page_title: Błędów Desert
hierarchical_section_title: Błędów Desert
caption_attribution_description: English: Pustynia Błędowska
context_page_description: Błędów Desert is an area of sands between Błędów and the villages of Chechło and Klucze in Poland. The area lies mainly on the Silesian Highlands in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. The Błędów Desert is Central Europe's largest accumulation of loose sand in an area away from any sea, deposited thousands of years ago by a melting glacier. It occupies an area of 32 km². The sands have an average depth of 40m, up to 70m at the maximum. The Biała Przemsza River divides the desert in two from east to west.
  The Błędów Desert was not created naturally, but rather as a result of human activity which lowered the water table to such a degree that the ground could no longer support plant life. Beginning in the Middle Ages, area forests were aggressively cleared to meet the needs of local mining and metal working endeavors. This clearcutting exposed approx. 150 km² of sand, which once reached as far south as Szczakowa.
  According to legend, the desert was created by the Devil, who wanted to bury the nearby Olkusz silver mine in sand.
  The desert was used as a military proving ground from the beginning of the 20th century.
context_section_description: Błędów Desert (Polish: Pustynia Błędowska) is an area of sands between Błędów (part of Dąbrowa Górnicza in Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union) and the villages of Chechło and Klucze in Poland. The area lies mainly on the Silesian Highlands in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. The Błędów Desert is Central Europe's largest accumulation of loose sand in an area away from any sea, deposited thousands of years ago by a melting glacier. It occupies an area of 32 km² (12 sq mi). The sands have an average depth of 40m, up to 70m at the maximum. The Biała Przemsza River divides the desert in two from east to west.
  The Błędów Desert was not created naturally, but rather as a result of human activity which lowered the water table to such a degree that the ground could no longer support plant life. Beginning in the Middle Ages, area forests were aggressively cleared to meet the needs of local mining and metal working endeavors. This clearcutting exposed approx. 150 km² of sand, which once reached as far south as Szczakowa.
  According to legend, the desert was created by the Devil, who wanted to bury the nearby Olkusz silver mine in sand.
  The desert was used as a military proving ground from the beginning of the 20th century. During the Second World War, the German Afrika Korps used the area to train soldiers and to test equipment before deployment in Africa.
  In the centuries since its appearance, much of the Błędów Desert has been grown over. In 2013 and 2014 conservation efforts have restored some of the desert sands.
caption: Błędów Desert seen from Czubatka, after conservation.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "4608", "Image ImageLength": "3456", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX AW100", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2014:06:20 10:28:49", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "304", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[0/0, 0/0, 0/0]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[0/0, 0/0, 0/0]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "0/0", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[0/0, 0/0, 0/0]", "GPS GPSSatellites": "", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "M", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "35521/100", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "", "GPS GPSDate": "", "Image GPSInfo": "1028", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1394", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8133", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "24/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "125", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:06:19 22:29:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:06:19 22:29:49", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1040241/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4526069/1000000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "39/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "25", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4608", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2544", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "996", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "140", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain down", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "3"}