Cygańskie Skały are located on the eastern side of the road between the hamlets of Choiniec and Jasionek in Czaple. These rocks are composed of quartz sandstones from the Upper Cretaceous period (approximately 98 million years ago), classified as the Middle Turonian stage, which is one of the subdivisions of the Cretaceous period. These sandstones, within the Złotoryja Forest area, north of Choińce, currently form a strip with a WNW-ESE orientation and a length of approximately 2.5 km. They were the subject of exploitation in several small quarries. In the sandstones, low (up to 2.5 metres) rock formations known as Cygańskie Skały (Gypsy Rocks) were formed. The sandstones are inclined at a slight angle of up to 10º towards the north and northeast. The building material of these rocks is coarse-grained sand, which contains scattered gravel grains, some exceeding 4 cm in thickness. This is a sediment from a shallow sea that inundated the area of today’s Sudetes in the Late Cretaceous period (around 98 million years ago). At that time, the Sudetes bore little resemblance to the current mountain range. Even the early researchers of Cretaceous rocks argued that the differences in elevation were minimal during that time, and the contemporary mountain ranges we know today, such as the Karkonosze, the Jizera Mountains, the Owl Mountains, or the Śnieżnik Massif, probably constituted elongated, low elevations. The distribution of these elevations likely prevented the shallow sea waters from completely submerging them, and the elevated areas became narrow islands. The sea covered the area of today’s Sudetes for approximately 15 million years. The record of processes shaping this relatively small marine basin can still be observed today.
In the rocks near Czaple, the so-called cross-stratification is very well visible. These structures formed as a result of the movement of small bottom formations, such as ripple marks and sand waves, on the floor of the Cretaceous sea (due to ocean currents and wind). In the upper part of the exposures, a trained eye may discern traces of organisms living on the sea bottom – trace fossils from the Ophiomorpha group. These are traces of inhabitation and burrowing into the sandy seabed by marine organisms, created by crustaceans similar to modern-day shrimp. Arthropods created a system of tunnels and burrows in the sand, and these structures are preserved in the rocks today in the form of curved tubes. The majority of crustaceans (Crustacea) that lived in the Cretaceous and burrowed into the sediment were shrimp, represented by the genus Calianassa. In the upper part of the sandstone rocks, there is no presence of sedimentary structures—the sediment forming the sandstone beds is heavily bioturbated. This means that the original structure of the sediment has been almost completely disrupted due to the activity of marine organisms inhabiting the sea bottom. The sandstones transition upwards into fine-grained sediments—calcareous mudstones (marl) and limestones—on which the village of Czaple was built.
The outcrops of sandstones around Cygańskie Skały are not spectacular—individual rocks have a height of up to 2.5 metres. However, it is worth noting the form in which they occur. The rocks are found on the southern side of the ridge and take the form of low rock towers or pinnacles. These forms are located on an asymmetrical, morphological ridge, the formation of which is associated with erosion and weathering processes. These phenomena contributed to the exposure of the sandstones, as they are more resistant to weathering compared to the finer-grained rocks (calcareous mudstones) found both below and above.