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| In Deutsch |
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| In Deutsch |
The Rheinisches Schiefergebirge is composed of Devonian and Lower Carbon
sedimentary rocks, similar to
Harz
and Frankenwald.
The rocks are folded intensely and speckled with ignious (volcanic) rocks like
diabases and keratophyres.
This area is part of the socalled Variszian geosyncline, which is a
large area of downlift which happend during the Variszian time.
During this downlift phase, the depression was continually filled by sediments,
among them limestones.
Later the area was both lifted and folded, which is generally called orogeny,
but there was never a alpine mountain range.
The uplift rate depends on the area, the southern parts like
Hunsrück and
Taunus,
were lifted the most.
The uplift started during the Pliocene, at the end of the Tertiary.
The Rothaargebirge is a much younger anticline which was lifted for a
rather high amount, but has now stopped.
The Rheinisches Schiefergebirge geography is separated into the areas left of
the Rhine (linksrheinisch) and right of the Rhine (rechtsrheinisch).
Left of the Rhine are Hunsrück,
Eifel
and Hohes Venn composed of lower Devonian and older sediments.
Right of the Rhine are
Taunus,
Westerwald,
Siegerland,
and
Sauerland.
The
Taunus
and the
Siegerland
are also composed of lower Devonian sediments.
The
Westerwald,
the
Vogelsberg
and part of the
Eifel
consists of tertiary and quarternary basalt.
The
Sauerland
consists mostly of Middle and Uppder Devonian layers, mostly carbonatic rocks (limestone).
Several parts of this area are karstified:
Sauerland
is heavily karstified with several show caves.
Taunus
is obviously karstified, as it is drained underground, but only very few
caves are accessible.
There is only one bigger cave, which was searched for and opened
artificially, the
Kubacher Kristallhöhle,
which is now a show cave.
Eifel
has several carbonate areas, the most important one is called
Kalkeifel (limestone Eifel), but although it is karstified, there
are no relevant caves.
The limestone is famous for its extraordinary amount of fossils.
)
)
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