Commune: Kroczyce (pow. zawierciański, woj. śląskie)
Framework element or context represented:
Landscape of limestone hardrocks of the Polish Jura Chain.
Primary geological/geomorphological interest:
Limestone hardrocks on the old planation surface; Upper Jurassic carbonate buildups.
Comparative assessment justification:
The most typical karst relief in the Polish landscape. The area is situated within the Częstochowa Upland, in the central part of the Polish Jura Chain. Rifte-like limestones are developed on the elevated part of the Jurassic peri-tethyan shelf and form carbonate buildups, similarly as in Schwäbische Alb.
Protection status and accessibility:
Orle Gniazda - Eagle's Nests Landscape Park, Góra Zborów Nature Reserve - Zborów Hill and nature monuments (limestone tors and caves); the area is initially proposed as one part of the Jurassic Geopark; numerous touristic trials.
Character of site: Rocky limestone landscape.
Area: ca. 130 ha
Altitude: 360 - 468 m a.s.l.
Lithology: limestones
Discipline: Geomorphology, Palaeoenvironment, Stratigraphy of Phanerozoic
Process Age: *all periods
Bedrock Age: Neogene, Jurassic, *all periods
Description of primary interest:
Fragments of Tertiary planation surfaces are conserved in relief of Częstochowa Upland. Karst processes and disjunctive tectonic have been strongly impact on the old relief. The geological structure is principal determinant of the relief differentiation. Limestone monadnocks as hardrocks rising over the Tertiary planation surfaces. In the Częstochowa Upland (middle part of the Polish Jura Chain) about 3 500 monadnocks occur and are composed with single or complex of limestone tors different shapes. The area near Kroczyce town is composed of hills crowned by groups of picturesque tors called Kroczyce Rocks. The dominating Zborów Hill (468 m a.s.l.) gives a large view over surrounding rocky hills. This monadnock is raised over the highest level of planation situated about 430 - 440 m a.s.l. All rocky hills are formed of Oxfordian massive limestones as carbonate cyanobacterial-sponge buildups. They are more resistant to erosion and denudation in relation to the facies of bedded limestones occur between bioherms and are characterised by the nectonic fauna. Tors rise up to 30 m and are divided with noumerous joint fissures transformed by processes marked also by macrorelief covering the surface of rocks and by several caves with traces of palaeolitic human activity. Different landforms can be distinquished in the recent landscape of the Kroczyce Rocks: rocky karst hill ranges, karst Uplands, karst and tectonic depressions as well as forms connected with Quaternary processes such as loess Uplands and valleys particularly dry.
Literature:
ALEXANDROWICZ Z., ALEXANDROWICZ S.W. 2000–Draft project of Jurassic Geopark in the Kraków - Częstochowa Upland (southern Poland). Ann. Meeting ProGEO. Prague 2000. Abst. 6-7. CYREK K., NADACHOWSKI A., MADEYSKA T ET AL.. 2000- Excavation in the Deszczowa Cave (Kroczyce Rocks, Częstochowa Upland). Folia Quaternaria 71: 5-84. GRADZIŃSKI M. SZELEREWICZ M. 2004- Caves in the Kraków-Wieluń Upland - number and distrubution (English sum.). In: J. Partyka (ed) The diversification and transformation of natural and cultural environment of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, vol 1. Nature: 69-82. Ojców N.P. NITA J. 2004- Landscape values of rocky forms in the Częstochowa Upland (English sum.). In: J. Partyka (ed) The diversification and transformation of natural and cultural environment of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, vol 1. Nature: 55-60. Ojców N.P. MATYSZKIEWICZ J. 1997–Microfacies, sedimentation and some aspects of diagenesis of Upper Jurassic sediments from the elevated part of the Northen peri-ethyan Shelf: a comparative study on the Lochen area (Schwäbische Alb) and the Cracow area (Cracow - Wieluń Upland, Poland). Berl. Geowissensch. Abh., E21: 1-111. SZELEREWICZ M., GÓRNY A. 1986–Jaskinie Wyżyny Krakowsko - Wieluńskiej (Polish only). Wyd. PTTK "Kraj". Warszawa - Kraków. TRAMMER J. 1982–Lower and Middle Oxfordian sponges of the Polish Jura. Acta Geol. Pol. 32, 1-2: 1-40. WAGA J.M. 2004–Landscape differentation in the vicinity of Kroczyce (English sum.). In: J. Partyka (ed) The diversification and transformation of natural and cultural environment of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, vol 1. Nature: 61-68. Ojców N.P.