Commune: Czernichów (pow. krakowski, woj. małopolskie)
Framework element or context represented:
Tectonic structures of the Kraków Upland.
Primary geological/geomorphological interest:
Tectonic horst isolated as the rocky limestone hill.
Comparative assessment justification:
It is one of the best-exposed tectonic landform most representative for the structural relief of Polish Jura Chain.
Protection status and accessibility:
Nature Reserve Kajasówka was established at 1962. The didactic-tourist trail runs along the top hill. The reserve is situated within Rudno Landscape Park.
Character of site: Rocky hill as a tectonic horst.
Area: 11.83 ha
Altitude: 265-320 m a.s.l.
Lithology: limestones
Discipline: Geomorphology, Tectonics
Process Age: Neogene, *all periods
Bedrock Age: Jurassic, *all periods
Description of primary interest:
The Hill Kajasówka is a classic tectonic horst situated about 20 km westward of Kraków. It is surrounded from north and south by the tectonic depressions. To the east the horst becomes narrower end ends in a rocky spur and two mentioned depressions join each other. To the west it becomes broader and passes to a gorge of the Rudno stream. Relative height of hill attains 50 m. The horst is well distinguished in the landscape and descends step-like towards the tectonic depressions along faults, which run more or less parallel to their longitudinal axis. The western segment of the hill has a flat top, which is a relict of planation surface generated in Tertiary. Elevations of the ridge are bordered with transversal dislocations. Kajasówka Hill is built of massive Oxfordian limestones while surrounding tectonic depressions are filled with clays of Miocene age. Upper Cretaceous sandy limestones occur locally on lower steps of the horst. The southern parts of the horst and its eastern ending are mostly exposed as rocky slopes already destroyed in many places by the exploitation of limestones before the nature reserve was established. The northern part of hill proposed to join in the nature reserve is covered by deciduous forest. Within the rocky slopes and walls of abandoned quarries up to 10-20 m high the karst processes have been developed. Deposits containing rich snail communities, which indicate changes of environment during the Holocene, fill small rock shelters and niches. The small Przegińska Cave occurs on the steep southern rocky slope. Bones of Pleistocene mammals, flint artifacts and pottery have been found in sediments on the bottom of this cave.
Literature:
ALEXANDROWICZ S.W. 2000–Recent and subfossil mollusc communities of Kajasówka Hill in the Cracow Upland (English sum.). Chrońmy Przyr. Ojcz. 56, 1: 83-101. ALEXANDROWICZ Z. 1975–A new projekt for the protection of the Kajasówka horst in the Cracow Upland (English sum.). Chrońmy Przyr. Ojcz. 31, 1: 20-26. ALEXANDROWICZ Z., DRZAŁ M., KOZŁOWSKI S. 1975–A cataloque of inanimate nature reserves and monuments in Poland (English sum.). Studia Naturae B, 26, 298 pp. DŻUŁYŃSKI S. 1953–Tectonics of the southern part of the Cracovian Upland (English sum.). Acta Geol. Pol. 3, 3: 325-440. GRADZIŃSKI R. 1972–Przewodnik geologiczny po okolicach Krakowa (Polish only). Wyd. Geol., Warszawa, 335 pp. GRADZIŃSKI R., GRADZIŃSKI M. 1994–Geology and relief of the Cracow area (English sum.). In: R. Gradziński, M. Gradziński, S. Michalik (eds) Nature and culture in the Jura landscape. Nature: 11-54. KOWALSKI R. 1951–Jaskinie Wyżyny Krakowsko-Wieluńskiej. Jaskinie Polski 1, 466 pp.