Commune: Ozimek (pow. opolski, woj. opolskie)
Framework element or context represented:
Upper Triassic continental biota of the German Basin.
Primary geological/geomorphological interest:
The rich assemblage of Triassic amphibians and reptiles remains.
Comparative assessment justification:
Bone beds (the Lisowska breccia) are reported from several outcrops of the Upper Triassic sediments in Silesia, but well preserved skeletons have been not found till now. The locallity in Krasiejów is the unique site of Triassic vertebrate fauna in Poland. Next ones comparable fossiliferous horizons are situated in southern German near Ebrach and Stuttgart.
Protection status and accessibility:
The collection of bones investigated in the Institute of Palaeobiology of Polish Acad. of Sciences, Museum of Evolution, Warszawa. The part of the outcrop where fossils vertebrates occur is protected since 2001 as documentary site.
Character of site: The brick-yard.
Area: ca. 0.5 ha
Altitude: 165 m a.s.l.
Lithology: silstones, claystones
Discipline: Palaeobiology, Palaeoenvironment, Stratigraphy of Phanerozoic
Process Age: *all periods
Bedrock Age: Triassic, *all periods
Description of primary interest:
Claystones of the Upper Triassic (Carnian) noted as Keuper age in Krasiejów (Silesia) by F. Roemer just at the second half of XVIII c. are excavated in big outcrop since 1974. These are red, cross-bedded mudstones described as fluviatile sediments passing upwards into red and grey claystones with lenses enriched in fossils. The whole complex cropped in the brickyard is up to 14 m thick. Fragments of perfectly preserved skeletons isolated skulls and postcranial remains have been found in the mentioned grey clays. The vertebrate assemblage is dominated with labyrinthodonts Metoposaurus diagnosticus and the Phytosaur palaeorhinus sp. accompanied by reptiles Aetosaurs and an early dinosaur related to Staurikosaurus or Chindesaurus. The assemblage includes also the teeth of Ceratodus, numerous unionid bivalves, characean gyrogonites and ostracods, indicating the sedimentary environment of a lake. The thickness of the bone - bearing horizon is about 1 m.
Literature:
BILAN W. 1975–The Rhaetic profile in the Krasiejów near Opole (English sum.). Zesz. Nauk. AGH, Geologia 1, 3: 13-20. DZIK J. 2001–A new Paleorhinus fauna in the early Late Triassic of Poland. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 21: 625-627. DZIK J. 2003–A breaked herbivorus archosaur with dinosaur affinities from early Late Triassic of Poland. Journal of Vartebrate Paleontology 23: 556-574. DZIK J. 2003–Krasiejów - u zarania ery dinozaurów (Polish only). Ewolucja 1: 2-13. DZIK J., SULEJ T., KAIM A., NIEDŹWIEDZKI R. 2000–A late Triassic tetrapod graveyard in the Opole Silesia (SW Poland) (English sum.). Przegląd Geol. 48, 3: 226 - 235. OLEMPSKA E. 2004–Late Triassic spinicaudatan crustaceans from southwestern Poland. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 49, 3: 429-442. ROEMER F. 1870–Geologie von Oberschlesien: 159. Nischokowsky, Breslau. WAWRZYNIAK W., RIPPEL J., TOMASZEWSKA H. 2003–Beautiful landscape after a forced devastation (English sum.). In: Landscape shaping on the headings exploited in the mining: 77-86. Akad. Górn. Hut., Politech. Krak. Conf. in Krakow.