The Wetterstein Formation is a regional geologic formation of the Northern Limestone Alps and Western Carpathians extending from southern Bavaria, Germany in the west, through northern Austria to northern Hungary and western Slovakia in the east. The formation dates back to the Ladinian to Carnian stages of the Late Triassic. The formation is named after the Wetterstein Mountains in southern Germany and northwestern Austria. The center of its distribution, however, is in the Karwendel Mountains. It occurs in the

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

and Southern Limestone Alps and in the Western Carpathians. The formation is composed of mostly reefal limestones and dolomites, the latter the result of widespread diagenesis. In many areas there is a frequent alternation of limestone and dolomite facies. Local variants to indicate the Wetterstein Formation include german: Wettersteinkalk (Wetterstein Limestone), Wettersteindolomit ("Wetterstein Dolomite") and combinations thereof. The Wetterstein Formation reaches a maximum thickness of with major regional thickness variations. It belongs to the tectonostratigraphical unit

Austroalpine nappes The Austroalpine nappes are a geological nappe stack in the European Alps. The Alps contain three such stacks, of which the Austroalpine nappes are structurally on top of the other two (meaning they were thrust over the other two). The name Aust ...

. The carbonate rock of the formation is from the Middle Triassic epoch of the Ladinian stage, comparable to the German stage in which Muschelkalk rock strata were formed. The formation has provided numerous fossils of corals, sponges,

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

s and other marine groups indicative of a shallow marine carbonate platform environment deposited at the northern end of the Tethys Ocean.

Naming

The Wetterstein Formation is named after the Wetterstein Mountains in southern Germany and northwestern Austria. Alternative names for the whole formation or parts of it in stratigraphical (vertical) or facies (lateral) sense are: * Wetterstein Limestone (Wettersteinkalk) * Wettersteinkalk FormationWettersteinkalk Formation
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals ...

.org * Wettersteindolomit - used in Semmering and Kalkkögel, AustriaPiller & Erhart, 2004 * Wetterstein Limestone FormationCsászár, 1997, p.23Wetterstein Limestone Formation
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.org * Wetterstein kalk/dolomit - used in the Northern Limestone Alps of Austria * Wetterstein reef limestone FormationWetterstein reef limestone Formation
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.org

The Swiss stratigraphical lexicon uses Wetterstein Formation as "informal, but used name" with the following historical variants:Wetterstein Formation
at Strati.ch * Wettersteinkalk (von Guembel 1861, Fraas 1910) * Wettersteinkalk = Ladinische Stufe (Cornelius 1935) * Wetterstein = Wettersteindolomit = Wettersteinkomplex (Stöcklin 1949) (Fellerer 1964, Kraus 1964) * Calcaire de Wetterstein ic= Calcaire du Wetterstein = Formation de Wetterstein ic(Hirsch 1966) * Wettersteindolomit, Wetterstein-Dolomit

Subunits

Its subunits include: * Messerstich Limestone * Schlern Dolomite *

Marmolata Limestone Marmolada (Ladin language, Ladin: ''Marmolèda''; German language, German: ''Marmolata'', ) is a mountain in northeastern Italy and the highest mountain of the Dolomites (a section of the Alps). It lies between the borders of Trentino and Ven ...

Steinalm Formation The Steinalm Formation is a geologic formation in the Northern Limestone Alps, in Austria. It is a sub−unit of the Wetterstein limestone formation, found in the Limestone Alps. It preserves fossils dated to the Triassic period of the Mes ...

* Ramsau Dolomite Formation

Description

The Wetterstein Formation, with a total thickness of up to , is a major regional stratigraphic unit of the Northern Limestone Alps and Western Carpathians in Central Europe, spanning across four countries from southwestern Bavaria to northwestern Slovakia.

Extent

The formation crops out to the north of the Hohe Tauern window and is part of the

Stratigraphy

In the Semmering area of Austria, where the name Wettersteindolomit is used, the formation is unconformably overlain by the Kapellener Shale and overlies the

Reifling Formation Reifling is a former municipality in the district of Murtal in Styria, Austria. Since the 2015 Styria municipal structural reform, it is part of the municipality Judenburg Judenburg ( bar, Judnbuag) is a historic town in Styria, Austria. It ...

