Commune: Zabierzów (pow. krakowski, woj. małopolskie)
Framework element or context represented:
Neogene tectonic structure.
Primary geological/geomorphological interest:
System of faults cutting Upper Jurassic and Upper Cretaceous rocks at the southern border of the Krzeszowice Graben.
Comparative assessment justification:
Structural elements and details of the northern margin of the Carpathian Trough well marked in the landscape. The most representative site of oscilations of the Upper Cretaceous transgression.
Protection status and accessibility:
The quarry situated at the border of the Tenczynek Landscape Park is proposed to protection. This site is included on the didactic - tourist trail.
Character of site: Abandoned quarry.
Area: 4.5 ha
Altitude: 270 m a.s.l.
Lithology: limestones, marls, sands, clays, other sedimentary rocks
Discipline: Palaeobiology, Palaeoenvironment, Stratigraphy of Phanerozoic, Tectonics
Process Age: *all periods
Bedrock Age: Neogene, Paleogene, Cretaceous, Jurassic, *all periods
Description of primary interest:
The quarry in Zabierzów closed at 1992 is situated within the tectonic zone on the northern border the Tenczynek Horst between them and the Krzeszowice Graben. The Neogene system of faults parallel to the main dislocation of the graben break this zone into a few elevated and depressed segments well excavated here during the mining carried out in two levels. Two facies of Upper Jurassic limestones are accessible in this outcrop. Upper Oxfordian thick and irregular bedded limestones form mostly the high (up to 15 m) wall in the older, lower part of the quarry. They are levelled at the top by Upper Cretaceous abrasion surface. A thin layer (25-45 cm) of Turonian sandy limestones cover them. Massive Oxfordian limestones described as an algae-spongy reef facies are occur in the younger, upper part of the quarry. They also had been levelled by the abrasion and covered with Turonian very thick deposits represented by limestones and sandy limestones contained the fossils. A typical and well-developed calcareous-phosphatic stromatolite marking a non-depositional surface occurs here. Fossiliferous marls with glauconite, grey and with marls of the Santonian-Campanian age are supplemented the mentioned Upper Cretaceous sequence. Karst forms developed within Jurassic limestones along the joint or even fault planes are filled with Oligocene- Miocene sediments. There are residual clays, green smectite clays and sand devoid of fossils.
Literature:
ALEXANDROWICZ S.W. 1954–Turonian of the southern part of Cracow Upland (English sum.). Acta Geol.Pol., 4: 361-390. ALEXANDROWICZ S.W. 1968–Les dépods transgressifs du Santonien aux environs de Cracovie (French sum.). Zesz. Nauk. AGH, Geologia, 11: 45-59. ALEXANDROWICZ Z., FELISIAK J., MUSIELEWICZ-JASIŃSKA Z. 1997–Geological educational trial near Zabierzów (English sum.). Chroń. Przyr. Ojcz. 53,4: 102-116. FELISIAK J. 1992–Oligocene-early Miocene karst deposits and their importance for recognition of the development of tectonics and relief in the Carpathian Foreland Kraków region, Southern Poland (English sum.). Ann. Soc.Geol. Pol. 62: 173-207. GOLONKA J. & RAJCHEL J. 1972–Upper Cretaceous stromatolites in the vicinity of Cracow (English sum.). Kwart. Geol., 16: 652-666. JASIONOWSKI M. 1995–A cretaceous non-depositional surface in the Kraków Upland (Mydlniki, Zabierzów): burrows, borings and stromatolites (English sum.). Ann. Soc. Geol. Pol. 65: 63-77. MATYSZKIEWICZ J. & FELISIAK I. 1992–Microfacies and Diagenesis of an Upper Oxfordian Carbonate Buidup in Mydlniki (Cracow Area, Southern Poland). Facies, 27: 179-190.