The Lusatian Fault (german: Lausitzer Verwerfung), formerly Lusatian Overthrust (''Lausitzer Überschiebung''), is the most important geological disturbance zone between the Elbe valley and the

Giant Mountains The Giant Mountains, Krkonoše or Karkonosze (Czech: , Polish: , german: Riesengebirge) are a mountain range located in the north of the Czech Republic and the south-west of Poland, part of the Sudetes mountain system (part of the Bohemian Massif ...

. It is a fault that separates the

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

Lusatia Lusatia (german: Lausitz, pl, Łużyce, hsb, Łužica, dsb, Łužyca, cs, Lužice, la, Lusatia, rarely also referred to as Sorbia) is a historical region in Central Europe, split between Germany and Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr ...

from the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

s of North

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

to the south. It is assumed that there was a fault throw of several hundred metres whereby the northern block was uplifted or upthrust relative to the southern block.

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The start of the fault in the west is assessed as being near

Oschatz Oschatz () is a town in the district Nordsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. It is located 60 km east of Leipzig and 60 km west of Dresden. Geography Site and climate Oschatz lies in the Saxon Lowland and is located on the river Döllni ...

, but it first becomes topographically significant as a steep ledge near

Weinböhla Weinböhla is a municipality in the district of Meißen, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated 7 km east of Meißen, and 17 km northwest of Dresden. The municipality can be reached from Dresden by Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe Dresdner Ver ...

. From there it runs eastwards along the northern perimeter of the

Dresden Basin The Dresden BasinDickinson (1964). pp. 624-625. (german: (Dresdner) Elbtalkessel or ''Dresdner Elbtalweitung'') is a roughly 45 km long and 10 km wide area of the Elbe Valley between the towns of Pirna and Meißen.Elkins (1972), pp. 293- ...

and forms the Elbe valley slopes from

Radebeul Radebeul ( hsb, Radobyle) is a town (''große Kreisstadt'') in the Elbe valley in the district of Meißen (district), Meißen in Saxony, Germany, a suburb of Dresden. It is well known for its viticulture, a museum dedicated to writer Karl May ...

via

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Pirna Pirna (; hsb, Pěrno; ) is a town in Saxony, Germany and capital of the administrative district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. The town's population is over 37,000. Pirna is located near Dresden and is an important district town as well as ...

. From there it continues rather less noticeably along the northern edge of the

Elbe Sandstone Mountains The Elbe Sandstone Mountains, also called the Elbe Sandstone Highlands (german: Elbsandsteingebirge; cs, Děčinská vrchovina), are a mountain range straddling the border between the state of Saxony in southeastern Germany and the North Bohemian ...

via

Hohnstein Hohnstein () is a town located in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district of Saxony, Germany. As of 2020, its population numbered a total of 3,262. Geography It is situated in Saxon Switzerland, 12 km east of Pirna, and 28 km so ...

and

Hinterhermsdorf Sebnitz (; hsb, Zebnica) is a town in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district, in Saxony, Germany. Geography The town of Sebnitz lies in the valley of the river Sebnitz and its side valleys between 251 and 460 m above sea level betwee ...

. In Hohnstein by the so-called Wartenberg Road (''Wartenbergstraße'') is the only geological outcrop where the granite of Lusatia lies immediately above the sandstone. Further east the fault follows the northern boundary of the Lusatian /

Zittau Mountains The Zittau Mountains (german: Zittauer Gebirge, cs, Žitavské hory), formerly also called the Lusatian Ridge (''Lausitzer Kamm''), refer to the German part of the Lusatian Mountains that straddle the Saxon- Bohemian border in the extreme sout ...

via Jiřetín pod Jedlovou (''St. Georgenthal''), Waltersdorf and Olbersdorf, where it is most prominent east of the

Now back on Czech territory, the fault more or less follows the crest line of the Jeschken Mountains. At the

Ještěd Ještěd (; german: Jeschken) is the highest mountain of the Ještěd–Kozákov Ridge in the north of the Czech Republic, at . It is the symbol of the city of Liberec. On the summit is the Ještěd Tower restaurant, hotel and television tower, ...

(''Jeschken'') is the highest point on the fault line, a topographical dominant that is visible from a long way off. The fault then runs eastwards, almost in a straight line, along the Ještěd-Kozákov Ridge - interrupted by the valleys of the Mohelka and the Jizera - to Kozákov in the

Bohemian Paradise Bohemian Paradise ( cs, Český ráj) is a Protected Landscape Area and a region in Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It was declared in 1955, as the first nature reserve in the country. At first, it was 95 square kilometres in area; today it is a ...

. In Malá Skála is the most notable geological outcrop along the fault, the Suché skály. Here the once horizontal sandstone beds were tilted vertically by the pressure of the fault and, today, form an impressive rock formation.

Sources

* Otto Herrmann: ''Steinbruchindustrie und Steinbruchgeologie''. Verlag von Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin 1899 * Kurt Pietzsch: ''Abriss der Geologie von Sachsen''. Volk und Wissen, Berlin 1951 {{Authority control Geography of Lusatia Elbe Sandstone Mountains Lusatian Mountains Geology of the Czech Republic

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See also

Sources