, in the Kalkkögel and Radstadt Tauern the dolomite overlies the

Partnach Formation The Partnach Formation is a Middle Triassic geologic formation in the eastern Northern Limestone Alps and Western Carpathians, within Austria and Slovakia, Central Europe.Raibl Formation The Raibl Formation is an Upper Triassic geologic formation in the Northern and Southern Limestone mountain ranges of the Eastern Alps, in Central Europe.Tyrol the formation, called Wettersteinkalk/dolomit unconformably overlies the Gutenstein and

s and unconformably underlies the Reingraben Formation. In the Aggtelek-

Rudabánya Rudabánya is a town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Hungary. The town territory was the location of the discovery of a hominid from 12 million years ago, '' Dryopithecus brancoi'' (1969). International relations Rudabánya is twinned with: ...

mountains of Hungary, the formation, called Wetterstein Limestone Formation overlies the Reifling and

s and is overlain by the Szádvárborsa Formation.

Regional correlations

In Austria the Wetterstein Dolomite correlates with the

Alberg Formation Alberg is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Carl Alberg (1900–1986), ship engineer and sailboat constructor *Ifrish Alberg (born 1988), Surinamese sprinter *Petur Alberg (1885–1940), Faroese violinist, composer, and author * ...

of the Linz Dolomites, the Wetterstein kalk/dolomite with the lower part of the

Hallstatt Formation Hallstatt ( , , ) is a small town in the district of Gmunden, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Situated between the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See and the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif, the town lies in the Salzkammerg ...

of the Northern Limestone Alps and with the Schlern Dolomite, or Schlern Formation, in the Southern Limestone Alps. In Hungary, the formation is time-equivalent with the Berva Formation of the Bükk, the Bódvavölgyi Ophiolite, Szentjánoshegy and Derenk Formations of the Aggtelek-Rudabánya range and the Csanádapáca Formation of the Békés Zone. In the Dinarides, the formation is time-equivalent with the

Grivska Formation Grivska is a village in the municipality of Arilje, Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the village has a population of 293 people.Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava i Stanova 2002. Knjiga 1: Nacionalna ili etnička pripadnost po naseljima. R ...

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

. The Kopaonik Formation in its eponymous mountain range in Serbia is considered a distal, more deep water equivalent of the Wetterstein platform sediments.Schefer et al., 2010, p.106

Diagenesis

Dolomitization of the Wetterstein Carbonate Platform is a widespread phenomenon, especially in the Tirolic units of the Northern Calcareous Alps. At the Clessinsperre, the

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

for the underlying Steinalm Formation, intense dolomitization has altered the microfacies characteristics of the Wetterstein Carbonate platform – typical are fore-reef carbonates, later reefal and back-reefal carbonates topped by lagoonal carbonates, making the original features hardly visible.Gawlick et al., 2013, p.182

Fossil content

Because, during dolomitisation, traces of fossils are largely lost as a result of recrystallisation, fossils in the Wetterstein dolomite are harder to distinguish, and even in thin sections may be barely recognizable. Wetterstein dolomite is rarely as bituminous as typical Main Dolomite and therefore tends to be much more pure and brighter-coloured. Otherwise, there are no fundamental differences with the Wetterstein limestone. Among others, the following fossils have been described from the Wetterstein Formation:

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

World map at the time of the Early/Lower Triassic

''Cephalopod coquina beds in the Wetterstein Limestone''
{{Authority control Geologic formations of Austria Geologic formations of Germany Geologic formations of Hungary Geologic formations of Slovakia Geologic formations of Switzerland Triassic System of Europe Triassic Austria Triassic Germany Carnian Stage Ladinian Stage Limestone formations Dolomite formations Reef deposits Fossiliferous stratigraphic units of Europe Geology of the Alps Limestone Alps Northern Limestone Alps Southern Limestone Alps