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No.4 http://www.progeo.org.se 2002

The Cerknica field (Cerkniško polje) is the largestkarst polje in Slovenia. It includes the periodic Cer-knica lake that belongs to one of the most excep-tional natural curiosities. At high rainfall it covers 26square kilometers and it is the largest lake in Slove-nia. During floods the water level rises for almost sixmeters. The bottom and the surroundings of thelake consists of Upper Triassic dolomites, and Ju-rassic and Cretaceous limestones and dolomites.

The polje is crossed by several tectonic lines,among which is the Idrija fault that is one of themore important fault zones in Slovenia. At this faultzone a devastating earthquake happened in 1511. Itcaused heavy damages. A part of the Idrija mercurydeposits was also shifted along this fault line.

The Cerknica lake displays all characteristics of akarst polje: karst springs, estavellas, swallow holes,and a very complicated underground hydrologicalsystem. Waters that disappear underground in vari-ous swallow holes reappear in various, at times verydistant springs. In the surroundings are many karstcaves. One of them is the Križ cave (Križna jama),one of the most beautiful and longest karst systems

The CerknicaField

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The Polje of Cerknica. Photo: Rajko Pavlovec

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in Slovenia. It is famous by numerous small under-ground lakes and pretty ornamental dripstones.

The Cerknica lake has also a considerable historicalsignificance. It was described by Janez Vajkard Val-vasor in his famous book on Carniola “Die Ehre desHerzogthums Crain” (1689). In it he attempted to ex-plain the functioning of the periodic lake. He submit-ted the description to the London Royal Society(1687), which accepted him into its membership. In1747 the Cerknica lake was described in more detailby Franc Anton Steinberg (“Gründliche Nachrichtvon dem in dem Inner-Crain gelegenen CzirknitzerSee“). These works made Cerknica lake well knownbeyond the boundaries of Slovenia.

In addition to geologic and speleologic aspects, theCerknica lake is interesting also from the botanicaland especially the ornithological view. Particularlyduring bird migration numerous birds associatedwith water stop here. As an important region in thisrespect the lake is inscribed in the list of Interna-tional Council for Bird Protection.

During repeated visits of the Cerknica lake its ap-pearance is always different. At one time it is full ofwater, and at another time the peasants mow theregrass. In the remains of flowing off waters numer-ous fishes get caught and are then collected by thenatives. Several years ago the swallow holes thatdrain water underground were closed with the aim ofpromoting tourism. The goal was to extend the timeof high waters, and to construct hotels and othertouristic objects. The plan failed, since water alwaysfound new ways to escape underground. Mostprobably the extended high water period would alsoresult into increased growth of water plants whichwould make the lake unattractive for tourism.Rajko Pavlovec

Discussions about means to vitalise our newsletterare popping up from time to time. Lately, sugges-tions about joining forces with other similar publica-tions have been proposed.

I would like to add another theme to the former, in-troducing thematic issued once or twice a year.

As a support to the editor, two or three membersform an editorial board that could function maybetwo half days for each issue. The board could selectand propose a theme, say six months in advance inorder to give people time enough to compile the ma-terial. For instance, five to ten nations present a na-tional park with special geological features withintheir realm, for another issue some nations review avulnerable landscape in their country. Variation ofthemes is almost endless.

I hope this approach can be scrutinised and dis-cussed amongst ProGEO members, and commentsare most welcome in this forum.

Gunnel Ransed

The Polje of Cerknica in SloveniaPhoto: Rajko Pavlovec

ProGEO News

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Face Lift is English Nature's geological site en-hancement programme. Face Lift is part of EnglishNature's drive to bring Sites of Special Scientific In-terest (SSSIs) into favourable condition, to fulfil theBritish Government's Public Service Agreement tar-get of having 95% of SSSIs in England in favourablecondition by 2010. Initiated in April 1999, the FaceLift programme is now in its fourth year. English Na-ture spent over £230,000 on the programme in thefirst three years in enhancing more than 130 geo-logical SSSIs. The target for 2002-2003 is to en-hance a minimum of 40 sites with a total budget of£100,000.

Geological SSSIs are considered favourable whenthe important geological features are ‘practically us-able’ for scientific purposes. A site is considered tobe ‘practically usable’ if the important geological fea-tures are exposed or can be exposed by usinghand-tools, taking a small research group less thanabout a day. If longer times or heavy machinery arerequired to re-create exposure, the site is generallyconsidered to be unfavourable and is an appropriatecandidate for Face Lift.

