Geology for All Czech-Polish Geological Trail

Geology for All Czech-Polish geological trail Radovan Vlček So colourful at first sight, the Žacléř-Lubawka region can take pride in such a diverse landscape thanks to two phenomena that usually go unnoticed: its geological structure and geological development. The “life course” of stone (yes, even rocks are born, develop and die) spreads over such a long time period that most people find it difficult to imagine. However, the geological structure of the landscape, and the processes taking place in it, are important factors shaping the face of local waters, vegetation and climate. Whether you are at home here or just visiting, I would like to share with you my knowledge of this part of nature to complete your perspective on the region’s environment and history. Radovan Vlček Dear friends, Let me introduce myself. My name is fern – tree fern. I have lived in the Žacléř area for all my life, even before it got its name – actually, before anything had a name. When the local landscape The Žacléř-Lubawka Area was still in the process of making, tree ferns along with club-mosses and horsetails grew in tropical swamps between Žacléř and Lubawka. This The Czech part of the cross-border area consists of the city of Žacléř and the was more than 300 million years ago, in an era nearby communities of Bernartice, Královec, Lampertice, Křenov, Černá Voda, geologists call Carboniferous. Tens of millions of Zlatá Olešnice and Libeč, as well as communities on the western side of the years later, most of us turned into black coal. A few lucky ones have made it Rýchory Mountains – Bystřice, Albeřice and Lysečiny. The Polish part includes to paleontological collections as fossils – you can find them at the Žacléř City the city of Lubawka and the neighbouring communities of Chełmsko Śląskie, Museum, or at the local Mining Museum. If you could travel in time, you wouldn’t Krzeszów, Miszkowice, Bukówka, Opawa and Niedamirów. A large part of the believe how different this place was. It used to be hot and humid – no wonder area belongs to the Krkonoše Mountains National Park, some places even to the given the region’s location near the Equator. The Krkonoše Mountains were Park’s Core Zone or Buffer Zone. Some minor sites on the Polish side have the much higher. Every now and then, volcanoes exploded, disgorging lava and ash. statusGeological of Nature characteristics Preserve. Much has changed since those times, but even today, an attentive and learned observer can find traces of all these processes in the nature. Let us take the adventure of discovering the geological history and interesting natural sites in The Žacléř-Lubawka Area has a highly diverse landscape with large the colourful landscape of Czech- Polish borderland between differences in altitude. The highest peak of the entire area, Lysečinská Hora/ the cities of Žacléř and Lubawka. Łysoczina (elevation 1188 metres above sea level), is part of the border ridge north of the Lysečinské Boudy settlement. In the Czech part, Dvorský Les in the Rýchory Mountains has the highest elevation (1033 masl) and the stream of Ličná in Křenov the lowest (425 masl). In the Polish part, the Borowa Mountain is the highest point (1056 masl) and the river of Zadrna above Krzeszów the lowest (450 masl). The area borders the easternmost part of the Krkonoše Mountains and the northwest part of the Broumov Highlands (sharing the border massif of Zawory with the latter). The saddle between the two ridges is called Královecké Sedlo (524 masl) in the Czech Part and Brama Lubawska in the Polish part, and constitutes an important gateway between Bohemia and Silesia. In the centre of the area, between Brama Lubawska and Kotlina Krzeszowska, there is the mountain range of volcanic origin, Vraní Hory/Góry Krucze. While most of the range is located in the Polish territory, the highest 2 peak, Královecký Špičák (880 masl) is in3 Bohemia. Regional-geological characteristics geomorphological processes (the effects of water, wind, frost and gravity) polished the mountains, and pieces of disintegrated rocks were transported by The unique mix of rocks in the geological structure of the rivers and deposited in lake basins under the mountains. Subsequently, the river Žacléř area, which makes it such a diverse and interesting place and lacustrine sediments consolidated into conglomerates, sandstones and to see, is a result of a complex process which took hundreds of other sedimentary rocks that comprise what’s today the valley between Žacléř millions of years. When hiking through the Žacléř area, one comes and the Vraní Mountains (a part of the Intra-Sudetic Basin). Volcanic activity across all basic genetic types of rock: volcanic, metamorphic and that took place simultaneously with the sedimentation process created, for sedimentary. The latter type contains the fossils of us, the ancient woodland example, the Vraní Mountains that are made of rhyolite (acidic