Geology and Mineralogy of the Black Forest and Kaiserstuhl, Southern Germany

This page is dedicated to the Mineralogy and Geology of two areas in Southwestern Germany: The Black Forest (Schwarzwald) and the Kaiserstuhl Mts.

 

I started collecting minerals in 1991. After collecting random minerals and Minerals from Saxony, I specialized in Minerals from the Black Forest and Kaiserstuhl area in 2001.

 

I am a professional mineralogist holding a diploma degree. I studied at TU Freiberg and  University of Kiel (both Germany). So I do have a strong scientific background which can be found in my collection, too.

 

My collection mostly is consisting of systematic minerals (rare minerals, ore minerals, secondary minerals), mostly micromounts and thumbnails in size, although I do have some bigger specimens with xls to be viewed with the naked eye.

 

This page is supposed to be a source of information on Geology, Mineralogy and Mining in the Black Forsest as well as Geology, Mineralogy and Outcrops in the Kaiserstuhl Mts.

 

Sebastian Möller

 

Black Forest (Schwarzwald)

 

The Black Forest is a 160 km long mountain chain in the southwestern corner of Germany. It is situated in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg.

The highest elevation is the Feldberg (1494 m) in the southern part.

Geologically, the Black Forest does consist of anatectic gneisses with granite bodies as intrusions. In the northern, eastern and southernmost parts triassic sandstones (Buntsandstein) and limestones (Muschelkalk) do cover the paleozoic basement rocks.

The Black Forest got uplifted in cenozoic times (still in progress) due to tectonics during alpine orogeny, leading to the formation of the Upper Rhine Graben.

The name "Black Forest" originates in the old latin, roman word "sylvum nigrae". The old romans feared the area with dark trees covering the steep mountains.

Kaiserstuhl Mts.

 

The Kaiserstuhl Mts. are a small area (12 km in diameter) and are situated like an island in the rather flat Upper Rhine Graben 15 km west of Freiburg.

The Kaiserstuhl area mostly is covered by vinyards (often as artificial terraces) and forests with minor meadows. Small towns and villages are situated at its rims and along the Krottenbach Valley. The highest elevation is the Totenkopf (556,5 m). 

 

Geologically the Kaiserstuhl is rather young. The oldest part lies in the northeastern corner, where jurassic limestone is outcropping. The eastern part consists of uplifted shales and marls of lower to mid tertiary ages.

Almost two thirds of the area are made up of miocene volcanic rocks. The Kaiserstuhl lies in the center of the Upper Rhine Graben, where extension tectonics and beginnning thinning of the lithosphere had been most intensive. Due to the very small amounts of magma, the composition of the magmas had been alcali-rich and silica-undersaturated. There are three main types of rocks: phonolites, essexites (mostly tephrites and basanites) and carbonatites.