Na wzgórzu zamku niedzickiego w Pieninach odsłaniają się trzy skałkowe jednostki tektoniczne obejmujące osady od jury dolnej do kredy górnej włącznie: czorsztyńska, niedzicka i braniska, ponadto formacja jarmucka (najwyższa kreda). Skomplikowana struktura geologiczna wzgórza powstała w wyniku kilkakrotnego fałdowania pasa skałkowego: (1) fałdowanie płaszczowinowe w kredzie górnej (fazy: późnosubhercyńska - wczesnolaramijska), spowodowało powstanie płaszczowin niedzickiej i braniskiej nasuniętych na autochton czorsztyński; (2) fałdowanie na granicy kredy i paleogenu (faza późnolaramijska) spowodowało nasunięcie się jednostki czorsztyńskiej wraz z jej okrywą płaszczowinową na górnokredową formację jarmucką; (3) fałdowanie dolnomioceńskie (faza sawska) spowodowało stłoczenie i pionowe spiętrzenie starszych jednostek (1, 2) oraz poprzesuwanie ich względem siebie wzdłuż uskoków przesuwczych podłużnych w stosunku do pasa skałkowego; (4) fałdowanie środkowomioceńskie (faza styryjska) spowodowało powstanie zbrekcjowania i lokalnego zafałdowania warstw wzdłuż uskoków przesuwczych poprzecznych i skośnych do pasa skałkowego.
Three Upper Cretaceous tectonic units built of Lower Jurassic through Upper Cretaceous marine strata (see Birkenmajer, 1963a, 1977, 1986a): the Czorsztyn Unit, the Niedzica Nappe (tectonic scales), and the Branisko Nappe (tectonic scale), and a tectonic scale built of post-nappe conglomerate and flysch (Jarmuta Fm., Maastrichtian), crop out in the tectonic window of the Niedzica Castle hill, in the Pieniny Klippen Belt, Polish Carpathians (Figs 1-15, Pls I, II). The tectonic window of the Niedzica Castle hill is a very complex structure. It had formed as a result of four deformation phases (Birkenmajer, 1986a, 1988): (1) The Branisko and Niedzica nappes were thrust from the south over the Czorsztyn Unit (“autochthone”) during the Late Cretaceous folding (late Subhercynian = Ressenian, and early Laramian phases); (2) The Czorsztyn Unit, together with its overburden - the Branisko and Niedzica nappes, was thrust from the south over the post-nappe Jarmuta Formation (molasse and flysch: Maastrichtian) during the late Laramian folding (Maastrichtian/Paleocene boundary); (3) The Early Miocene, S-N-directed compression of the Savian phase had severely affected the Late Cretaceous/Early Palaeogene nappes and thrust-sheet (1, 2), which became transformed into vertically-stacked tectonic plaques and scales. Main structural features of the Niedzica Castle tectonic window were set out during this phase. The structure was further modified by longitudinal strike-slip faulting related to transpression at strike-slip northern and southern boundary faults of the Pieniny Klippen Belt (Birkenmajer, 1985, 1986a). Horizontal lateral displacements along competent/incompetent rock contacts in vertically-stacked pre-Savian tectonic units, had caused thinning and wedging-out of particular lithosomes, their brecciation and boudinage. As a result, massive competent limestones were very often detached as tectonic klippes from incompetent, plastically deformed, shales and flysch deposits, as is well visible in the Niedzica Castle tectonic window (see Fig. 14, Pls I, II); (4) The Middle Miocene, S-N-directed compression of the Styrian phase, caused further brecciation, and local folding. A younger system of strike-slip faults had developed in the Pieniny Klippen Belt. It often forms a pair of faults oriented NW-SE and NE-SW, respectively (Birkenmajer, 1985). Faults and joints of this system are well recognizable in competent limestones (crinoid limestone of the Smolegowa Fm., Bajocian; massive and crinoid limestones of the Dursztyn Limestone Fm., Tithonian-Berriasian) of the Czorsztyn Unit in the Niedzica Castle tectonic window (Fig. 11, Pl. I). The paper presents a detailed geological map, 1:100 scale, of the top part of the Niedzica Castle hill (Pl. I), several panoramic geological sketches of the castle foundations (Figs 11-13), and a detailed panoramic geological profile of the SE slope of the castle hill (Pl. II). They are based on natural and artificial exposures surveyed by the present author since the fifties, during the project (19530-1985) and the construction phases of the Czorsztyn water dam which was completed in 1997.
