The article presents the mineralogical characteristics of epigenetic iron mineralization in the Paleozoic core of the Holy Cross Mountains. The occurrence of epigenetic Fe mineralization, known in the literature as “Zagnańsk-type ”, has so far been associated with the Łysogóry region of the Holy Cross Mountains, and the classic location is the Zachełmie quarry near Zagnańsk. Moreover, other occurrences of this mineralization in the Łysogóry region were also recorded in Wzdół-Kamieniec and Rudki. In recent years, manifestations of this type of mineralization have also been found in the Kielce region of the Holy Cross Mountains, including: the Laskowa quarry near Kostomloty and the Józefka quarry near Górno. The hematite ores and the accompanying mineralization from outcrops known from the literature and from new locations were investigated. Detailed microscopic examinations allowed determining the order of crystallization of individual minerals and distinguishing two stages of Fe mineralization, differing in both mineralogical composition and precipitation conditions. The relationship of this mineralization with diagenetic processes taking place in the Devonian-Carboniferous basin and with the tectonic processes of the Variscan orogeny was also demonstrated. Such mineralization shows close connections with tectonic zones, which emphasizes its epigenetic nature at all locations studied. A general model of the formation of Zagnańsk-type Femineralization was also created, which is applicable to the entire Paleozoic core of the Holy Cross Mountains. In the metallogenesis of the Holy Cross Mountains, this mineralization occurs after (or almost simultaneously) the oldest dolomites and manifestations of silicification of carbonate rocks, and precedes the fundamental stage of development of polymetallic sulphide mineralization with carbonates, and of barite mineralization, which is commonly recorded in this region.
Metallogenic studies carried out in the Holy Cross Mountains indicate a relationship between mineralization and fault tectonics in Devonian formations. The impact of fault formation on the geochemistry of host rocks has not yet been studied. Mineralogical and geochemical studies of fault core gouges and damage zones in the fault walls of Devonian dolomites in the Budy and Jurkowice quarries were carried out. In the clay-carbonate filling of the fault fissure, the presence of two generations of Fe sulfides, the increased content of Zr, Nb, U and Th in relation to the surrounding rocks was noted. In the fault walls of the dolomites, iron sulfide and hematite mineralization were found. Research on the REE content indicates that it is lower in the fault walls than in those located far from it, while it is clearly higher in the fault gouge, especially in terms of the content of “heavy” elements (HREE). This indicates both the supply of some components to the fault zone from external sources and their displacement from the surrounding rocks. It was also found that the fault was renewed before and after the Neogene at least twice (Badenian).
Metamorphic rocks of greenstone facies (phyllites) have been discovered quite recently in the Łysogóry region of the Holy Cross Mountains. The following minerals predominate in the mineral composition of these rocks: bright mica (sericite), quartz, chlorites, rutile, pyrophyllite, xenotime, pyrite, tourmaline, apatite and monacite, while chalcopyrite, sphalerite and galena are also present in mineral veins. The phyllites from Podmąchocice are intensely tectonically deformed, while their metamorphism displays a syndeformation character. The age of the tectonic-metamorphic processes has been initially estimated based on their relation to the silicification process. The phyllites are cut by numerous hydrothermal mineral veins, including quartz-chlorite-apatite ones. These veins occur as small post-tectonic and syntaxial forms, a few centimetres long and up to 1 cm thick. In the central parts of the veins, apatite forms colourless crystals, up to 1 mm long and up to 0.1mm thick. The age of the apatites was determined by means of the laser ablation system combined with the mass spectrometer. The results of isotopic measurements were reduced using the “Vizual Age” reduction program. The U-Pb age has been estimated to ~389 ± 18 Ma (upper intercept) that points to the maximum Devonian age (Eifelian/Givetian) of formation of the quartz-apatite veins. This is the first dating that point sto hydro thermal activity of th is age in the study area. As the veins cut discordantly the metamorphic rocks, the metamorphism itself may be older than the apatite age.
