Very beautiful rock formations in the Effelsfelsen climbing area.
The rust-red rock bastions along the valley slopes dominate the landscape in the Rur valley. But how did these impressive rock faces and towers come into being?
The rocks are made of rubble and sand that was formed by weathering in a hot, desert-like landscape in the early Mesozoic during the Triassic period, more precisely in the formation of the "Buntsandstein" around 240 million years ago. Weathering under tropical climatic conditions is also the reason for the red color of the rocks. In these deserts there were violent storms from time to time, which transported the sand and rubble masses via large rivers into depressions and deposited them there. During transport in the river, the larger stones were ground down into rounded pebbles. Today, embedded in the sand that has solidified over millions of years, they can be clearly seen in the rocks. In geology, these types of rocks are known as "conglomerates".
When the Eifel gradually rose millions of years later, having eroded into a low-lying plain, the larger rivers, such as the Rur, cut deeper and deeper into the sedimentary rocks, particularly during the ice ages, thus exposing the rock formations that can be seen today.
Source:
biostation-dueren.de/schutzgebiete/buntsandsteinfelsen-im-rurtal