipline: Palaeoenvironment, Stratigraphy of Phanerozoic, Tectonics
Process Age: Carboniferous, Devonian, *all periods
Bedrock Age: Devonian, *all periods
Description of primary interest:
Unique fold structure crop out in the high walls of rocky “neck” separating two quarries. It is formed of thin- to thick-bedded limestones with beds of intraformational conglomerates and intercalations of dark marls. The rocks are referred to Kostomłoty Beds and represent facies of deeper marine basin, situated to the north of the Middle-Upper Devonian Moravia-Małopolska shelf (platform). Several groups of fossil fauna have been found in the rocks: brachiopods, corals, trilobites as well as conodonts. Study of this last group enabled stratigrahic interpretation of the sequence. The tectonic deformations developed due to Variscan tectonic movements, likely of Sudetic phase (Early/Late Carboniferous), when the main tectonic macroelements of the region were formed. The structure outcropped in the quarry represents tectonic microform of the Kielce syncline. It is recumbent flexure fold (turned to the south) with subordinate concentric and similar foldings in wide axial zone. Characteristic elements of these forms – flexural slips, hinge gaps filled with shaly material, hinge neck, clevage in the folded layers, etc. – enable detailed studies of the mechanism of folding.
Literature:
DADLEZ R.,-JAROSZEWSKI W. 1994–Tektonika (in Polish only). Wyd. Nauk. PWN, Warszawa 743 pp. JAROSZEWSKI W. 1980–Tektonika uskoków i fałdów (in Polish only). Wyd. Geolog. Warszawa, 360 pp. JAROSZEWSKI W. 1984–Fault and fold tectonics. PWN-E. Horwood Lim., Warszawa-Chichester, 565 pp. KOTAŃSKI Z. 1959–Przewodnik geologiczny po Górach Świętokrzyskich, v. 2 (in Polish only). Wyd. Geol., Warszawa: 250-267. RACKI G., BULTYNCK P. 1993–Conodont biostratigraphy of the Middle to Upper Devonian boundary beds in the Kielce area of the Holy Cross Mts. Acta Geol. Pol., 43: 1-26. RUBINOWSKI Z., WÓJCIK Z. 1978–Geological expositions of Kielce and its vicinity with some considerations as regards their protection and exploitation (English sum.). Pr. Muz. Ziemi 29: 95-121. STUPNICKA E., STEMPIEŃ-SAŁEK M. 2001–Poznajemy Góry Świętokrzyskie (in Polish only). Wyd. Nauk. PWN, 173 pp. SZULCZEWSKI M. 1971–Upper Devonian conodonts, stratigraphy and facial development in the Holy Cross Mts. Acta Geol. Pol., 21: 1-129. SZULCZEWSKI M. 1995–Depositional evolution of the Holy Cross Mts (Poland) in the Devonian and Carboniferous — a review. Geol. Quaterly, 39: 471-488. THE PALAEOZOIC ... 1968–The Palaeozoic and Mesozoic in the Świętokrzyskie Mts. and the Cainozoic in the Carpathian Foredeep. Intern. Geol. Congr., XXII Session, Prague, 1968. Guide to Exc. no C45. Geol. Inst., Warszawa, 81 pp. URBAN J., WRÓBLEWSKI T. 1999–Representative geosites of the Góry Świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross Mts.) and the Nida Basin, Central Poland. Pol. Geol. Inst., Special Papers, 2: 61-70.