Zircon U-Pb dating of tuffites within the upper Silurian greywackes in the southern part of the Holy Cross Fold Belt gives a result of 419.91 ±1.7 Ma, which indicates they are of Přídolí age. Geochemical studies of Přídolí tuffites from the Małopolska Block, an Emsian tuffite from the Łysogóry Block in the Holy Cross Fold Belt and a Přídolí tuffite from the Bardo Unit in the Central Sudetes indicate that they were formed in a similar tectonic setting related to post-orogenic, continental arc-back-arc magmatism, developed along the southern margin of Laurussia, correlated with the Rhenohercynian Zone. In terms of their geochemical pattern, the tuffites are similar to the upper Silurian–Lower Devonian igneous rocks in Germany, Ukraine (Podolia) and Moldova, which were probably formed along the same subduction zone, during an early stage of the continental arc-back-arc magmatic activity.
The Lower Devonian of the Holy Cross Mountains is well-known in the field of vertebrate palaeontology but remains unrecognized as regards palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. We therefore analysed the spatial distribution and relative abundance of fossil vertebrates in this area within one time interval. The fauna from an Early Devonian (Emsian) siliciclastic bone-bearing breccia (the “Placoderm Sandstone”) exposed in four sections of the Łysogóry region and five sections of the Kielce region was analysed with respect to the frequency of the remains and their taxonomic affinity. The relative abundances of agnathans, acanthodians, placoderms, osteichthyans and chondrichthyans suggest more open marine conditions in the Łysogóry region and more terrestrial-influenced in the Kielce region during the Emsian. The results show that the average agnathan and acanthodian content of the Łysogóry region is significantly larger than that in the Kielce region. On the other hand, there are relatively fewer osteichthyans in the Łysogóry region and a significantly higher proportion of bony fishes was recorded in the fauna of the Kielce region. Placoderms are characterized by their generally similar frequency in both regions and from site to site in each of them, though a greater abundance was noted from the Kielce region. Likewise differences in the proportions of particular groups in the Kielce region suggest a large variety of marginal-marine environments under the influence of factors that might have included marine currents and variable conditions around a river mouth.
6
Dostęp do pełnego tekstu na zewnętrznej witrynie WWW
The article is a commentary on the current state of knowledge of the formation conditions, origin and stratigraphic position of the „Middle Polish fluvial, fluvioperiglacial high terraces” being relief elements of the river valleys of the Kielce– Łagów Depression (KŁD) in the southern part of the Holy Cross Mountains (HCM), i.e. the Belnianka, Lubrzanka and Łagowica river valleys. The former conception and criteria of distinguishing them are no longer fully valid. The “high terraces” were formed in the studied valleys in periglacial conditions of the Vistulian Glaciation and not, as it was previously considered, during the “Middle Polish Glaciation”. They are entirely or partially composed of slope deposits or formed within the cover of glacial and / or slope deposits (toe-cut terraces) of different ages (including derived from the Odra Glaciation). Their hypsometric position is determined by the features of structural relief and the possibility of deposition of slope sediments on the alluvial series. The formation and structure of these terraces are the outcome of the location and pattern of river valleys in relation to the morphostructural elements of the KŁD as well as the changes of climate and environmental conditions in the Quaternary. The presented results were obtained owing to the fact that the investigations were conducted both in the profiles of hillslopes (slope environment) and river valleys (fluvial environment) as well as in the bottom of the KŁD (glacial environment). Only such an integrated approach gives an opportunity to find the relationship between the elements of the local litho- and morphogenetic system of the HCM: hillslopes ↔ river valleys ↔ bottoms of structural depressions.
The inanimate nature reserve Gagaty Sołtykowskie is located in the northern part of the Permian-Mesozoic margin of the Holy Cross Mountains, within the abandoned Odrowąż quarry. Trackways of dinosaurs have been printed on a sandstone bedding plane within the Lower Jurassic (Hettangian) Zagaje Formation. The tracks are the oldest known evidence of a group life of the herbivore (plant-eating) sauropods andofa hunting group of predatory the ropods. After twenty years of being exposed to visitors, the sandstone layer had to be thoroughly renovated and conserved. On the basis of an evaluation of its state of preservation followed by laboratory examinations, the authors have prepared the program of conservation procedures and established a set of appropriate materials. The surface of the layer has been cleaned and its loose fragments fixed with the Injektionharz 100 (Remmers) glue. The layer has been impregnated and fractures sealed with an organosilicon compound KSE 100 and KSE 300 (Remmers). The tracks of dinosaurs have become more vivid due to their saturation with the mixture of the KSE 300 and a mineral pigment.
