Commune: Biały Dunajec (pow. tatrzański, woj. małopolskie)
Framework element or context represented:
Late Glacial and Holocene biostratygraphy.
Primary geological/geomorphological interest:
Late Glacial and Holocene calcareous tufa with rich molluscan asseblages.
Comparative assessment justification:
A classic profile of calcareous tufa in the Podhale Basin which give the evidence of the environmental changes during the last 11 000 years. Similar calcareous tufa occur in Ostrysz and Groń.
Protection status and accessibility:
Site is situated in protection zone of the water intake, projected documentary site of inanimate nature.
Character of site: Natural outcrop.
Area: 1 ha
Altitude: 730-750 m a.s.l.
Lithology: silts, clays, other sedimentary rocks, peats
Discipline: Palaeobiology, Stratigraphy of Quaternary
Process Age: Holocene, *all periods
Bedrock Age: Pleistocene, *all periods
Description of primary interest:
Calcareous tufa occurs on the south-western slope of Gliczarowski Wierch, covering the 10 meters high terrace of Gliczarowski Stream. Five types of deposits can be distinguished: travertines, nodular travertines, coarse- and fine-grained calcareous tufa and calcareous silt. They form irregular body with a very complicated internal structure. Calcareous sediments are underlying by solifluction loams and covering by peat and recent soil. The age of these deposits was established with the radiocarbon method and stable isotopes analysis. Calcareous tufa exposed in Gliczarów contains very rich and differentiated molluscan assemblages. The composition and succession of these communities reflects the environmental and climatic changes during the last 11000 years. Partly shady habitats connected with Alleröd Phase were replaced by more open and moist environments developed under cold climate during the Young Dryas. The first stage of deposition of calcareous tufa is connected with this period. At the beginning of the Holocene, a rapid warming was followed by the expansion of forests. In the Middle Holocene the maximum extension of shady habitats was noted. The cooling of the climate and progressive deforestation corresponds with Subboreal and Subatlantic Phases. The recently accumulation of calcareous tufa on the south-western slope of Gliczarowski Wierch can be observed.
Literature:
ALEXANDROWICZ W.P. 1987–Malacofauna of Quaternary deposits and environmental changes of the Podhale Basin during the Late Vistulian and Holocene (English sum.). Folia Quatern. 68: 7-132. ALEXANDROWICZ W.P. 2003–The exposure of calcareous tufa in Gliczarów in the Podhale Basin (English sum.). Chrońmy Przyr. Ojcz. 59: 17-32. HALICKI B., LILPOP J. 1932–Czwartorzędowe trawertyny w Gliczarowie na Podhalu (Polish only). Pos. Nauk. PIG 33. PAZDUR A. 1987–Isotopic composition of carbon and oxygen in Holocene calcareous tufa sediments (English sum.). Zesz. Nauk Polit. Śląsk. 1019: 14-75. URBAŃSKI J. 1932–Przyczynek do znajomości mięczaków z międzylodowcowych trawertynów z Gliczarowa pod Zakopanym (Polish only). Rocz PTG 8, 2.