Geotope Calvary
A cosmic bomb moves mountains.

In the Kalvarienberg geotope, the outcrops of the disused Gosheim limestone quarry illustrate the force and energy of the pressure wave released by the Ries event.

The geotope is located on the eastern edge of the crater in the so-called megablock zone, the non-local clods of which extend over a north-south extension of up to several hundred meters. Despite their mass, these blocks were moved over a long distance to the east by the force of the pressure wave generated during the Ries event - the associated rock underground is now several kilometers west of the geotope. Due to the braking effect of the accelerated clod, the slabs were partially compressed and folded into folds - such compression folds can be seen in several places in the quarry.

The Gosheimer Scholle is quite rich in fossils, and in isolated cases the fossils are well preserved despite the shock wave. Among them one can find small ammonites, which are important as so-called guide fossils for determining the relative age of the rock. An analysis of these key fossils shows that the clod exposed in the quarry has older rock layers on top of the younger ones - in geology one speaks of overturned storage.

This sequence of rock layers, which ran counter to the geological age, came about when the uppermost rock layers sank into the resulting crater, while at the same time they were covered with colorful debris that was thrown out of deeper layers by the force of the impact. The deepest and oldest layer, the crystalline basement, rose as a glowing cloud over the crater and then settled on top as a suevite layer.

Source: monheimer-alb.de/poi/geotop_kalvarienberg-12824

geopark-ries.de

Translated by Google •

Chris Zäpfle

March 17, 2024

great view

Translated by Google •

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Location: Huisheim, Danube-Ries, Altmühltal, Upper Bavaria, Bavaria, Germany

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