Rock samples from four boreholes and three exposures located in the southern peripheries of the Holy Cross Mountains in Poland, from strata representing the lower Cambrian Czarna Shale Formation have been studied palynologically. A relatively numerous and well-preserved lowermost Cambrian microfloral assemblage corresponds to coeval associations known from different palaeocontinents. Our new data enables reinterpretation of the biostratigraphy of the Czarna Formation, a thick rock unit basically devoid of macrofossils. The rocks analysed represent the Terreneuvian and comparison with other lower Cambrian successions indicates the middle and upper part of this oldest Cambrian series. The discovery of Variosphaeridium gen. nov. supplements information about the diversity of lowermost Cambrian microfloral assemblages. The Fimbriaglomerella membranacea-Globosphaeridium cerinum Assemblage Zone is introduced; it has a transitional character between the Asteridium tornatum-Comasphaeridium velvetum and Skiagia ornata-Fimbriaglomerella membranacea assemblage zones distinguished by Moczydłowska (1991) and identified on most Cambrian palaeocontinents.
The taxonomy of simply deformed paradoxidids from the Miaolingian (Cambrian) of Słowiec Hill, Holy Cross Mountains, Poland, is revised based on morphometric analysis. The material represents two species: Acadoparadoxides slowiecensis (Czarnocki in Orłowski, 1965) and Hydrocephalus? polonicus (Czarnocki in Orłowski, 1965). A new assemblage zone based on the combined although not precisely known ranges of these two taxa is suggested replacing the previous Paradoxides polonicus Zone of Orłowski (1975, 1988, 1992a). The Acadoparadoxides slowiecensis–Hydrocephalus? polonicus Assemblage Zone corresponds to the middle and upper part of the Wuliuan Stage (lower Miaolingian).
In the Gałęzice-Bolechowice-Borków region, located in the Holy Cross Mountains, several limestone and dolomite quarries are currently in operation. Deep drainage of these quarries caused the formation of a large regional depression cone that affected numerous groundwater intakes, including those supplying potable water for communes, and a large intake in the Dyminy quarter of Kielce. The range of the depression cone will increase in the future, both vertically and laterally, due to expanding extraction of industrial stones from continuously deepened mining levels. Prognoses of further changes of hydrologic conditions in the region and their impact on admissible volumes of groundwater resources available in particular intakes are calculated using the stationary mathematical model.
The area of the Świętokrzyski National Park is one of the most evident examples of structural morphology in Poland. Its relief is clearly determined by bedrock lithology: the hill ranges are composed of hard quartzitic sandstones of the upper Cambrian (Łysogóry Range) and the Lower Devonian (Klonowskie Range), while the depressions, usually vast and flat-bottomed, are distributed on outcrops of soft, easily weathered and eroded Ordovician and Silurian shales, greywackes and sandstones. The parallel pattern of hill ranges and depressions, as well as a mesh-grid pattern of river valley systems and the antecedent character of river gaps, reflects fold tectonics modified by transverse faults. Such a morphology developed during the Paleogene and Neogene under hot and then warm, gradually cooling climatic conditions. In the Pleistocene, principally under the periglacial conditions, block fields (symbols of the Świętokrzyski NP) and crags (crests, table-like forms, cupolas and spurs) were formed. The shape and spatial position of most crags are related to geological structures.