Face Lift forms part of a broader system of site con-servation, involving site monitoring, conservation ob-jective setting and the establishment of short-termand long-term management works required to cre-ate or maintain favourable condition. The conserva-tion objectives essentially define the minimum con-dition a site should be in to be considered favour-able. In practical terms, this often means maintain-ing a specified length of section clear of vegetationand rock debris.

Typical Face Lift work includes vegetation manage-ment, clearance of scree, scaling and re-profiling offaces, rubbish removal and improvement of access.Much of this work is focused on disused quarries,pits and railway cuttings in inland locations, as thesesites are the most prone to becoming overgrown bythick vegetation and concealed by scree. Such sitesform a large and vital part of the overall geologicalSSSI coverage in England, as they frequently repre-sent the only rock outcrops in many inland areas.Other types of site which have benefited from en-hancements under Face Lift include active road cut-tings, mine dumps and caves. In addition, signboards have been produced for a number of sites,as a means of communicating the importance ofgeological conservation to the general public.

Giving England’sGeology a FaceLift

Ancient lavaflow-front brec-cia exposed by

vegetationclearance at

Litton Mill(Photo Mick

Murphy)

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For further information about Face Lift, please con-tact Mick Murphy at English Nature, NorthminsterHouse, Northminster, Peterborough PE1 1UA, UK,telephone 44 (0)1733 455216, email: michael.murphy@english-nature.org.uk.

Face Lift Examples

Carboniferous volcanic sites, Derbyshire

Basaltic volcanism is a notable feature of the geo-logical history of Derbyshire during the early Carbon-iferous and several sites are notified as SSSIs. En-hancement works have been performed on three

sites, two of which have been undertaken in partner-ship with the Peak District National Park Authority.

Litton Mill Railway Cutting exposes a lava flow-frontbreccia, a rare feature in the geological record(Photo). The exposure had been covered in thickvegetation for many decades until it was cleared in2001. The site is on a popular public footpath and amanagement board is being produced to highlightthe importance of the geology and explain the needfor vegetation management to expose the rare geo-logical feature.

Tideswell Dale, a disused quarry, exposes a doleritesill which was intruded into a basalt-limestone se-quence. Vegetation clearance was performed toprovide better exposure in the face and trenchingwas undertaken to locate the base of the sill and theunderlying rocks. The trenching re-exposed a veryunusual clay-rich horizon, exhibiting small-scale butperfectly formed columnar jointing (Photo). The ori-gin of this feature is unresolved and further researchis warranted here.

Calton Hill is unique in England in that the basaltsexposed there contain mantle xenoliths, carried upby rapidly ascending magma from depths of about30 km or more. The site is of major importance asthe only place where the upper mantle beneath Eng-land can be directly sampled. The site is a disusedquarry, now an active landfill site, with a conserva-tion section retained outside of the landfill area. Theconservation faces had become very overgrown, un-til clearance was undertaken in 2001, funded byFace Lift.

Mine Dumps in Cornwall

Many dumps from disused mines in old English min-ing areas are notified as SSSIs, as the mine spoil of-ten represents the only accessible remnant of a for-merly rich mineralogical resource. Mine dumps pres-ent particular management problems in terms of un-derstanding the quality and distribution of the min-eral resource, essential for making condition as-sessments and defining conservation objectives.Typically, large sections of spoil consist of barrenwallrock, with the minerals of interest concentratedin small parts of the dumps. Because many dumpshave been subject to intense sample collecting and,in some cases, large-scale removal of material overthe years, current knowledge of the resource can beinadequate for good conservation management.

Columnar jointed clay-rich bed exposed by trenching at TideswellDale (Photo Mick Murphy)

Wheal Alfred mine dump, Cornwall, before Face Lift works inMarch 2002 (Photo Mick Murphy)

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Face Lift has funded exploratory digs on three minedumps in Cornwall: Wheal Alfred (Photo), WhealPenrose and Penberthy Croft. Some vegetationclearance has also been undertaken at the sametime. In all cases, the extent of the remaining re-source was in doubt, primarily because of samplecollecting over many years. The works have con-firmed the location and presence of the minerals ofinterest on all three sites, albeit in less abundanceand of poorer specimen quality than in the past. Theinformation gained allows English Nature to makecondition assessments and to define objectives andmanagement strategies for the sites.

