Altaussee

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The small Austrian alpine village of Altaussee is nestled on the shores of the Altaussee lake, beneath the Loser Plateau. Occupying an area of 92 km², the village is home to 1,888 people. Altaussee is within the Salzkammergut region, in the county of Styria.

[edit] Local geology

The rocks which make up the mountains around Altaussee are Triassic in age. The famous Trisselwand mountain and the Loser Gipfel are made up of later Jurassic rocks. All are very fine grained calcareous mudstones (limestones), characteristically white to very pale grey in colour, which formed deep in the Tethys Ocean. For this reason, fossils are rare. Within the Loser mountain, it is believed that some of the largest unexplored ice cave systems may exist.

Large evaporite reserves are also present, particularly in the Sandling mountain, and have been mined since ~1100 for salt. The mines are still operational today, and salt is pumped - dissolved in water - to the town of Bad Ischl. It is for this reason that Altaussee, and other local towns and villages such as Hallstatt, are now part of the Salzkammergut region.