Геотуристичний потенціал Кременецьких гір

Abstract

The Kremenets Mountains are the unique region of the Volhyn-Podillia Upland, which is situated at the northeastern part of Gologory-Kremenets low mountainous edge of Podillia to the east from Ikva River valley. There are intensively dissected relief, wide growth of deep gullies and ravines, phenomena of slope recession are widespread as well as karst and karst-suffosion processes, etc. here. Ancient people settled the territory of Kremenets Mountains a long time ago. This is evidenced, in particular, by the Paleolithic site Kulychivka in Kremenets, where people lived from 40,000 years ago. Kremenets Mountains descend towards the plain of Small Polissya by a steep slope up to 100 m and more. There are picturesque landscapes and a significant number of attractive residual mountains (Bozha, Stizhok, Chercha, Bona, Unias, etc.) here. It is not surprising that this stunning area is often called the Ukrainian Switzerland. On the territory of the Kremenets Mountains over the basis of erosion, the deposits of chalk of the Upper Cretaceous age are widely developed. In the chalk, there are numerical nodules of mainly grey and black flint (flint in Ukrainian is kremin, hence the name Kremenets) in sizes up to 0.3–0.4 m, which often lie in separate layers. High-quality flint served as a raw material for the production of tools by ancient people. The peaks of the Kremenets Mountains are armoured with layers of Sarmatian oolithic limestones and sandstones lying horizontally with a capacity of 10 m or more. Oolithic limestones and sandstones determine the wide development of the structural relief in the Kremenets Mountains, and rocky outcrops of oolithic limestones often determine the formation of exotic cliffs – unique natural monuments. Kremenets Mountains are incredibly rich in objects of historical and cultural heritage, which is especially true of the picturesque Kremenets. The combination of natural (geological and geomorphological) and historical and cultural objects makes the Kremenets Mountains promising for the development of tourism. The article presents original maps of geotouristic, historical and cultural objects of the Kremenets Mountains and the environs of Kremenets town. Maps are built on geological and hypsometric bases. The geotouristic potential of the research area is analysed. Key words: Kremenets Mountains, Podolian Upland, geotourism, geotouristic objects, historical and cultural objects, residual mountains, flint, the Palaeolithic.