Coralline and Red Crag sites, Suffolk

The Crag deposits of Suffolk and Norfolk are uniquein Britain in providing a detailed record of Pliocene toearly Quaternary shallow marine sedimentation. Thedeposits consist of a range of variable shelly sands,some of which display spectacular sedimentarystructures. The deposits are of particular importancefor biostratigraphic correlation with similar depositsin mainland Europe and have been the subject ofongoing study since the 19th century.

Because the Crag deposits are typically laterallyvariable on a local scale, more than twenty sites arenotified as SSSIs to provide a representative record

of this important geological sequence. Most of thesites are small pits on agricultural land, now oftenvery overgrown. English Nature has a programme ofenhancement of Crag sites, with vegetation clear-ances to date on four sites: Richmond Farm Pit(Photo), Rockall Wood Pit (Photo), Neutral FarmPit and Round Hill Pit. Another four sites are sched-uled for clearance works this year. The works arealso providing an opportunity for renewed researchas fresh material is uncovered.

Richmond FarmPit after face

clearance works(Photo Mick

Murphy)

Cleared face at Rockhall Wood (Photo Mick Murphy)

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Brachiopod nestfrom Tilton RailwayCutting (Photo Pe-ter Wakely, English

Nature)

Tilton Railway Cut-ting showing terrac-ing of outcrop cre-

ated during vegeta-tion clearance(Photo Mick

Murphy)

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Tilton Railway Cutting SSSI, Leicestershire

Tilton Railway Cutting provides exposures of the Ju-rassic Middle Lias Marlstone Rock, as well as thebase of the Upper Lias. The Marlstone Rock is im-portant both for its sedimentary structures and forthe spectacular brachiopod nests (Photo) that occurat certain levels in the sequence. The top of theMarlstone Rock and the Upper Lias sediments areimportant for their ammonite faunas.

The site had become very overgrown in recentyears. In February 2002, English Nature undertookface clearance and re-profiling of a number of sec-tions on the site, in partnership with the site owners,Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust. Severalvertical sections have now been terraced to provideaccess to higher parts of the section (Photo).

Because the site forms a public right of way and is apopular walking route for local people, English Na-ture is producing a site management board to ex-plain the need for management and to raise the pro-file of geological conservation on a local level.

Welton-le-Wold SSSI, LincolnshireWelton-le-Wold SSSI is a disused gravel quarry, no-tified for a series of Quaternary till, gravel and sand

deposits, which provide important insights into theglacial history of Lincolnshire and adjacent areas.

The sands and gravels have yielded various mam-mal remains, including elephant teeth and tusks.Flint tools have also been found in the same depos-its, providing evidence of the presence of humans inthe area at that time. Overlying the sands and grav-els are two till deposits which are distinguished bythe types of pebbles and boulders they contain. Thelower till contains locally derived chalk and flint peb-bles, whereas the upper till contains material derivedfrom Yorkshire and Scotland. There has been con-siderable debate over the years as to the signifi-cance of the two till deposits and whether they rep-resent one or two distinct periods of glaciation.

When extraction ceased in the 1970s, the lowerparts of the sequence and the boundary betweenthe two tills were concealed by backfill. English Na-ture funded a major clearance works in 2001(Photo) to re-expose concealed parts of the se-quence and allow access by researchers to under-take new studies. This has rekindled healthy scien-tific debate about the age and significance of the tilldeposits, leading to the initiation of new research onthe site.

Mick Murphy

Clearanceworks under-way at Wel-ton-le-Wold(Photo John

Arum)

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REPORT OF THE POLISH ProGEO COMMITTEEACTIVITIES

Geoconservation in Poland is getting more andmore popular. The results of scientific studies arecurrently introduced in application works dealing withprojects aiming at protection of nature reserves,national and landscape parks as well as inintegration with works in nature conservation lawsimplementations. Members of the ProGEO PolishGroup represent mainly the Institute NatureConservation of the Polish Academy of Sciences inCracow, namely its Department of GeodiversityConservation. They closely co-operate with variousscientific centres in the whole country.

The Commission of Landscape, Inanimate Natureand Soil Protection has been established also in theState Council for the Conservation of Nature.Members of the Polish ProGEO Group participate in

the above mentioned Commission. This institution isthe advisory board of the Minister of Environment.

In the period after the symposium in Prague (June2000) the Polish Group has had the followingscientific and practical achievements.1. Realisation of GLOBAL GEOSITES programme(Institute of Nature Conservation):

Polish Pro-GEO activities

A (12%)

B (29%)

C (6%)D (5%)

E1 (10%)

E2 (28%)

E3 (1%)F (2%)

G (3%) K (1%)

NP (7%)

NR (26%)

DS (11%)

NM (12%)

N (44%)Table 1. Record of Polish geosite database ( prepared by K.Mi kiewicz, in relation to the inventory format after Johanssen et al.,

1998 – ProGEO’97 Proceedings, Geol. Survey of Estonia: 22-28;

Fig. 1. Main types of 145 Polish geosites proposed on theEuropean framework. Symbols as in Tab. 1.

Fig. 2. State of protection of 145 Polish geosites proposed onthe European framework: NP – national parks, NR – nature

reserves, DS – documentary sites, NM – nature monuments,N – outside protection.

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• elaboration of computer system of GEOSITESdatabase proposed for European network (Tab.1)

• verification of draft candidate list of geosites(Geologica Balcanica 28, 3-4, 1998; Polish

• Geological Institute Special Papers 2, 1999)• presentation of new candidates list of 145

geosites completed for all regions of Poland withregard to types and state of their protection((Tab. 2, Figs. 1, 2)

• elaboration of database of the Silesia-CracowUpland geosites, one region in the SouthernPoland; CD ROM delivered to members ofProGEO during the Dublin Conference.

2. Data base GEOCONSERVATION (Institute ofNature Conservation):• continuation of information gaining for database

purposes concerning all categories of abioticnature conservation in Poland (nature reserves,inanimate nature monuments and documentarysites); the database contents 1848 recordsreferring to protected areas and objects.

3. Publications:• Z. Alexandrowicz and D. Poprawa - eds, 2000.

Geodiversity conservation of the PolishCarpathians, pp. 142 with map 1: 400 000.Polish Geol. Inst., Warsaw.

• E. Gawl ikowska, 2000.Geodivers i tyconservation of the Lower Silesia, pp. 72 withmap

• 1: 300 000. Polish Geol. Inst., Warsaw.• T. Wróblewski, 2000. Geodiversity conservation

of the Góry wi tokrzyskie region, pp. 88 withmap 1: 200 000. Polish Geol. Inst., Warsaw.

• Z. Alexandrowicz - ed., 2000. Crystal Caves inthe Wieliczka Salt Mine, pp.205. Studia Naturae46, Cracow.

• Numerous scientific papers and popularscientific issues.

4. Documentary and application works (Institute ofNature Conservation, University of Mining andMetallurgy):• protection projects prepared for numerous

important geosites• expert appraisements referring to geosites

threats prepared for local authorities

Table 2. Types ofgeosites in Polish

database(supplamented by Z.

Alexandrowicz in rela-tion to the propositionafter Wimbledon et al.

1999 – Mem Descr.Carta Geol. d’Italia54: 45-60; app. 2.

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5. Education (Institute of Nature Conservation,Museum of the Earth, Jagiellonian University,University of Mining and Metallurgy and RegionalEnvironmental Education Centre):• lectures at the post-graduate studies about the

geological heritage in the Polish system ofnature conservation

• descriptions of representative geositesprotected as nature reserves, inanimate naturemonuments and documentary sites in Polandfor multimedial educational dictionary: PolishNature Conservation, 2002. CD ROM – ed. K.Romeyko-Hurko exhibitions of natureconservation and editing leaflets concerningthem.

6. Popularization (University of Mining andMetallurgy, Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences,Museum of the Earth):• cycle of 31 geological trips entitled "Geotourism

for Everybody" organised for Cracowinhabitants; this excursions are quite popularwith the city dwellers and in media

• cycle of 30 TV films entitled "Suggestions insightseeing" including problems of natureconservation; the films have been presentedmany times in local and all-Polish TVprogrammes

• organization of nature conservationcompetitions.

