Commune: Ropa (pow. gorlicki, woj. małopolskie)
Framework element or context represented:
Stratygraphy and Cretaceous biota of flysh Magura Nappe.
Primary geological/geomorphological interest:
Complex of Inoceramian Beds (Ropianka Fm).
Comparative assessment justification:
Stratotyp of the Inoceramian Beds of Magura Unit. The site important for widening of geological knowledge.
Protection status and accessibility:
Proposed on the category of the documentary site.
Character of site: Natural outcrops.
Area: 1 ha
Altitude: 330 m a.s.l.
Lithology: sandstones, shales, silstones, claystones
Discipline: Palaeobiology, Palaeoenvironment, Stratigraphy of Phanerozoic, History of geology
Process Age: *all periods
Bedrock Age: Cretaceous, *all periods
Description of primary interest:
The site of the Inoceramian Beds (Ropianka Fm) is situated in the bottom and both banks of the Ropa River over a distance of about 200 m downriver of the confluence of the Ropa and its left-sided tributary - the Chełmoński stream. A number of several-meter large outcrops expose a complex of thin-, medium- and thick-bedded sandstones and shales. The sandstones are mostly medium- or fine-grained, ash-grey, strongly calcareous with characteristic sequences of turbidite sedimentary structures. The most interesting are widely represented convolute structures. The sandstones also contain numerous mechanoglyphes and organoglyphes, and are intersected by small veins of white calcite. They are interbedded by calcareous, ash-grey and greenish clayey and silty shales. The strata dip generally to SW at the angles 40-60º. The site represents one of historical profile of the Inoceramian Beds within the Magura Unit, studied as early as the end of the 19th century. The results of these investigations provided palaeontological clues for proper age determination of the Inoceramian Beds on the basis of foraminifera microfauna.
Literature:
GRZYBOWSKI J. 1901–Die microfauna der Karpathenbildungen. III. Die Foraminiferen der Inoceramenschichten von Gorlice. (Polish only). Rozpr. i Spr. Wydz. Mat.-Przyr. AU, Ser. III B, 1: 219-298. JURKIEWICZ H. & KARNKOWSKI P. 1959–Age of Inoceramus beds in the Magura nappe. (English sum.). Acta Geol. Pol., 9/1: 17-54. KOTLARCZYK J. 1978–Stratigraphy of the Ropianka Formation or of Inoceramian beds in the Skole Unit of the Flysh Carpathians. (English sum.). Prace Geol. PAN, 108: 1-82. OLSZEWSKA B. 1984–A paleoecological interpretation of the Cretaceous and Paleogene Foraminifers of the Polish Outer Carpathians. (English sum.). Biul. Państw. Inst. Geol., 346: 7-62. ŚWIDZIŃSKI H. 1973–The geological structure of the region Ropica – Siary Górne. (English sum.). Prace Geol. PAN, 80: 63-76. UHLIG V. 1885–Ergebnisse geologischer Aufnahmen in den westgalizischen Karpathen. Theil. I. Die sandsteinzone zwischen dem penninischen Klippenzuge und dem Noedrande. Jahrbuch d. Geol. Reichsanstalt., 38: 83-264, Vien. WALTER H. & DUNIKOWSKI E. 1882/1883–Geologiczna budowa naftonośnego obszaru zachodnio-galicyjskiego Karpat. (Polish only). Kosmos, 7: 263-302, 8: 309-334. WĘCŁAWIK S. 1969–The geological structure of the Magura Nappe between Uście Gorlickie and Tylicz. (English sum.). Prace Geol. PAN, 59: 1-96.