The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of

rock strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...

) in the

subsurface In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bedro ...

of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsandstein predominantly consists of sandstone layers of the Lower Triassic series and is one of three characteristic Triassic units, together with the Muschelkalk and Keuper that form the Germanic Trias

Supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

. The Buntsandstein is similar in age,

facies In geology, a facies ( , ; same pronunciation and spelling in the plural) is a body of rock with specified characteristics, which can be any observable attribute of rocks (such as their overall appearance, composition, or condition of formatio ...

and

lithology The lithology of a rock unit is a description of its physical characteristics visible at outcrop, in hand or core samples, or with low magnification microscopy. Physical characteristics include colour, texture, grain size, and composition. Lit ...

with the Bunter of the British Isles. It is normally lying on top of the Permian

Zechstein The Zechstein (German either from ''mine stone'' or ''tough stone'') is a unit of sedimentary rock layers of Middle to Late Permian (Guadalupian to Lopingian) age located in the European Permian Basin which stretches from the east coast of Englan ...

and below the Muschelkalk. In the past the name Buntsandstein was in Europe also used in a chronostratigraphic sense, as a subdivision of the Triassic system. Among reasons to abandon this use was the discovery that its base lies actually in the latest Permian.

Origin

The Buntsandstein was deposited in the

Germanic Basin The Germanic Basin (german: Germanisches Becken) is a large region of sedimentation in Western and Central Europe that, during the Permian and Triassic periods, extended from England in the west to the eastern border of Poland in the east. To the ...

, a large sedimentary basin that was the successor of the smaller

Permian Basin The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...

and spread across present day Poland, Germany, Denmark, the southern regions of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, the Netherlands and south England. In the late Permian this region had an arid climate and it was covered by inland seas which deposited the Zechstein evaporites. At the end of the Permian a connection with the Paleo-Tethys Ocean to the south was formed in present-day southeast Poland, causing sea water to flow in periodically. This caused the inflow of more

clastic Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus,Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak, p. G-3 chunks, and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks ...

material, which was deposited in the form of large alluvial fans. Deposition took place in an arid, continental environment (

playa Playa (plural playas) may refer to: Landforms * Endorheic basin, also known as a sink, alkali flat or sabkha, a desert basin with no outlet which periodically fills with water to form a temporary lake * Dry lake, often called a ''playa'' in the so ...

facies), so that there was little chemical weathering. Therefore, the Buntsandstein deposits are typical

red beds Red beds (or redbeds) are sedimentary rocks, typically consisting of sandstone, siltstone, and shale, that are predominantly red in color due to the presence of ferric oxides. Frequently, these red-colored sedimentary strata locally contain ...

, mainly sandstones and conglomerates with little clay. The late Anisian saw a major rise of the global ( eustatic) sea level. A tropical sea filled the Germanic Basin then, stopping the deposition of the Buntsandstein and marking the beginning of the deposition of the Muschelkalk.

Stratigraphy

The Buntsandstein belongs to the Changhsingian to Anisian stages, meaning it is between 252 and 246 million years old.Manfred Menning, Reinhard Gast, Hans Hagdorn, Karl-Christian Käding, Theo Simon, Michael Szurlies und Edgar Nitsch: Zeitskala für Perm und Trias in der Stratigraphischen Tabelle von Deutschland 2002, zyklostratigraphische Kalibrierung der höheren Dyas und Germanischen Trias und das Alter der Stufen Roadium bis Rhaetium 2005. Newsletters on Stratigraphy, 41(1–3): 173–210, Stuttgart 2005 ISSN 0078-0421 In German lithostratigraphy, it is seen as a group, in the Netherlands and North Sea the name has no official status (though that does not keep geologists from using it). In the official Dutch lithostratigraphy, the Buntsandstein is divided into the Lower and

Upper Germanic Trias Group Upper may refer to: * Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot * Stimulant, drugs which induce temporary improvements in either mental or physical function or both * ''Upper'', the original film title for the 2013 found fo ...

s. The British

Bunter Formation Bunter may refer to: Geography *Bunter sandstone, a type of red sandstone common in large parts of western and central Europe * Bunter (geology), a feature in geology Sport *In baseball, a player who performs the action of bunting is called a bunt ...

is basically a continuation of the same unit. In Germany the Buntsandstein is subdivided into three subgroups with seven formations (from top to base):

Upper Buntsandstein Upper may refer to: * Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot * Stimulant, drugs which induce temporary improvements in either mental or physical function or both * ''Upper'', the original film title for the 2013 found fo ...

Röt Formation The Röt Formation or Rötton Formation (German for Röt Shale), or Upper Buntsandstein, is a geologic formation of the Buntsandstein in Germany. It preserves fossils dating back to the Middle Triassic Epoch (Anisian or Aegean or Bithynian in the ...

or Fährtensandstein Middle Buntsandstein *

Solling Formation The Solling Formation is a geologic formation in Germany.

Hardegsen Formation The Hardegsen Formation is a geologic formation in Germany. It preserves fossils dating back to the Triassic period. See also * List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Germany See also * Lists of fossiliferous stratigraphic units ...

* Detfurth Formation *

Volpriehausen Formation The Volpriehausen Formation is a geologic formation in the Netherlands and Germany. It preserves fossils dating back to the Permian period. See also * List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Germany See also * Lists of fossilifer ...

Lower Buntsandstein * Bernburg Formation *

Calvörde Formation Calvörde () is a municipality in the Börde district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is part of the Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") Flechtingen. Geography Calvörde is situated approximately northwest of Haldensleben and northwest o ...

All of these are reasonably good reservoir rocks for oil and gas. In the Dutch subdivision, the upper two formations are part of the Upper Germanic Trias and the others part of the Lower Germanic Trias.

Natural monuments

Bunter sandstone often forms spectacular rock formations as a result of weathering: including isolated rocks several tens of metres high. Most of them are designated natural monuments, for example, the Devil's Table near Hinterweidenthal. In the Palatinate, near

Eppenbrunn Eppenbrunn is a municipality in Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany and belongs to the municipal association Pirmasens-Land. Within the municipality is the 1.5 km long bunter sandstone The Buntsandstein (Germa ...

, are the so-called ''

Altschlossfelsen The ''Altschlossfelsen'' (, "Old Castle Rocks") is a rock outcrop formed of bunter sandstone in the Palatine Forest of Germany, near the border with France. The 1,500-metre-long rock wall is located on a hill known as the ''Brechenberg'' near Epp ...

'' ("Old Castle Rocks"). The massif has a length of around 1.5 km and a height of up to 25 metres, easily the largest bunter sandstone massif in the Palatinate. On the island of Heligoland, the 47-metre-high '' Lange Anna'' ("Tall Anna"), is the best-known landmark on the island and was declared a natural monument in 1969.

Fossils

The Buntsandstein contains a few small saurians, tracks like Chirotherium and plant remnants.

Notes

References

* *

External links

*(In Dutch
Structural description of the Dutch Triassic, including stratigraphic diagrams
website of TNO. {{Authority control Triassic System of Europe Lithostratigraphy Geology of Germany Lithostratigraphy of Germany Stratigraphy of Europe