The PGI-NRI conducts geological research on the documentation of occurrence of REE deposits in Poland. The deposit potential may be related to the formation of Lower Cretaceous phosphorites from the NE margin of the Holy Cross Mountains. Two phosphorite deposits were exploited in this region in the past: Chałupki (1936-1959) and Annopol (1952-1970). From the Chałupki old mine dump, 34 samples of fine-grained sand were collected. The pseudonodules were extracted from this sand. The sand from the dump is composed of quartz, francolite (carbonate-rich fluorapatite) Ca5(PO4,CO3)3F, illite and a small amount of feldspar, calcite and heavy minerals. The heavy fraction is composed of zircon, monazite and rutile. Sand has a low content of REE ranging from 47.56 to 185.26ppm. The phosphorite pseudonodules underwent a detailed mineralogical and chemical analysis. They are composed of francolite, quartz, illite, glauconite, feldspar and minor heavy minerals: zircon and monazite. For the first time, the whole spectrum of REE was analysed in pseudonodules. The I.REE content in the nodules ranges from 177.37 to 354.18ppm. This level of REE indicates a serious need for further exploration and research of phosphorite pseudonodules within the whole Lower Cretaceous phosphorite series and moreover, also in the Eocene phosphorite formation in the Lublin region.
A new genus and species of psammosteid heterostracan, Psarkosteus mediocris gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Middle Devonian (Givetian) of the Skały Formation, the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland. The dorsal plate of Psarkosteus is constricted in its anterior part and the postorbital plate is long and narrow. Both features, along with the morphology and variety of tubercles, distinguish it from other representatives of the group. Most distinctive are big, teardrop-shaped tubercles, each with a flat or slightly concave surface and with its tip directed posteriorly, and a crenulated base, located along the branchial plates. The lateral line system in Psarkosteus is similar to that of Drepanaspis gemuendenensis and confirms earlier reconstructions.
The objective of this paper is a review of data on reconstruction of the Pleistocene palaeogeography (environment) and stratigraphy based on studies of karst sites in the Świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Mountains. Although the number of known Pleistocene karst sites in this region is small, the investigations of them have played a crucial role in a research of the Pleistocene. The study of the Kozi Grzbiet site provided the first evidences for new climatostratigraphy and classification of glaciations in Poland. The explanation of genesis of cryogenic calcite crystals discovered in Chelosiowa Jama-Jaskinia Jaworznicka cave system started a new direction of palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of the last glacial period. Kadzielnia palaeontological site was one of the first Early Pleistocene fossil assemblages in karst studied in Poland, whereas Raj cave provided abundant palaeontological and archaeological material from the Last Glacial. Other sites are of less scientific importance, however some of them can be used in education and popularisation of geosciences. Small number of already studied sites does not exclude discoveries of next sites of high scientific importance.
According to the current state of research five sand-gravel accumulation levels of Quaternary age are visible in the morphology of the western part of the Holy Cross Mountains, within the Wierna Rzeka, Hutka and Bobrza river valley systems and the lower stretches of the Biała Nida and Czarna Nida river valleys. Two upper levels (V and IV) correspond to valleys formed during the Odranian Glaciation-Saalian, MIS6 and its reccesional phases under the influence of proglacial and extraglacial waters beyond the extent (to the east) of the maximal ice-sheet limit of this glaciation, reaching to the present-day Leśnica-Gnieździska-Łopuszno line. Two lower levels (III and II) are terraces that were typically formed during the climatic conditions thatprevailed during Vistulian stadials. Sands and gravels of the three upper levels (V−III) contain numerous debris flow deposits and cryoturbation structures documenting periglacial conditions during their accumulation. The lowermost level (I) is a typical Holocene floodplain.
