Medieval Mines of Cu-Ag-Fe Veins in the Ornak Massif: The Forgotten Geoheritage of the Western Tatras

Abstract The Western Tatras, next to the High Tatras, is a place with many geotourist values in S Poland. The most important feature of this place that influences tourist traffic is its relief, numerous forms such as high peaks, long embankment valleys, numerous caves, lakes, streams, and karst springs. While walking in the Western Tatras region, it can be seen exposures of deformed rocks, creating numerous folds and scales. In this region, there were also numerous mines associated with ore-bearing, polymetallic mineralization (mainly copper, silver, and iron). They are formed by numerous quartz veins with barite and sulfides occurring in the Ornak region. Numerous traces of adits and heaps have been preserved to this day, visible on the slopes of this massif, which are now covered with forest. There is no information about these places on the selected routes, and in Zakopane - the nearest city on the Polish side of the Tatra Mountains - there is no center that could familiarize tourists with the interesting geological structure of the Tatra Mountains. The author performed petrographic studies of these veins and discussed the possibility of exposing these places as a monument to the historical exploitation of raw materials in the Western Tatras.