Valorisation and categorisation of the geosites in the Podtatrze area ( Southern Poland )

The aim of this paper is to propose, valorise and categorise the geosites in the Podtatrze Area (Southern Poland). There are 46 geosites available in geodatabases (PGI, PAS and AGH) at this area. The author suggests next 28 geopoints, which can be used in geotourism. They were valorised by the Pereira and Pereira (2010) and Rybár (2010) methods and categorised. This area contains multiple geotourism attractions including interesting flysch geological settings, landslides, peatbogs, limestone klippes, various types of rivers with small gorges and paleontological sites. The increase in the number of tourists in the Podtatrze region may additionally provide numerous tangible benefits in the future, including sustainable tourism, less “congestion” in the Tatra Mountains, more economic diversity and new job opportunities.

The Podtatrze region (Podhale, Orava, Liptov and Spiš) located around the Tatra Mountains, is one of the best locations for qualified tourism in Poland and Slovakia.It has amazing landscapes, gorges, rock outcrops, river valleys and many other interesting places of inanimate nature.Regardless of the nature, the Podtatrze has very good tourist infrastructure and amazing culture, which is an additional magnet for tourism (Kollár, 1999;Lacika, 1999aLacika, , 1999b)), because it comprises three historic and ethnographical regions: Orawa (in the west), Podhale (central part) and Spisz (in the east) (Fig. 1).The geology, relief and hydrography of this area are very diversified.Based on the evaluation of various landscape features, the author selected 45 geosites in the Polish part of the Podtatrze (Fig. 1) as the most interesting places for geotourism.Twenty eight of them are new, and 17 are known from the geo-databases, made earlier by the Polish Geological Institute -National Research Institute (geostanowiska.pgi.gov.pl),Polish Academy of Sciences (iop.krakow.pl/geosites)or AGH University of Science and Technology (Słomka et al., 2012), and partly published by Krobicki and Golonka (2008).

Geological basement, relief and hydrography of the Podtatrze area
From the geographical point of view, Podtatrze belongs to four geographical regions: the Orawa -Nowy Targ Basin, the Pieniny Mountains, the Spiš -Gubałówka Foothills, and the Zakopane Trough (Kondracki, 2011).
The Spiš -Gubałówka Foothill is a latitudinal and asymmetric range of hills, which fall steeply to the south, and gently to the north.It is built of the Oligocene -lowermost Miocene flysch sediments, including the Chochołów and Ostrysz beds, which are composed of medium and coarse sandstone layers with clayey shale and mudstone intercalations.The northern boundary of the Spiš -Gubałówka Foothills runs along a tectonic line that represents deep tectonic displacement (system of strike-slip faults) (Birkenmajer, 1986) seperating the PKB and the Podhale Basin.To the north of this tectonic line, numerous klippes occur, built of the Jurassic -Cretaceous carbonate rocks, like Rogoźnicka Skała klippe, Ranizberg Klippe, Cisowa Skała Klippe and Zdziar Range.All of them are a part of the PKB.The Spiš -Gubałówka Foothill is divided into four parts: Skoruszyna, Gubałówka, Bukowina and Spiš foothills.This division is related to an occurrence of three rivers (Czarny Dunajec, Biały Dunajec and Białka) flowing from the south to the north, which intersect the Foothills (Kondracki, 2011) (Fig. 2, 3).
The Pieniny Klippen Belt is a narrow zone of extreme shortening, built of mostly Jurassic and Cretaceous carbonate rocks (Birkenmajer 1977(Birkenmajer , 1986)).Tectonic development of this area is subject to debate.According to Birkenmajer (1986), the belt was folded twice, during the Late Cretaceous and Tertiary times.Oszczypko et al. (2010) stated that the PKB was deformed continuously from the Late Cretaceous until the late Miocene.Plašienka and Mikuš (2010) suggested two phases of tectonic processes, the Late Cretaceous -Early Eocene thrusting, followed by post-Paleogene transgression.Lately, Chorowicz (2016) suggested that the PKB rocks were deposited up to the Early Paleogene, along the eastern footwall of a Split-Karlovac-Initial PKB-Crustal-Zone paleotransform fault (Fig. 2, 3).