The paper presents characteristics of the Pleistocene sediments in the western part of the Holy Cross Mountains. They are subdivided into four complexes and their stratigraphic setting is referred to the updated scheme for the Pleistocene of Poland. The Preglacial Complex includes fluvial sediments characteristic for its lack of Scandinavian material. Sediments of three main glaciations (Nidanian, Sanian 1 and Sanian 2) within the South Polish Complex, are referred also as the South Polish Glaciations. The oldest of these glaciations (Nidanian) is separated from the middle glaciation (Sanian 1) by sediments of the Podlasian Interglacial, represented by clay at the Kozi Grzbiet Cave that contains faunal remains and record of the Brunhes/Matuyama palaeomagnetic boundary. During the middle (Sanian 1) and youngest glaciation (Sanian 2), the Holy Cross Mountains were almost completely covered by the Scandinavian ice sheet, forming glacial deposits separated by fluvial series of the Ferdynandovian Interglacial. The Middle Polish Complex begins with sediments of the Mazovian Interglacial, represented by a pollen record from the Zakrucze site. They are followed by deposits of periglacial and fluvial origin of the Liwiecian Glaciation, Zbójnian Interglacial, Krznanian Glaciation and Lublinian Interglacial. The following glaciation (Odranian) is represented by the youngest glacial deposits that document presence of the Scandinavian ice-sheet in the westernmost part of the Holy Cross Mountains. The North Polish Complex is composed of a climatic warming (Eemian Interglacial) and cooling (Vistulian Glaciation), and is represented by valley and periglacial deposits. The last cooling of the Pleistocene is recorded in faunal remains in the Raj Cave.
Vertebrate remains, mostly cryptodiran turtle shellfragments, pliosaur skull bones and teeth, plesiosaur vertebrae and crocodylomorph isolated teeth and skull fragments are described from the Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) limestone beds of Krzyżanowice in the NE margin of the Holy Cross Mountains in Poland. The vertebrate fossils were collected during the palaeontological excavations conducted in 2018 and 2019 by the authors, and in the 1960s by a scientific team from the Museum of the Earth and the Institute of Paleobiology Polish Academy of Sciences. All osteological remains are generally very well preserved. This interesting vertebrate bones association from the upper part of the Kimmeridgian represents fossils of animals from two different types of environment. The first contains costal reptiles, like turtles and crocodylomorphs, the second one contains large pelagic animals - pliosaurids and plesiosaurids. This new vertebrate fauna from Poland has been correlated with age-equivalents from other regions of Europe and both Boreal/Subboreal and Mediterranean palaeobiogeographical realms.
The aim of this study was to reconstruct the location mechanism of a Triassic sandstone wedge within folded Palaeozoic rocks. A vertically oriented Buntsandstein succession (Lower Triassic) from Józefka Quarry (Holy Cross Mountains, central Poland), steeply wedged within folded Devonian carbonates, is recognised as an effect of normal faulting within a releasing stepover. The sandstone succession, corresponding to the Zagnańsk Formation in the local lithostratigraphic scheme, is represented by two complexes, interpreted as deposits of a sand-dominated alluvial plain (older complex), and coarse-grained sands and gravels of a braided river system (younger complex). The sandstone complex was primarily formed as the lowermost part of the several kilometres thick Mesozoic cover of the Holy Cross Mountains Fold Belt (HCFB), later eroded as a result of the Late Cretaceous/Paleogene uplift of the area. Tectonic analysis of the present-day position of the deformed sandstone succession shows that it is fault-bounded by a system of strike-slip and normal faults, which we interpret as a releasing stepover. Accordingly, the formation of the stepover in the central part of the late Palaeozoic HCFB is evidence of a significant role of strike-slip faulting within this tectonic unit during Late Cretaceous/Paleogene times. The faulting was probably triggered by reactivation of the terminal Palaeozoic strike-slip fault pattern along the western border of the Teisseyre–Tornquist Zone.
Results of palynological studies of the Lower Devonian siliciclastic deposits of the Barcza Beds (Upper Pragian-Lower Emsian) from two abandoned quarries at Barcza in the Holy Cross Mts. is presented. Based on miospores, the biostratigraphic position of the tuffite horizon from the Barcza profile was defined as the early Emsian AB (annulatus-bellatulus) palynological Zone.
Amongst the materials collected from the Cambrian outcrops in the Holy Cross Mountains by priest professor Włodzimierz Sedlak, there is a holotype and only specimen of Helcionella polonica, as well as a rock fragment with casts of medusoids on its surface. We decided to revise these materials for their importance to discussions on the early molluscs’ size and the medusae fossil record; as well as for the critical nature of previously published revisions of taxa erected by Sedlak.
JavaScript jest wyłączony w Twojej przeglądarce internetowej. Włącz go, a następnie odśwież stronę, aby móc w pełni z niej korzystać.