Kalkalpen / Calcareous Alps

The Calcareous Alps are composed by rocks, which were deposited in a tropical ocean mainly during the Triassic and Jurassic periods(251-145 million years ago), to a lesser extent also during the Cretacious and Lower Tertiary periods (145-52 million years ago). Varied fossilised sea life, e.g. corals, ammonites (related to modern squids), shells (bivalves), snails (gastropods), brachiopods, sea lilies and even ichthyosauro bare witness to this.

During the Upper Triassic (215-200 million years ago) vast platforms of limestone developed on shallow lagoons and coral reefs. The karst plateaus and rugged peaks of the mountain ranges of Hochkönig, Tennengebirge, Gosaukamm, Dachstein, Totes Gebirge und Höllengebirge are formed by these sediments.

The peaks of the Osterhorn mountain range are formed by siliceous limestones, radiolarites and marls, which are deposited in a deep oceanic basin during the Jurassic period (200-145 million years ago).

Please answer the following questions and send them over my profile to me. If your answers are correct, I will give you the permit to log. Log entries without prior message will be deleted!

1. Of which kind of rock consists the Schafberg and when was it created?

2. Name at least three geological layers that have arisen in the Triassic and Upper Permian.

3. Which two layers are below the Wolfgangsee? Describe in your own words how they got there.

Please include a picture of you and/or your GPS device in front of the panorama of the Calcareous Alps.