The Devil's Gorge or Teufelsschlucht is located on the eastern edge of the

Ferschweiler Plateau The Ferschweiler Plateau, which is home to the villages of Ferschweiler and Ernzen among others, is an extensive highland area made from sandstone and is located in the collective municipality of Verbandsgemeinde Irrel, Irrel in the county of Bitb ...

within the South Eifel Nature Park in the vicinity of Irrel. It was formed towards the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago as the result of one or more rock collapses. The cause of this event was probably a combination of the geological and climatic circumstances. The heavily fissured, more or less porous, rock strata of the so-called Luxembourg Sandstone (geologically part of the

Lower Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, 201.3 Ma&nb ...

or German Lias) are laid over

keuper The Keuper is a lithostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Keuper consists of dolomite, shales or claystones and evaporites that were deposited during the Middle and Late T ...

beds that tend towards being impervious. As weathering progresses, the structure becomes unstable as a result of the undercutting of the sandstone base. Towards the end of the last glaciation period this undercutting, in combination with extensive

frost shattering Frost weathering is a collective term for several mechanical weathering processes induced by stresses created by the freezing of water into ice. The term serves as an umbrella term for a variety of processes such as frost shattering, frost wedg ...

, reached the point where it caused the aforementioned rock collapse. Today numerous boulders on the slopes of the Ferschweiler Plateau bear witness to the major rock displacements of this period. The Devil's Gorge is a rock fissure between about 1 and 5 metres wide and is a direct consequence of the rock collapse. With its bizarre landscape, steep rock faces, narrow gorges and fissures, the Devil's Gorge is a popular attraction for tourists and the start point for other walks in the vicinity.

Gallery

File:Teufelsschlucht (Eifel).jpg, Entrance to the gorge File:Teufelsschlucht.jpg, Typical rock formations in the gorge File:Einstieg in die Schlucht.JPG, Entry to the gorge section {{Coord, 49, 50, 44, N , 6, 26, 27, E , type:landmark _region:DE-RP, display=title Eifel Valleys of Rhineland-Palatinate Canyons and gorges of Germany Natural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate