Lech-Zürs - Worlds of hiking

22 Theme hikes
Small geological encyclopaedia
Oberrät limestone: This light limestone is
approx. 220 million years old. Its formation
is comparable to a “small-scale barrier reef":
corals at the front with lagoon conditions behind
them; a habitat for snails and shells,
amongst other species. This sedimentary
rock developed from the shells of these and
from limestone deposits from the ocean.
Red limestone: This limestone gives the Rote
Wand (red wall) its name, is approx. 200 million
years old and contains traces of iron.
The main fossils here are ammonites and
belemnites.
Calcite: A "crevice filler” that fills out cavities,
e.g. cracks in the limestone. The aragonite
that the shells of clams and snails are
made of crystallises to form calcite. Branching
corals, too, are filled with this white, crystal-like
material.
Ammonite (Fig. p. 20): Ammonites are ce -
pha lopods that died out around 70 million
years ago. They had a flat, spiralled limestone
shell, part of which was used as the
body chamber. They are generally regarded
as the predecessors of squid.
Elevation profil: Geology hike “Sea of Stone” – Freiburger hut
Belemnites: Belemnites are stick-shaped,
squid-like cephalopods with 10 arms. The
skeletal rostrum of this mollusc is bulletshaped
and has been preserved as a fossil. It
died out approx. 70 million years ago and
lives on in the form of squid today.
Megalodontidae (Fig. p. 23): These molluscs
used to stick upright in the sand and could
sometimes reach quite an impressive size.
The shells of these extinct molluscs have
been replaced by calcite. People used to believe
that the formations in the rock resembling
cow's feet were the devil's hoof prints.
Nautiloids: are squid with a spiralled or
stretched shell with several chambers; the
animal lives in the outermost chamber. In
contrast to ammonites, the spirals of the
shell are bent forwards, and nautiloids can
still be found in our oceans today.
Please do not damage the objects –
you would be destroying the fossils forever!
Distance: 8,3 km Altitude difference: 250 m 250 m Duration: 3:30 h
Mountain hikes:
Condition: