Jaskinia Wierna, which was explored in 1990 is the longest cave in the Cracow - Wielun Upland. It is 1027 m long. The caves of this area are mainly horizontal, the deepest is Jaskinia Studnisko -77.5 m deep. Some caves are situated within protected areas (i.e., the Ojcowski National Park and the Jurassic Landscape Parks). The access to these caves requires special permission. Five caves are open for tourists and four of them are lit by electricity.

Silesian Upland (Wyżyna Śląska)

This area of more than 3900 km² is built mainly of Middle Triassic carbonates. More than 150 caves are known in that area. They are rather small. Only one of them exceeds the length of 100 m (Jaskinia w Diablej Gorze, 107 m long). The majority of the caves were opened during quarrying. Some of them were afterwards destroyed by exploitation. A few caves were discovered during mining the zinc-lead ores in the Olkusz area north-west of Kraków. These caves are developed in Middle Triassic ore-bearing dolomites.

Świętokrzyskie Mts. (Góry Świętokrzyskie)

Chelosiowa Jama is the longest Polish cave outside the Tatra after its communication with Jaskinia Jaworznicka in spring 1996. The cave is developed in Devonian limestone, it is 3670 m long. Another long cave, Jaskinia Pajęcza, with the length of about 1000 m, is located very close to it. Chelosiowa occupies the ninth place in the list of the longest Polish caves, the other I 30 caves occurring in this area arc rather small. The caves in the Święjtokrzyskie Mts. are developed mainly in Devonian limestones, only subordinately in Jurassic limestone. The best known is Raj (Paradise), famous for its speleothems. This cave is open for tourists and illuminated.

Nida river basin (Niecka Nidziańska)

This is the only area of non-carbonate karst in Poland. Almost all of 90 caves situated in this region are developed in Miocene deposits, mainly in gypsum and only subordinately in kalkarenites, many near ground-water level. The longest is Jaskinia Skorocicka (350 m).

Sudetes Mts. (Sudety)

Most of karst caves in the Sudetes are developed in Precambrian and Palaeozoic marbles. Apart from them some karst caves are situated Permian limestones. Other caves, these of non-carst origin occur in granites and sandstones. More than 150 caves are known in the Sudetes. The famous one is Jaskinia Niedźwiedzia wchich is the longest (2230 m) in the Sudetes. Its upper part is open for tourists. The deepest cave of this area is Szczelina Wojcieszowska with vertical extent 113 m (+20, -93). Some of the caves in the Sudetes are situated in a big, still active quarry in Wojcieszow. The access to these is strongly prohibited. Some caves have been destructed by quarying, while entrances to others have been blocked with rubble.

Other caves in Poland

Some caves in Poland are situated outside of the above characterized regions. Some caves are developed in locally lithified Pleistocene sands in northern Poland. Jaskinia w Mechowej near Gdansk, is the longest of them (61 m). Other small caves, which are probably exhumed fossil karst forms, are known from Jurrasic Iimestone quarries near Inowrocfaw in central Poland.
A few caves were discovered during mining of rock salt. The most famous of them are small caves in the Wieliczka salt mine (southeast of Krakow), named Krysztatowe Gro-ty (Crystal Caverns) after the giant halite crystals lining their walls. Other similar caves developed in Permian rock-salt occured near Inowroctaw. Unfortunately they were flooded after the end of rock-salt mining. A few small caves were also surveyed in Miocene limestones of the Roztocze Upland.

References The morphometric data on caves mensioned in the text were derived from many sources. Some of them have already been published in the 17 volumes of the inventory of Polish caves published by Polskie To-warzystwo Przyjaciot Nauk o Ziemi (Polish Society of Earth Science Fellows) and edited mainly by J. Grodzicki. The inventory covers the caves situtated in most above mentioned regions. Also used were publications by A. Amirowicz, J. Baryta, K. Dziubek & M. Gradziriski (1995) on caves in Pieniny National Park, by M. Gradziński & M. Szelerewicz (2004), several volumes of inventory of caves of Ojcowski national Park in the Cracow - Wieluń Upland. Many current data have been published in quarterly journal Jaskinie and on Epimenides Cave Page. The geological data on distribution of karst features in Poland are based on the articles by J. Gfazek, T. Dąbrowski & R. Gradziński (1972), as well as by. Głazek, R. Gradziriski & M. Pulina (1982). I was also provided with some personal information by A. Kasza.

Jaskinia w Triasowej Górze (Silesian Upland) ph. M. Bąk