Elbe Sandstone Mountains

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View of the Elbe from the Bastei sandstones.

The Elbe river in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. View from the Czech side to Germany.

Rocks at Elbe Sandstone Mountains.

Natural sandstone arch in Bohemian Switzerland.

Winter scene in the Biela Valley.

The Elbe Sandstone Mountains (Czech: Labské pískovce; German: Elbsandsteingebirge) is a mountain range straddling the border between the state of Saxony in southeastern Germany and the Czech Republic. Therefore, the mountain range is also known as Saxon Switzerland (covers about ¾ of the area) and Bohemian Switzerland. In both countries, the mountain range has been declared as national park. The name derives from the sandstone which was carved by erosion. The river Elbe breaks through the mountain range in a steep and narrow valley.

1 Tourism
2 Sandstone
3 Formation
4 Layer sequence in the sandstone
5 External links

[edit] Tourism

The holiday region of Elbe Sandstone Mountains, one of the most distinctive regions of natural beauty is on Dresden's doorstep: the romantic rocky landscapes of the mountains roaring streams in craggy gorges, trees perched on promontories of rock jut out from the surrounding forest to form a unique backdrop for tourists and hikers alike. Places of interest include fortress Königstein, Fort Stolpen, Fort Hohnstein, Kuckuckstein Castle, and Weesenstein Castle.

There are some 14,000 climbing routes via which mountain climbers can conquer 1100 free-standing peaks. Visitors can experience the spectacular natural scenes on the asphalt Elbe cycle path, or on board a steam paddleboat that is part of the oldest fleet of its kind in the world.

The Elbe Sandstone Mountains have numerous facilities for cure and rehabilitation. The region has a tradition of many years. The discovery of ferrous and sulphurous sources in Bad Schandau in 1730 led to its development as a health resort and the building of swimming baths.

[edit] Sandstone

Sandstone is a bedrock from rounded to sharp-edged grains, whose diameter lies in between 0,063 mm to 2 mm according to the DIN 4022. The term sand thus describes a defined grain size interval. In contrary to most other rocks the sandstone is not defined by a certain mineral constituent. Quartz is generally regarded as the main mineral. The various grains of sand, the components, can also consist of other minerals or rock fragments. A sandstone, whose components consist to more than 90% of quartz grains, is called quartz sand stone. If a sandstone component leads, whose diameter exceeds 2 mm, then it is called conglomerate sandstone (e.g. OLSBRUECKER SANDSTONE). Sandstones with portions of grain sizes under 0,063 mm or 0,002 mm are called silty and/or clayey sandstones.

[edit] Formation

Sandstones are deposit or sedimentary rocks, resulting from the solidification of loose sand, the sediment. After CORRENS sediments are regarded as deposited products of mechanical and chemical decomposition after transport. Means of transport are essentially water, wind and ice. The deposit of the sand takes place due to the force of gravity via mechanical sedimentation. All components of a sandstone set off mechanically after transport are called detritus. Characteristic for all sedimentary rocks is the layering. It results from changes in the sedimentation conditions, e.g. the supply of materially different detritus or the change of the grain size of the depositing substances. The banking which can be observed in sandstone sequences is to be due to repeated sedimentation interruptions. The emergence of sandstones is possible in different deposit areas. The deposit of sand can take place within by streams nerved lowlands, within the muzzle range of rivers (delta levels) as well as within the sea range in direct proximity of the coast or on shallows. The diversity of the deposit areas mentioned with their specific deposit conditions, which experienced their unmistakable development in the temporal ssuccession of earth-historical procedures, lead to different sandstones, which arrive into the trade with a large sort-variety.

[edit] Layer sequence in the sandstone

Today the sandstone of this region shapes the landscape which was the sea bottom millions of years ago. Large rivers rinsed sand and decomposition debris into the Cretaceous sea. Rough quartz sand, clay and fine marl sank and solidified themselves layer for layer. A compact sandstone plate developed, about 20 x 30 kilometres wide and up to 600 meters thick.

When the sea left approx 80 million years ago, the mountainforming decay began. At first bursts developed. From the north coming the Lusatian granite massif pushed itself gradually onto the sandstone plate. From the south the lifting mountains of the today’s Erzgebirge caused counterpressure – which slanted the brittle sandstone plate and burst it. From the nearly right-angled break lines later the typical, cuboid-like fissure of the Elbe sandstone developed.