Methods of valorisation
There are several quantitative methods for the assesment of geosites (Alexandrowicz et al., 1992;Koźma, 2009;Rybár et al., 2010;Baca, Schuster, 2011;Bruschi et al., 2011;Dmytrowski, Kicińska, 2011;Fassoulas et al., 2012) and geomorphosites (Serrano, Gonzalez-Trueba, 2005;Panizza et al., 2007;Reynard et al., 2007;Zauros, 2007;Pereira, Pereira, 2010;Rodriges, Fencesca, 2010).All of these methods are based on a method of grading points, which assigns values corresponding to the described features (Sołowiej, 1987).Most of them are stated on a subjective assessment of the components of geosite such as accessibility, scientific, educational, cultural, ecological, and economic values, rarity in the region, and many others.For the purpose of this contribution, the author used two valorization methods, described by Pereira,and Pereira (2010) and Rybár (2010).These two methods, according to the author, are best suited to evaluate geosites located in the Podtatrze, because they were prepared to assess geological and/or geomorphological objects in mountain regions: The Rybár method (2010) applies strictly to geosites located in the Western Carpathians.
The valorisation of geosites according to the Pereira,and Pereira method (2010) uses a point scale from 0 to 0.5, 1, 1.5 or 2 with a 0.25 interval.A 0.5, 1, 1.5 or 2 points are assigned for the highest value (depending on the evaluated value), 0 -for the lowest one.This method rated the following components: geomorphological value, consisting of: scientific value, additional value (cultural, aesthetic and ecological) and management value, consisting of use value and protection value.
The quantitative methods for the assessment of geosites by Rybár (2010) rated two groups of them: natural and anthropogenic.In this contribution, the author used the criteria for only the natural geosites, which include primary geological properties, uniqueness of the object, accessibility of the object, existing scientific and professional publications, conditions of observation (research), safety criteria, availability of information about the object, visual value of the object, value of provided services, and value of object in the tourist area.In this method point scale ranges from 0 to 8, however each criterion is defined by the point value for a particular component.For example, the uniqueness criterion has six components: object unique within e Europe -8 points, object unique within the Western Carpathians -6 points, object unique within an orographic unit -5 points, object unique within a hiking distance -4 points, object typical for a region -3 points and other object -0 points.
Location of the proposed geosites was described by geographic coordinates, administrative, ethnographic and geographic region affiliations.The number of geosite presented in the Table 1 is compatible with the number of geosite on the map (Fig. 4) and bar graphs (Fig. 5, 6).
A European watershed between the Baltic and the Black Sea runs across this area (Łajczak, 2006).-Kotarba, 1992;Łajczak, 2006).Total thickness of the peat rises 10 M. A narrow-gauge railway line runs along the peatbog.

Zakopane Trough
Rów Podtatrzański Alternated layers of shales and thin-bedded mudstones with finegrained syderitic sandstones belonging to the Zakopane Beds (Gołąb, 1954), outcropped at a riverbed of the Biały creek on both its banks.Numerous small folds and tectonic slices are visible within this succession of a distance of ca 300 m, south of the northern edge of the Tatra Mountains.
Jedno z torfowisk wysokich położonych w Kotlinie Orawsko-Nowotarskiej. Powstało ok. 10 tys.lat temu po ostatnim zlodowaceniu (Łajczak, 2006) Pieniny An isolated limestone klippe, located on the left side of the Białka River gorge.It is built of Jurassic red and white crinoidal limestones, and Cretaceous red marls.Two caves occur on its SE and S slopes.The smallest one contains traces of prehistoric people.Inside the biggest cave, a numerous flint and bone products, related to the Paleolithic period and the last glacial event have been found.The dating of animals and human bones, which were found there, made it possible to define and reconstruct the environment of this area during the Vistula Glaciation (Alexandrowicz, 1997;Valde-Nowak et al., 1987, 1995, 2003).
Pieniny Klippes built of tectonic slices containing the Middle Jurassic crinoidal limestones, Upper Jurassic organodetrital limestones (with ammonites) and the Upper Cretaceous red marls.The whole succession represents sediments of shallow-water sea (Birkenmajer, 1963).Rock climbing is available on its southern slopes.

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Mioceńskie andezyty (Birkenmajer, 1963)  Formation (Birkenmajer, Oszczypko, 1989) belonging to the Krynica Unit of the Magura Nappe, outcropped close to the main road from the Dębno to Niedzica villages, on the southern slopes of the Gorce Mountains.The whole succession visible in this outcrop is 25 m thick.