volcanic rocks). flora of the Carboniferous. This guide is going to tell you about ten most frequently occurring rocks and a bunch of interesting natural sites where you Since the entire region was located near the Equator, the rocks of the Intra- can Geologicalfind them. structure Sudetic Basin deposited in a tropical swamp-like environment with a rich vegetation of ferns, club-mosses, horsetails and others. The dragonflies above us had a wing span of up to 0.5 metre! Our dead bodies covered by layers of Žacléř is located right on the verge of two distinct geological units, namely mud gradually transformed into banks of coal in order to be excavated by local the Rýchory Mountains and the Intra-Sudetic Basin. The history of the Rýchory people for several hundred years. Another type of souvenir are the fossils found Mountains is associated with the mountain ranges of Krkonoše and Jizera, in local sedimentary rocks. something geologists refer to as the Krkonoše-Jizera Crystalline Complex. The geological structure of the Rýchory Mountains mostly consists of metamorphic rocks – different types of mica schist, phyllite and greenschist, but also marble. They formed from volcanic and sedimentary rocks (claystone, siltstone, sandstone, limestone, consolidated lava and ash) during the so-called Variscan Orogeny in the Palaeozoic era, approximately 390–310 million years ago. The resulting vast mountain range included the Krkonoše Mountains as well. Ferns did not exist back then, but we remember pretty well what came afterwards. Volcanic range of Vraní hory rises about 350 m above the surrounding land Left: Flooded quarry in Libeč, where the basalt-andesite was previously mined There isn’t much left of the original4 mountains. Over millions of years, outer 5 Geological map A geological map is the most important source of information about the geological structure of a region. It marks the occurrence of different rocks in the landscape as areas of different colours. In order to make a good use of a geological map, one first needs to learn how to work with a topographic map such as a common trail map. In a mountainous terrain like the one between Žacléř and Lubawka, there is usually an abundance of rock outcrops. These, along with working or disused open pit mines, are important for a geologist because they show the different kinds of rocks that would normally be buried under the soil. By playing a kind of hide- and-seek with the rocks, the geologist eventually draws a geological map. But first he or she has to grab a rock hammer and set out for a thorough walking trip through the landscape, one that will take at least tens of kilometres. That is precisely why geologists often have a very nice relationship with the landscape – because they are so well acquainted with it. 6 7 Conglomerates and sandstones of Lower Carboniferous Góra Zadzierna, Spękane Skały Sandstones and conglomerates of Upper Cretaceous Glazy Krasnoludków, Border range Zawory Metamorphic rocks of Crystalline complex of Rýchory Greenschists, Limestones, Schists, Phyllites Rhyolites Královecký Špičák, Kruczy Kamień Sandstones and Conglomerates of Lower Triassic Czartowskie Skały Sandstones, Conglomerates and Claystones of Upper Carboniferous Rocks in Prkenný Důl Basalt-andesites Babí - Hřebínek Quarry, Liščí kameny 8 9 Rocks of the Žacléř-Lubawka area Rocks of the Intra-Sudetic Basin Given the complex geological structure and the These rocks occur in the eastern part of the Žacléř-Lubawka area, roughly existence of two different geological units, there are east and south-east of Žacléř. They comprise the basin which formed during the more than twenty different types of rock in the area, final stage of the Variscan orogeny in the Upper Carboniferous. In the south-west, with at least one representative for almost every genetic they are divided from the Krkonoše Piedmont Basin by a tectonic boundary type. We chose ten basic types of rocks that are relatively entitled “Hronov-Poříčí Fault Zone”. The Intra-Sudetic Basin comprises easily distinguished from one another and that were primarily of Carboniferous rocks in the Žacléř area, and also of Late Permian formed in different geological processes. rocks in the eastern part of Vraní Hory/Góry Krucze. The Vraní massif itself Rocks of the Krkonoše-Jizera Crystalline Complex consists of volcanic rocks. In the Polish territory between Chełmsko Śląskie and Krzeszów, there are This rich mix of metamorphic rocks comprises the Rýchory massif also much younger sedimentary rocks of west, south-west and north-west of Žacléř, and the Grzbiet Lasocki massif the Cretaceous, i.e. Late Mesozoic – the in the Polish territory. They formed during Variscan orogeny from originally type Czech tourists tend to associate sedimentary and volcanic rocks. They include mica schist, with the Adršpach-Teplice Rocks. phyllite, greenschist, porphyroid, and crystalline limestone & marble.

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