Nature

The Mofetta in Muszyna

The mofetta named after Professor Henryk Świdziński, on the boundary of Jastrzębik and Złockie near Muszyna, is the largest and most productive cold gas emission in Poland. From the bed of the Złocki Stream a gas consisting of roughly 95 percent carbon dioxide, with additions of nitrogen, methane and oxygen, bubbles up without pause. The site has been designated a natural monument, is open around the clock and requires no ticket.

What you will see

A mofetta is a gas exhalation with a temperature below 100 degrees Celsius — a cool breath of the earth, and the vent through which the gas reaches the surface. A footbridge and information boards have been built above the stream, and the most interesting vents are called Bulgotka and Dychawka. The latter is a dry outflow of carbon dioxide whose hissing can be heard from a distance; elsewhere bubbles dance on the water without end.

Discovery and curiosities

The feature was discovered in 1938 by the geologist whose name it later took. The carbon dioxide rises from great depths and saturates the water on its way, which is why the whole Muszyna area abounds in mineral springs. Above the vent the gas concentration is lethal to insects and birds — in the past mice and cats also suffocated in nearby leaky cellars, giving locals a sense of the phenomenon's power.

Practical information

The mofetta lies almost on the road linking Jastrzębik with Złockie; the address is ul. Polna in Jastrzębik. By car the trip from Muszyna takes a dozen or so minutes, with parking by the road. The site is best visited after rain, when the bubbling is loudest; do not lean directly over the vents, as the boards remind you.