Commune: Korczyna (pow. krośnieński, woj. podkarpackie)
Framework element or context represented:
Rocky landscape, weathering process, stratigraphy and sedimentology of Ciężkowice Sandstone formation.
Primary geological/geomorphological interest:
Tors of Ciężkowice Sandstones, fluxoturbidites, weathering structures.
Comparative assessment justification:
Site of special important for comparative studies of origin of sandstone tors in Flysch Carpathians. From other locality - Rocky Town in Ciężkowice - it differentiate of the morphological setting and shape of rocky complex.
Protection status and accessibility:
Prządki (Spinners) Nature Reserves (1932, 1957) situated in the Ciężkowice-Strzyżów Landscape Park.
Character of site: Sandstone tors.
Area: 13.62 ha
Altitude: 460-504 m a.s.l.
Lithology: sandstones, conglomerates, breccias
Discipline: Geomorphology, Palaeoenvironment, History of geology
Process Age: Pleistocene, *all periods
Bedrock Age: Paleogene, *all periods
Description of primary interest:
The marginal zone of the Silesian Nappe to the north of Krosno is characterised by a series of hills with sandstone tors having original shape among which a group called Prządki (Spinners) is remarkable in landscape. The tors were formed within the thick-bedded and coarse-grained sandstones and conglomerates of the Ciężkowice Sandstones Fm (Eocene) of the Silesian Unit. A characteristic feature of tor grouping is labyrinths of narrow corridors formed by splitting along bedding planes, gravitational slip and subsiding of particular rock pockets. On Kamieniec hill in the vicinity of Spinners the tors of Ciężkowice sandstones form picturesque surrounding of a ruin of a medieval castle. Geological setting of tors near Krosno is a key to understanding the origin of such phenomena developed as hard rocks within fluxoturbidite lithosomes. The groups of tors present various sequences of fluxoturbidites very characteristic for Ciężkowice and as well as for Istebna sandstones occur in the surrounding area. The Spinners tors of Ciężkowice sandstones have been the first rocky objects minutely documented as nature reserve. It is a classic site of occurrence of various types of weathering structures of the Carpathian sandstones firstly described here.
Literature:
ALEXANDROWICZ Z. 1987a–Rezerwaty i pomniki przyrody województwa krośnieńskiego (in Polish only). Stud. Naturae b-32: 23-72. ALEXANDROWICZ Z. 1987b–Inanimate nature in the Czarnorzecki landscape Park (English sum.). Ochr. Przyr. 45: 263-293. ALEXANDROWICZ Z., POPRAWA D., RĄCZKOWSKI W. 1999–Stratotypes and other important geosites of the Polish Carpathians. Pol. Geol. Inst., Spec. Papers, 2: 33-46. KOSZARSKI L. 1962–The rocks of the Istebna sandstones in the vicinity of Krosno, Flysch Carpathians (English sum.). Chrońmy Przyr. Ojcz. 18 (6): 17-31. ŚLĄCZKA A., THOMPSON S. III 1981–A revision of the fluxoturbidities concept based on type examples in the Polish Carpathians flysch. Ann. Soc. Geol. Pol. 51: 3-44. ŚWIDZIŃSKI H. 1932–Project de la réserve "Prządki" près de Krosno (French sum.). Ochr. Przyr. 12: 58-64. ŚWIDZIŃSKI H. 1933–"Prządki" - groupe de rochers près de Krosno, Karpates (French sum.). Zabyt. Przyr. Nieożyw. 2: 94-125.