"Węże" nature reserve - Mount Zelce
The only geological reserve of its kind in the region, "Węże", was established on December 10, 1971 in order to protect the Jurassic limestone outlier, Zelce Mountains, which rises 45 meters above the edge of the Warta valley, flowing at its foot, on Wieluń Upland. It is located at an altitude of about 230 m above sea level, has an area of 20.74 ha and is in the commune Działoszyn in Pajęczno district, voivodeship of Lodz, in Poland. Mesoregion: Wieluń Upland.
Geographic coordinates: 51 ° 06′00 ″ N 18 ° 47′30 ″ E
The "Węże" geological reserve has great scientific value and is one of the most interesting landscape objects in the Łódź Province. Pliocene fossil fauna sites have been discovered in the caves.
Zelce hill is built of Upper Jurassic limestone rocks.
Inside the hill, within the outlier, there are corridors and caves, one of them is the Węże cave, the entrance to which is from the north, from the upper edge of the left slope of the Warta valley. On the walls, calcite coatings (crusts), small columns, stalagmites and small stalactites in the ceiling. 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.
In 1934 Jan Samsonowicz here he discovered bone remains of tertiary animals. The site contains the richest collection of fauna remains of Pliocene mammals in Poland. On the basis of these finds, the landscape and natural conditions of this area from the end of the Tertiary period were reconstructed.
Caves are an important palaeontological site for science, in the so-called bone fracture has been discovered and described many species of animals living here in the Tertiary.
They spend the winter in the caves bats.
The limestone substrate favors the occurrence of a characteristic xerothermic plant cover.
The top and the northern slope of the hill are covered with xerothermic and rocky grasslands with rock garlic and common swarm. In crevices, shadowy and humid, rich flora of limestone ferns: rock and masonry fern, brittle fern. The remaining slopes and the foot of the hill are covered with dry pine forests of artificial origin, with a low-value tree stand. Caves are adapted to tourist traffic Stalagmite and Behind the Grate.
The reserve is within the boundaries Załęczański Landscape Park.
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