Geomorphology of the Weinviertel

The geomorphology of the Weinviertel is the name given to landscape forms and types that emerged in the Miocene - about 23 to 5  mya - as the seabed and later as the sea coast, were then raised and ultimately overprinted in the Ice Age .

Framework

In the late Cretaceous period , the African continent pushed north and initiated the orogeny of the Alps , whereby the northern Alpine foothills sank towards the end of the Eocene and was flooded by the sea ( Paratethys ). In areas close to the banks, sediments (sand, gravel) from the Alps under construction were quickly deposited and formed the Molasse basin that extends north of the Alps. Warm ocean currents penetrating the Paratethys increased the water temperature and invaded tropical marine animals and plants.

geomorphology

With the retreat of the Molasse Sea , diverse landscapes were formed, starting with the Bohemian Massif , which still characterize the Weinviertel today. Masses of dead bog animals were deposited around Eggenburg and formed a meter-thick layer of limestone, which was mined as Zogelsdorfer Stein until modern times . An oyster reef protruding from the sea was discovered in the fossil world of the Weinviertel . The Glauber's salt soils in Zwingendorf and Unterstinkenbrunn point to the remains of this dry sea, and on the Waschberg and Marchfeld former dunes, which were previously the seabed, form the basis for agriculture.

literature

• Fritz Steininger and Jan Senes: Eggenburgien. The Eggenburg layer group and its stratotype. from: Chronostratigraphy and Neostratotypes Miocene of the Central Paratethys , 7 volumes, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava 1967–1985.