Rzeźba strukturalna obszaru Świętokrzyskiego Parku Narodowego

The area of the Świętokrzyski National Park is one of the most evident examples of structural morphology in Poland. Its relief is clearly determined by bedrock lithology: the hill ranges are composed of hard quartzitic sandstones of the upper Cambrian (Łysogóry Range) and the Lower Devonian (Klonowskie Range), while the depressions, usually vast and flat-bottomed, are distributed on outcrops of soft, easily weathered and eroded Ordovician and Silurian shales, greywackes and sandstones. The parallel pattern of hill ranges and depressions, as well as a mesh-grid pattern of river valley systems and the antecedent character of river gaps, reflects fold tectonics modified by transverse faults. Such a morphology developed during the Paleogene and Neogene under hot and then warm, gradually cooling climatic conditions. In the Pleistocene, principally under the periglacial conditions, block fields (symbols of the Świętokrzyski NP) and crags (crests, table-like forms, cupolas and spurs) were formed. The shape and spatial position of most crags are related to geological structures.