Zelce mountain, also called Zelcowy Hill - limestone outlier on Wieluń Upland, rising 53 m above the nearby Warta River (228 m above sea level). Lies in Działoszyn commune in Pajęczno district, voivodeship of Lodz, in Poland. Mesoregion: Wieluń Upland.
Zelcowe Hill is built of Upper Jurassic limestone, embedded here before 130 million. years in a marine environment. The limestone paving style and the network of rock fractures are visible in the crowbars from which the limestone was exploited for many years. There is a whole range of karst forms here: limestone rocks on the surface, wells, boilers and karst craters, and in the ground - caves.
The rich dripstone formations of the caves and more magnificent fragments of the karst sculpture were long ago destroyed, because after the Second World War, Góra Zelce belonged to private owners, who intensively exploited limestone and calcite. Currently, the area is protected - in 1971 it was established here Węże geological reserve, later incorporated into Załęczański Landscape Park.
This miniature underground world was created as a result of the leaching of limestone by water containing carbon dioxide. Calcite infiltrates formed by precipitation of calcium carbonate from the solution. The insoluble components of the rock accumulate on site in the form of red clays, rich in iron compounds. Clay is visible at the entrance to the cave.
Numerous karst phenomena, incl. caves (including: Cave Niespodzianka, Zanokcica, Stalagmitowa, Za Lattice, Draba, Mała, Professor Samsonowicz). The caves of Stalagmitowa and Behind Krata are adapted to tourist traffic. Pliocene fossil fauna sites have been discovered in the caves. The surface of the hill is covered with xerothermic and rocky grasslands.
Until 2002, there was a wooden lookout tower here.
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