Where are the volcanoes in Poland? We found 7 of them and not all of them are in the Sudetes
Volcanoes in Poland showed their activity many millions of years ago. In times when there is no eruption or even the slightest form of characteristic cataclysm. Looking at how they have survived to the present day after ancient volcanoes, there is no chance of them ever erupting in at least a few million years.
In the compilation of the exact Polish volcanoes, we indicated above all the diversity and the fact that there may be relics of former volcanism along the entire line of the Sudetes and the Carpathians.
Read also: Burning heaps like volcanoes. “Explosively” can also be in Poland [WYWIAD]
Ostrzyca – Silesian Mount Fuji
its shape deceptively reminiscent of a volcanic cone. The last time magma gathered in this place was about 15 million years ago in the Miocene, although some researchers have also stated that even 5 million years ago lava streams passed in the Kaczawskie Foothills. What we see today is a fragment of an ancient volcano, which was formed in the reactions of shaping erosion processes. Those seeking less types of rocks may encounter basalts here, which are extrusive igneous rocks with an aphanitic effect, components of the basalt process, but with a higher content of plagioclase and feldspars.
The Myśliborskie Organs – this is what the center of the volcano looks like
While in Ostrzyca we can imagine how it happened that the volcano was actually found there, that in the case of the Myślibórz Organs, our imagination will wander along the volcanic chimney itself. The almost vertical basalt columns that we can admire on the Rataj hill (350 m above sea level) are also located in the Kaczawskie Foothills, they are actually neki. Neki is a kind of heartwood, i.e. rocks that are harder and more resistant to erosion than the surrounding ones. In the case of the Myślibórz Organs, the nexus here is the solidified lava from the volcanic chimney – the rocks that make up the cone have been eroded and only the “inside” of the volcano remains. The basalt rocks building the Similar Organs no longer resemble the lava accumulating here 30 million years ago, but the shape of the column reflects the direction of its outflow. proved that the appearance of the Myślibórz Organs is of a single volcanic section.
Read also: Yellowstone supervolcano – will the ticking time bomb ever explode?
Wielisławskie organs – old, but the biggest
Volcanism in Lower Silesia apparently appeared as a result of the Kaczawskie Foothills, and that is why another example was cited with this area. It should be noted, however, that volcanic activity at this level occurs only in the Oligocene-Miocene period, but also much earlier. The Wielisławka organ, which is located on the slope of the Wielisławka hill, is the most effective after volcanism in 300 million years. in the lower Permian west, the Variscan orogenic movement, along with the accompanying volcanic activity. The Wielisławskie organs are built of rhyolites, which is a very unusual rock that builds this type of pillar joint, which is a crystal-like solidification of the magma melt. Rhyolite is an extrusive volcanic rock with silica content and light feldspars.
Miękinia near Krakow – real basalt traps
Basalt traps, i.e. falice plateaus in the results of an actual fissure or surface eruption, are found not only in distant Siberia, but also in Poland. At a time when Lower Silesian volcanoes spewed lava during the Variscan orogeny, volcanic phenomena occurred in the Olkuska Upland. In the village of Miękinia in the commune of Krzeszowice (Krakow poviat) we can see an example of a basalt gangway after an early Permian volcano. The area is already heavily transformed. There is no trace of the former cone due to the 300 million years that have taken effect and the operation of the local quarry, which has led to the creation of one of the main mining pits in the area. The Mińsk volcano is a phenomenon that occurs on our leaves, but it draws attention to the fact that this branch also occurs in Krakow and Katowice experimental in the geological history of volcanic eruptions.
Bryjarka and Jarmuta – Pieniny volcanoes
The Pieniny Klippen Belt is a very interesting geological unit. It stretches for 600 kilometers and its maximum length is 20 kilometers. next to its fragment emerges into the distance and is exactly the Pieniny mountain range. During the Alpine orogeny (which is active throughout the sunset), when the Carpathian chain is formed, there are also manifestations of volcanism. Several hills in the Pieniny area are made of volcanic rocks and are commemorative of the usual “Pieniny volcanoes”. Jarmuta with a characteristic conical rectangular shape is geographically located in the Małe Pieniny Mountains and Bryjarka in Beskid Sądecki are just such examples. They are made of andesite, which means that magma of this composition was collected here. Lava poured out through rock fissures during two stages – the early Miocene 20 million years ago and the late 12 million years ago.
Read also: Magma does not always flow directly from beneath the volcano. Giant lava sheets tell us otherwise
Mount Wdżar – a volcano that was not a volcano
In the group of the Pieniny Klippen Belt, but on the border of the Gorce and Pieniny Proper, in the village of Kluszkowce, there is the Wdżar mountain, which may resemble a volcanic cone in its shape, although it has probably never been one in its history. In this place, we also encounter the same type of andesite rocks as in Jarmut and Bryjarka, but here its exposures are much more spectacular. For many decades, volcanic rock was mined here for construction purposes. For example: the facade of Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego in Warsaw was built of Pieniny andesite. However, returning to the top of Wdżar, what does the local “volcano” look like? It turns out that the law has escaped to a higher level in more fissure intrusions than through a huge volcanic vent, shooting streams of law through the air.
Basalt rock – a mystery of Polish mountains
A small basalt rock located in Małe Pieniny on the border of the former village of Biała Woda should not really be included in this list, but because of its mystery, which should be introduced. Wandering along the trail through the Biała Woda reserve, in its vicinity we can encounter an unusual place – a basalt rock surrounded by limestone rocks. For many years it was believed that this is after the handing of a miniature volcano (or rather an intrusion without a visible cone shape was observed) for as many years as nearby Jarmuta, Bryjarska or Wdżar. Revealing even the properties of the columnar blow, so “some lava can pass and solidify in this place” – we can achieve briefly. Accurate dating brought a lot of surprise, and for some certainly disappointment. The basalt rock is not a trace of any Miocene eruption, but just an ordinary rock fragment, which, as a remnant of an older volcano that no longer exists, moved during one of the many submarine megaslides along with other sediments during the formation of the Carpathian flysch. The age of the basalt was discovered in the Jurassic, so it is at least 120 million years older than previously thought.
The list of volcanoes in Poland may not arouse admiration in addition to those when climbing the active Italian Etna, Hawaiian Kilauea or any of the Indonesian volcanoes, but the value of how rich the geological history of our country was. Currently, we do not expect the awakening of any of the former, extinct volcanoes at the site in Poland. Maybe the next years recorder bringing a bit more in orogenic processes and thus some volcanic revival. One thing is certain – we will not see these volcanic eruptions in Poland anymore.
When a rational man or Neanderthals slowly “colonized” Europe The first one is Lacheer See – a lake whose waters are located in the heart of a volcanic caldera. It is located in western Germany in the Eiffel Mountains. Last time, 13,000 people were involved in the eruption of the volcano under the lake. years ago. The layer of volcanic ash and pumice that reached as far as the Rhine valley was estimated to be as much as 7 meters thick. Another interesting example of a “more modern” volcano is Putikov vàšok in Slovakia. A small hill at the southern end of the Carpathian Mountains in Banskobystrica Region witnessed a lava eruption 100,000 years ago. years ago. Today, walking around this area, we will notice the already transformed basalt laws that flowed down the slopes of Putikov in the form of streams.