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Comparison of the total index values between the valorisation, made by using methods by Pereira, Pereira (2010) and Rýbar (2010) shows that there are large differences between them, especially between the highest rated geosites (Fig. 5, 6).This is mainly due to the different components used in the quantitative methodology.For example, indexes of educational values (uniqueness, geological and geomorphological properties), tourism values (accessibility, possibility of visual observation, and capabilities of the object), and state of conservation values are used in the valorisation methods by Pereira and Pereira (2010) and Rýbar (2010).However, each of these methods has additional components, which does not occur in the second one.
A comparison of Rýbár (2010) and Pereira and Pereira (2010) valorisation methods shows how big the difference is between the highest rated geosites and the lowest rated geosites.The highest rated geosites are described in travel guides (Kollár et al., 1998;Kollár, 1999;Lacika, 1999aLacika, , 1999b;;Pinkwart, 2011) and marked on the tourist maps of the Tatra Mountains and Podtatrze region.The tourism development of the locality is good.There are some information panels, parking, benches, etc. (Fig. 12).Additionally, they have very high educational and scientific values.
Among all the geosites in the Podtatrze region, only one site, the Rogoźnik Klippe, with valuable fossil records outcropped in a quarry was included within the UNESCO List of World Geological Heritage.
Unfortunately, this point is poorly accessible, poorly advertised, and has a low state of conservation.As a consequence, the index value of such an interesting site is low, using any valorsisation method.This need not be a cause for concern, because, it is easier to create appropriate access to a valuable geosite, than develop something valuable from a more accessible, but ordinary geological outcrop.From this, 45 geosites which was categorised and valorised above 28 are new, 17 are registered in the Central Register of Polish Geosites, edited by PGI (geostanowiska.pgi.gov.pl).Three geosites are included in the Catalogue of Geotourist Sites published by Słomka et al. (2012), and five geosites were included in the Database of the Polish Representative Geosites edited by Z. Alexandrowicz (iop.krakow.pl).

Discussion
More than half of the geosites presented in this contribution comprise rock outcrops (17) and viewing points of a landscape (9).The rock outcrops are represented by natural exposures within river valleys, klippes, and exposures inside quarries.Among the viewing points of landscapes, most of them exhibit the view on the Tatra Mountains, ranges of the Beskidy Mountains, the Pieniny Mountains and on the landscape of the Spiš-Gubalowka Foothills.The viewing points are a new offer among geosites.It could be important from an educational point of view, because the regional geological background and relief could be explained from such places (Rogowski, Biłous, 2013).In the Podtatrze region, the thermal boreholes are specific geosites, which distinguish this area from other regions, acting as an additional function of recreation.
Many of the geosites in the Podtatrze region, presented on Figure 4 and 5 were the subject of numerous scientific studies.This concerns the Rogoża Klippe (No. 3, Fig. 11) with a quarry of the Jurassic red crinoidal limestone and coquina limestone, containing rich marine invertebrate fossils (Gąsiorowski, 1956(Gąsiorowski, , 1962;;Birkenmajer, 1962b, 1963 and

Conclusion
The Polish part of the Podtatrze region is very diversified from the geological and geographical point of view.The author proposed 45 geosites (28 are new) in this area, presenting their various educational, touristic and protection-need values.
Two quantitative methods were tested for the assessment of the geosites.All of them were created by the authors Pereira and Pereira (2010) and Rybár (2010) for various mountain regions.The results of the various criteria: scientific, additional (ecological, cultural, aesthetic, economic) and potential for use of each geosite were used to estimate, respectively, the educational, applied and the protection-needed value indexes for each geosite on various scales.The comparison of the total index values of the particular geosites, made by using two valorisation methods shows the differences between them.The differences result from the amount and quality of the components, by which the geosites were evaluated.Several geosites, including the the Białka Gorge at Krempachy, the Wdżar Hill with a quarry and the Babia Góra viewing pointof landscapes represent the highest potential value for geotouris znajdujące się m, independently of the method used.Unexpectedly, the site from the UNESCO List of World Geological Heritage, the Rogoźnik Klippe Nature Reserve, has the lowest valorisation score, mainly due to problems with its accessibility.

