The Sleza Massif - quarries and mines

MAN IS ACTIVE HERE FROM THE ANCIENT TIME

I wrote in my album and page devoted to the Sleza Massif that in this region man was active from the ancient time. Archaeological data evidence it for the Stone Age. There were here numerous quarries exploited for production of different stone tools, mainly serpentinite axes and granite querns. On an attached map within an area marked by a blue line Professor Grzegorz Domanski, an archaeologist from Polish Academy of Sciences in Wroclaw noted 23 granite quarries for the Roman and Mediaeval Periods. In the massif and its vicinity there are also many minerals and valuable rocks which were used by man in some mines, also up to the present day. Looking at the map one can note that many quarries are closed now but some like a magnesite mine near Wiry village, serpentinite quarry near Naslawice, feldspar quarry near Sobotka and granite quarries near Chwalkow are still working. The discovery of turquoise in quartzite slates near Pustkow Wilczkowski is very valuable outcrop for geologists. There is a proposal to protect “Turquoise Hill” as a natural reserve. Heaps in the Wiry magnesite mine are also composed of many other interesting minerals, e.g. opal and chrysoprase. In closed quarries there develop on steep rocky walls new flora and fauna, also in some caves. At the bottom of such quarries often picturesque small lakes are formed. Old sand- and gravel-pits are inhabited by thermophilous plants and animals. So, these new man-made objects start to be very valuable and interesting for naturalists. Unfortunately, many of them are used at present as stores for litter. In this album I do not show such pictures but I met them very often.
Our civilization is “the litter civilization”!!!

THIS ALBUM WILL BE CONTINUED………

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