From a stone wall of ancient life
"I am ancient, even by geological standards. In my first million years, my home was on the Tropic of Capricorn, on the shelf of the Rheic Ocean on the southern edge of the Old Red Continent.
Here in the Devon Age I grew up. Later I will be called Prümer Kalkmulde.
It's sticky warm, the atmosphere contains a lot of CO² and little oxygen, apart from the sound of wind and water it's quiet.
But it's the calm before the storm. in this age the first animals and plants experience their shore leave and spread there explosively.
Life in the sea, on the other hand, has existed for much longer. It's teeming with it here.
My youth is therefore also referred to as the "Age of Pisces".
However, calcifying organisms were responsible for my growth.
In addition to crinoids, bracniopods, trilobites and goniatites, it was mainly reef-forming star and tube corals.
Approach me and you will recognize her.
Like you don't know where I am?
I'm in the shape of a trough under you, I'm about 20 km long and 10 km wide, Schönecken is in my middle.
My development phase lasted about 40 million years, during which powerful reefs also developed. Petrified to dolomite, parts of this form the imposing rock formations that give Schönecker Schweiz its character.
But it's the calm before the storm.
When the ancient continents of Laurussia and Gondwana collided, this area was literally folded together.
As a result, some of my once flat strata are rising up as vertical walls after 400 million years, as you see them here.
Look closer and you will see fossilized evidence of diverse marine life.
So I remind you that all life originated in the sea.
A white border stone distinguishes this place as a symbol for life.
At the same time, it marks the courageous step in overcoming the boundary between the habitats of water and land, which is significant for all land dwellers.