Geologia Gór Świętokrzyskich oczami Rodericka Murchisona – wizyta w czerwcu 1843 roku i jej echa

Abstract

Geology of the Holy Cross Mts. in the eyes of Roderick Murchison – visit in June of 1843 and its echoes.A b s t r a c t. In June of 1843 Roderick Murchison visited Poland to overview local geology in order to fill the gap between the results of his Russian campaign (1840–1841) and the familiar geology of Western Europe. Recent examination of Murchison’s hand-written "Journal" and field notebooks in the archive of the Geological Society of London allows a detailed reconstruction of his visit in the Polish territories. During the five-days "charge" across the Holy Cross Mountains the famous British geologist, accompanied by the outstandingPolish colleague Ludwik Zejszner, had collected plenty of observations that were later partly quoted in Murchison’s monumental treatise about the geology of Russia (1845). Among the most important new findings is the identification of the Devonian sediments earlier included by Jerzy Bogumił Pusch (1833–1836) in the Formation of Übergangs Kalkstein und Breccie (Transitional Limestone and Breccia). Murchison’s visit and its results are echoed in later papers by domestic scientists, particularly those by Zejszner. The latter was the first Polish student of the Holy Cross Mountains geology who extensively introduced chronostratigraphic units established by Murchison, including the Silurian and Devonian in particular.