Karkonoski Park Narodowy z otuliną jako geopark krajowy

Abstract

Karkonosze National Park with its buffer zone certified as the National Geopark.A b s t r a c t. The Certificate of National Geopark for the Karkonosze National Park with its buffer zone reflects the policy of the Ministry of Environment, which aims to create a network of national geoparks in Poland. It is also a consequence of conducting by the Karkonosze National Park the project "Geosites inventory and assessment in the Karkonosze National Park and its buffer zone, including preparation of the geological map of the area", which provided solid scientific basis for the recognition of Karkonosze Mts. as national geopark. The certificate highlights the geodiversity of the Karknosze Mts., which parallels its biodiversity values and is decisive for the great attractiveness of the area among the scientists and visitors alike. Features such as mountain-top planation surfaces, glacial cirques, granite tors, and waterfalls have been invariably listed as the key elements of geoheritage of the Karkonosze Mts. Less obvious, but no less important are various mineralogical localities, exposures of granite and metamorphic rock which provide insights into the nature of igneous and rock deformation processes in the Palaeozoic era, peat bogs bearing record of palaeoenvironmental change, and remains on past mining and mineral prospecting. Geodiversity of the Karkonosze Mts. is well-documented in dozens of scientific publications, but also also consistently exposed by the Karkonosze National Park and other institutions, through wide-ranging activities of popularizing geoheritage of thesemountains.