Pizolity jaskiniowe w jednej z grot w Wojcieszowie

Abstract

ON CAVE PISOLlTHS FROM WOJCIESZÓW (POLISH SUDETEN)

Cave pisoliths have been discovered, locally lying in a small water-filled hole, inside one the Lower Cambrian limestone caverns of Wojcieszów, within the mountains Góry Kaczawskie (German: Bober-Katzbach Gebirge), Polish Sudeten. Their shape is markedly differentiated and varies from spherical to cylindrical and even irregular contours, with size ranging from 0.7 to 1.6 cm. They are rusty-yellow in colour, very light, their streaks being 1.442 g/cm³ as against 2.355 g/cm³ shown by other infiltrations. The pisoliths are made up of from 15 to 20 concentric calcium carbonate laminae, while their nuclei consist mostly of fragments of stalactites. The writer accounts as follows for the origin of the pisoliths. Action of water with a H₂CO₃ and CaC0₃ content, dripping down onto the cave floor, wore out small irregularly shaped, water filled hollows. Water of these reservoirs and loose rock fragments there were moved about by drops of water falling down. The precipitated calcium carbonate was concentrically deposited on the moved rock fragments giving rise to cave pisoliths.