Tabule 3 (u areálu od silnice) ENG
You have reached a place called Balka, a site that is well-known to many fossil collectors. Until recently, Balka used to be a small quarry (sandpit) for mining of rocks of the so-called Ploužnice Horizon, which belongs to the Semily Formation of the Krkonoše Piedmont Basin. These Late Carboniferous deposits (approx. 300 million years old) are famous for their rich fossil content. Thanks to saturation with silica, the rocks have preserved a range of species of coeval petrified flora. The site has yielded silicified stems of arborescent and climbing ferns, horsetails, pteridosperms and gymnosperms, as well as various small pieces of these plants in the form of large concretions, the so-called “silicified peat”. A very illustrative collection of these fossils you can see in the Municipal Museum in Nová Paka. Some parts of the Ploužnice Horizon have also yielded floral and insect impressions and many carnelian concretions, usually up to several centimetres in size. They are commonly covered with a pale calcareous crust and the inside is meat-coloured shade of red, orange, or teal.
The Balka complex allows you to try the work of a palaeontologist or a gold digger and experience many other adventures.