Zofia AlexandrowicsNew e-mail adresse: alexandrowicz@iop.krakow.pl

Remember the new ProGEO WEB adress:

www.progeo.org.se

Use the web site, there you find information about Pro-GEO, the regional groups, activities and an archive ofprevious ProGEO NEWS.

Mineral collecting and conservation – hammeringout a future?

A ONE DAY CONFERENCE

Harold Riley Suite, University of Salford

Wednesday 16th April 2003, 10:00 to 16:30

Mineral collecting is scientifically and educationallyimportant and a hobby enjoyed by many. However,many mineral sites are finite and the issue of sus-tainable collecting on mineral sites is becoming in-creasingly important. Collecting is fundamental tomineralogical research, and for educational, com-mercial and aesthetic purposes, but indiscriminateactivity can deplete or destroy a mineralogical site.This conference aims to discuss the different as-pects of mineral collecting and the best way of con-serving the available mineral resource for future useby all interest groups.

This meeting aims to open a debate rather than at-tempt to reach solutions and provides an opportunityto share views and identify and discuss issues.Speakers have been chosen to reflect a full range ofviews on the issues surrounding mineral collectingand include; the statutory conservation bodies; pro-fessional, hobbyist and academic research collec-tors; museums; landowners; and industrial archae-ologists. The conference will conclude with an opendebate and it is hoped that stimulating discussionwill follow.

The meeting will be co-convened by English Nature,the Geological Society’s Geoconservation Commis-sion and the Russell Society. The conference pro-ceedings will be published by English Nature and willbe available shortly after the conference. Delegateswill also have a chance to express their own viewson mineral collecting and conservation in the form ofwritten statements, which will be included with theproceedings volume and collected on the day of theconference.

Registration is £25 and this fee includes car parking(the venue is also a short walk for Salford CrescentStation), tea/coffee, lunch, a conference pack andthe conference proceedings.

CONFERENCE

ProGEO WEBaddress

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Please register by 31st March 2003, numbers arelimited and we cannot guarantee registration on theday of the conference.

University accommodation is available on request.Please contact the accommodation office at the Uni-versity of Salford (Tel: 0161 7379364).

Dr Hannah Townley

Deadline for contributions to next issue of ProGEO NEWS: 01.03.2003

Rajko PavlovecUniversity of LjubljanaDept. of Geology and palaeontologyAskerceva 2SI-1000 LjubljanaSloveniarajko.pavlovec@ff.uni-lj.si

Gunnel RansedGeological Survey of SwedenBox 670S-75128 UPPSALASwedengunnel.ransed@sgu.se

Mick MurphyEnglish NatureNorthminster HousePeterboroughPE1 1UAUKmichael.murphy@english-nature.org.uk

Hannah TownleyIgneous Geologist & MineralogistEnvironmental Impacts TeamEnglish NatureNorthminster HousePeterboroughPE1 1UAUKhannah.townley@english-nature.org.uk

Zofia AlexandrowiczInstitute of Nature ConservationPolish Academy of Sciencesul.46 Lubicz31-512 KRAKOWPolandalexandrowicz@iop.krakow.pl

Adresses

A PRIORITAIREPAR AVION

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ProGEO: European Association for the Conservation of the Geological Heritage. Address: Box 670,SGU, SE-751 28Uppsala, Sweden. Treasurer: Gunnel Ransted. Bank: SWEDBANK, SE-105 34 Stockholm, Sweden. Swiftcode: SWED-SESS Clearingno: 8381-6, Account no: 973 296 517-4. Membership subscription: personal: €25/yr., institutional: €150/yr. President: Dr. Francesco Zarlenga, ENEA Cr-Casaccia, Division CAT, Via Anguillarese, 301, 00060 Roma, Italy.Executive Secretary: W.A.P. Wimbledon, Postgraduate Research Institute for Sedimentology University of Reading,Whiteknights, READING RG6 6AB, United Kingdom.ProGEO NEWS - A ProGEO newsletter issued 4 times a year with information about ProGEO and its activities. Editor:Lars Erikstad, NINA, Box 736 Sentrum, N-0105 Oslo, Norway, Phone: + 47 23 35 51 08, Fax: +47 23 35 51 01, e-mail:lars.erikstad@nina.no. Contributions preferred on diskette (Word- or ASCII-format) or by e-mail if possible.