Ordi- nal Lp. NAME OF THE GEOSITE Nazwa geostanowiska LON λ Długość geogra ficzna LAT φ Szerokość geogra ficzna LOCALITY Miejsco wość Community Gmina DIS Po wiat REG Re gion CAT Kategoria Geographic region after Kondracki (2011) Mezoregion fizyczno geograficzny CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES
Chrobak • Rezerwat Przełom Białki pod Krempachami, fot. A. Chrobak (Birkenmajer, 1963) the Czarny Dunajec River, exhibiting a braided riverbed at the Wróblówka village.The river transports mainly gravels and sands; boulders, up to 0.5 m in diameter.These have been moved along the streambed during floods.The exposure of the Jurassic and Cretaceous carbonate rocks, outcropped in the Pieniny Klippen Belt (geologically).The Rogoża Klippe is built of Jurassic, red crinoidal limestone and coquina limestone, containing rich marine invertebrate fossils.The coquina is unique on the European scale of geological sediments, due to the richness of the fossils.Since 1989, this place is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Geological Site as a high-class scientific facility of international importance(Birkenmajer, 1963).Four sandstone boulders, with diameters up to one meter, exposed at the bottom of the Rogoźnik creek within the Stare Bystre village.All of them are located along a straight line, parallel to other rock layers which occur in the bedrock of a creek.The boulders (as balls) are examples of large concretions formed due to weathering processes of thick sandstone layers containing various amounts of carbonate-siliceous cement.These deposits belong to the Krynica subunit of the Magura Nappe.They lie in close proximity to the Pieniny Klippen Belt.Water divide between the Baltic and Black Sea drainage basins crosses the peatbogs within the Orawa -Nowy Targ Basin.Generally, this divide is difficult to identify in that area because of underground outflows.However, at the Puścizna Wielka peatbog, it can be located in the springs of the stream, from which water flows directly to the Baltic Sea drainage basin.

LOCALITY Miejsco wość Community Gmina DIS Po wiat REG Re gion CAT Kategoria
PieninyNeogene conglomerates and gravels, ca. 10 m thick, located on the right bank of the Cichy creek, near its mouth into the Rogoźnik creek that crosses the Domański Wierch Hill.This material is dominated by the Podhale flysh sandstones, associated with limestone and cherts coming from the Pieniny Klippen Belt, and occasionally by quartz- Landscape viewing point located at the top of the Bachledówka Hill (947 m a.s.l.), with view onto the Tatra Mountains, Pieniny Mountains, Orawa-Nowy Targ Basin, and the Beskidy Mountains.The Pauline monastery which has a hotel stands in this place.
This is a landslide at Witów village, located close to houses and main road at a lower part of the village covering the surface of ca.3 hectares.Typical elements of the landslide including niche, scarp, tongue and a small lake are visible there.This is a landslide at Witów village, located at the central part of the village covering the surface ca 6,5 hectares.The landslide begun to form during the Early Holocene.It is still active.Its flows down near a wooden church that was built at the top of the river tongue.This is a landslide at Witów village, located at central part of the village covering the surface of ca 1,7 hectares.Typical elements of the landslide include a niche, scarp, tongue and small lake.A snowpack that was built on the landslide niche is an additional touristic attraction during the winter months.

LOCALITY Miejsco wość Community Gmina DIS Po wiat REG Re gion CAT Kategoria
(Tomaszczyk et al., 2009)a wzgórzuPłazówka (928 m n.p.m.), z widokiem na Tatry.Na wzgórzu znajduje się również drewniana kaplica.Landscape viewing point located at the Gubałówka Hill (1120 m a.s.l.), with a view onto the Tatra Mountains.The funicular from Zakopane town to the top of the Hill is an additional touristic attraction in this place.Slovakian border, north of the Tatra Mountains in the Oravska Gate Pass, known from its visible presence of Rhododendron tomentosum, Calla and Comarum palustre (Koperowa, 1961).There is also a place with a water divide between the Baltic and Black Sea drainage basins.theend of the Lejowa Valley, built of the Eocene Nummulites Limestone, deposited on the folded Mesozoic Tatric sediments.Numerous Nummulites tests (benthic foraminifers) are visible on the surface of the beds within the eastern slopes of the gorge.The surface of the vertical fault is visible on the western slopes of the gorge(Tomaszczyk et al., 2009).

LOCALITY Miejsco wość Community Gmina DIS Po wiat REG Re gion CAT Kategoria
Mouth of the Jaworowy creek extending to the Białka creek at the Podokólne alp.The Białka River began flowing to the north from this place.A small waterfall of the Białka creek occurs at this place.One of the raised peatbogs located in the Orawa -Nowy Targ Basin.

LOCALITY Miejsco wość Community Gmina DIS Po wiat REG Re gion CAT Kategoria
high, occurring in the upper course of the Kacwinka creek at the Kacwin village; the biggest one in the Podtatrze Region.It was formed on the threshold, built of resistant sandstone layers with carbonate cement, including numerous calcite veins at the top and thin-bedded series of shales and mudstones at the base.