A few caves were discovered during mining the zinc-lead ores in the Olkusz area north-west of Kraków.

The Świętokrzyskie Mts. (Góry Świętokrzyskie)

Chelosiowa Jama is the longest cave in this area. It is due to the linking of Chelosiowa Jama with Jaskinia Jaworznicka in spring 1996. The cave, developed in Devonian limestone, is 3670 m long. Although the above cave is now at the ninth place on the list of the longest Polish caves, other 140 caves occurring in this area are rather small. Only three of them are longer than 100 m. Jaskinia Pajęcza, situated close to Chelosiowa Jama, seems to be most interesting one. It was explored in 1997. Further work should cause the linking of this cave to Chelosiowa Jama. The caves in the Świętokrzyskie Mts. are developed mainly in

Devonian limestone only subordinately in Jurassic limestone. The most known is Jaskinia Raj, famous for well developed speleothems. This cave is open for tourists and equipped with electricity.

The Nida river basin (Niecka Nidziańska)

It is the only one of non carbonate karst areas in Poland. Almost all of 84 caves situated in this region are developed in Miocene deposits, mainly in gypsum and only subordinately in kalkarenites. The longest is Jaskinia Skorocicka (about 350 m).

Jaskinia Mamutowa, the Kraków-Wieluń Upland, ph. Stanisław Kotarba

The Sudety Mts. (Sudety)

Most of karst caves in the Sudety Mts. are developed in Precambrian and Palaeozoic marbles. Apart from them some karst caves are situated in Permian limestones. Other caves, these of non karst origin, occur in granites and sandstones. There are known more than 150 caves in the described mountains. The famous one is Jaskinia Niedźwiedzia, which is the longest (2230 m) in the Sudety Mts. The upper part of this cave is open for tourists. The deepest cave of this area is Szczelina Wojcieszowska with vertical extent 112 m (+19, -93). Some of the caves in the Sudety Mts. are situated in a large, still active quarry in Wojcieszów. The acces to these caves is strongly prohibited.

Other caves in Poland

Caves in Poland are situated also outside of the above characterized regions. Some of them are developed in Pleistocene sands in northern Poland. Jaskinia w Mechowie, situated near Gdańsk, is the longest of them (61 m). Other small caves, which represent probably exhumed fossil karst, are known from Jurrasic limestones quarries near Inowrocław in central Poland. A few caves were discovered during mining of rock salt. The most famous are small caves in Miocene rock salt in Wieliczka mine (south of Kraków). These caves are called Kryształowe Groty (Crystal Caverns) due to the halite crystals occuring on their walls. Other similar caves developed in Permian rock-salt occured near Inowrocław. Unfortunately they were flooded after the end of rock-salt mining.