Bešeňovské travertíny


Useful Information

Location: North of Bešeňova at 2213
(49.103830, 19.435962)
Open: no restrictions.
[2021]
Fee: free.
[2021]
Classification: Speleothemrimstone pools
Light: n/a
Dimension: Ar=7,323 m².
Guided tours: self guided
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: no
Bibliography:  
Address: Bešeňovské travertíny Červené terasy, Bešeňová 2213, 034 83 Bešeňová
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1951 declared a protected Natural Monument.
1984 Natural Monument extended to its current state.

Description

The Bešeňovské travertíny (Rimstone Pools of Besenova) are the result of numerous small mineral springs. The water is very rich in limestone, iron, and other minerals. But the springs are rather small and the water does never reach the nearby lake. It only flows a few meters downhill, the dries up. All the minerals are deposited as a huge terrace of reddish and brownish rock which shows the typical micro-gours which are common for stalagmites. The aare considered the small beginnings of rimstone dams. However, the site has no big rimstone dams, probably because there is not enough water. Some springs have already dried up as a result of boreholes that supply water to a nearby water park.

One of the springs has a sort of pool, in which huge brown patches are swimming. The spring produces carbon dioxide which bubbles up from the bottom. The swimming patches are most likely a combination of solidified limestone which is quite porous and some algae, which are most likely the cause why the limestone solidified. In other words, they are of biogene origin.

This site is known to the locals who come with empty bottles to collect some mineral water at the first spring. It is marked on Google earth but still it is more or less unknown, and it is poassible to stop at the road and have a short walk along the springs and the deposits. There is another spreng on the hill above the road, and the hille on the left side has a massive deposit of travertine which forms a sort of cliff. The locals mined the travertine for some time and there is a cross made of travertine slabs, the cliff is a part of the quarry walls. The place is called Travertínové bralo (Travertine quarry). Polished golden plates, so-called golden Bešeň travertine, which was mined here in the past, adorns the building of Comenius University in Bratislava and has also been used on construction sites in other European countries, such as Switzerland, France, Belgium and Germany.