Mużaków Rampart (Muskau Arch)—The Legacy of Glacial Processes and Mining in the UNESCO Global Geopark

The Mużaków Rampart in south-western Poland is a unique glacitectonic structure of Middle Pleistocene (Elsterian) age that retained its morphological expression despite several hundred thousand years of denudation. The eastern arm of the resultant push moraineMorainepush is located in Poland, whereas the remaining part is in Germany. Glacitectonic processes affected the substratum down to the depth of nearly 300 m, squeezing up the Miocene deposits, including the coal-bearing ones, and bringing them to the surface in the form of stacked thrustThrust, thrusting sheets. Subsequent weathering of outcrops of brown coal seams produced distinctive topographic hollows known as gieserGieser. 150-year-long underground and open-castOpen-cast coal and clay mining resulted in considerable anthropogenic transformation, including the origin of numerous lakes in and above former miningMining areas. GeoheritageGeoheritage and geodiversityGeodiversity values of the region are promoted in the transboundary Muskau Arch UNESCO Global GeoparkUNESCO Global Geopark, approved in 2011. The area includes the romantic landscape park in Bad Muskau/Łęknica, inscribed as a World HeritageWorld Heritage property in 2004, whose design was considerably influenced by the landform pattern.