Cliff line

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Clearly visible relief distribution at the transition from Mittlererflächealb to Mittlerer Kuppenalb in the area of ​​the cliff line near Temmenhausen (viewing direction roughly west-northwest)

A cliff line is an elevation, ie a relatively abrupt steepening of the relief and an increase in the mean height above sea level, on the southern flank of the Swabian Alb .

The cliff line stretches from Tuttlingen in the southwest to around the Nördlinger Ries in the northeast over the entire southern slope of the Swabian Alb. It separates the Middle Alb with its more fertile loess loam soils from the Middle Kuppenalb, which adjoins it to the northwest, with its stony, clayey loam soils.

The cliffs of the cliff line consist of the different limestone rocks of the White Jura , from which almost the entire Swabian Alb consists. The cliff line itself was created in the surf zone of a sea that extended in the Ottnangium about 18 to 17 million years ago over the northern Alpine foothills (at the time the so-called pre-Alpine trough, also known as the Molasse basin ) to the Swabian Alb. It is therefore to be regarded as part of the coastline of this inland sea , the so-called Molasse Sea . The cliff line shows all the characteristics of a cliff coast and is therefore a fossil relic of erosion processes that can also currently be observed worldwide. To the southeast of the cliff line, sedimentary rocks of the Ottnang Sea ( Upper Sea Molasse ) have been preserved, which today still cover parts of the Alb plateau.

Surf cave on Heldenfinger Kliff
Course of the Miocene cliff line on the Alb

The rocks of the surf zone are only exposed today at Heldenfinger Kliff (on the edge of the village of Heldenfingen ). The type locality "Kliff" today forms a nearly 5 meter high terrain step with surf cave and numerous drill shell holes in the limestone. The cliff line is today at Tuttlingen at a height of approx. 900 m and east of the Brenz at approx. 500 m. It is considered evidence of the strong tilting and lifting of the Alb since then.

literature

  • Ronald Böttcher, Elmar PJ Heizmann, Michael W. Rasser, Reinhard Ziegler: Biostratigraphy and palaeoecology of a Middle Miocene (Karpathian, MN 5) fauna from the northern margin of the North Alpine Foreland Basin (Oggenhausen 2, SW 'Germany). New Yearbook of Geology and Paleontology, Treatises. 254, No. 1/2, 2009, pp. 237-260, doi: 10.1127 / 0077-7749 / 2009/0011

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