Dunajec River Gorge Through the Pieniny Mountains

New concepts of the development of the Pieniny Mts. (geologically the Pieniny KlippenKlippen Belt) as a regional flower structure, as well as a detailed analysis of the Digital Terrain Model (DTM),Digital Terrain Model (DTM) indicate that the Dunajec River GorgeGorge in the Pieniny Mts. (called also the Pieniny Gorge) is regressive and structural. The Dunajec River, originally flowing along the northern margin of the Pieniny Mts., was intercepted due to river piracy by the Niedziczanka River flowing along the southern margin of the Pieniny Mts. In the formation of the 8 km long Dunajec River GorgeGorge, which cuts through siliceous limestonesLimestone, an important role was played by the transversal tearing of the flower structure of the klippenKlippen belt and the formation of cracks along the reactivated faults, subsequently used by the Dunajec River. Rise and lowering of individual blocks of the flower structure along the faults, as well as footwall elevation phenomenon, had a significant impact on the formation of high walls of the gorge. The Dunajec River GorgeGorge through the Pieniny Mts. is therefore not strictly antecedent, related to the elevation (en masse) of the mountain massif transversely cut by the river, but connected with the selective elevation or lowering of the elements (blocks) of the Pieniny flower structure, transverse torn. In addition, the course of the Dunajec River was blocked in the gorgeGorge section by huge rock blocks displaced by gravity towards the south along with the massif of Mt. Trzy Korony, which resulted in the formation of a dammed lake and then an overflow through a complicated system of extensional fissures established along faults network associated with the flower structure. Therefore, the most important phenomenon influencing the formation of the Pieniny GorgeGorge was the transverse tearing of the Pieniny flower structure.