Alpenseminar by Julian Welte On the 18th of May, we discussed about the nappe structure of the Northern Calcareous Alps and its disintegration during Miocene tectonic extrusion, given by Mr. Welte. The Northern Calcareous Alps includes the following succession of nappes from north to south, and from bottom to top( see Alpine Tectonics map , purple coloured ): Bavarian nappes (Mesozoic cover), with narrow synclines and anticlines. Toward the south they dip down below the overthrusted Tyrolic nappe complex. Due to their dominant dolomitic lithology, the Tyrolic nappes exhibit internal thrusting and faulting and only minor folding. The Juvavic nappes represent the uppermost tectonic element, overlying the Tyrolic nappes. The nappe complex of the Northern Calcareous Alps (after PLÖCHINGER, 1995). ( GERHARD W. MANDL, 2000 ) Explanation of abbreviations: Northern Calcareous Alps: Juvavic nappes: B = Berchtesgaden nappe, D = Dachstein nappe, SC = Schneebe

Alpenseminar by Verena Frey On the 18th of May we learnt about Tertiary magmatism along the prominent Periadriatic Lineament. During the previous seminars we discovered that the Periadriatic Lineament represents an important tectonic feature across the Alps and also plays an important role in controlling many surrounding geological processes, including stress release. Curiously, much Tertiary magmatism seen within the Alps appears to be aligned along the Periadriatic Lineament, as can be seen below: Overview of the Periadriatic Lineament and surrounding Tertiary intrusive bodies, after  von Blanckenburg and Davies, 1995 The Periadriatic Lineament formed in response to dextral movement along the European and Adriatic collisional zone and is often characterised by steeply-inclined mylonitic structures. Age dating of the Adamello pluton has helped constrain the age relationship of magmatism to being syn-collision: Overview of the range of age dating for the Adame

Alpenseminar by Georg Löwe On the 14h of  May we had a very interesting talk by Georg Löwe on the evolution of the Austroalpine Basement. This talk particularly particularly focused on Metamorphism, Geochronology and the Geodynamics of these basement sequences. These basement sequences outcrop at certain locations, which is highlighted on the figure below: Overview of Austroalpine Basement units, after  Thöni, 2006 In general, the Austroalpine Basement Units comprises a  Nappe pile that is composed of several different sequences. This includes: pre-Variscan sediments and intrusions of various ages, including pre -Variscan, Permo-Triassic and Tertiary magmatism. These units were exposed to various metamorphic events during the Variscan times, Permo-Triassic and during the Eo-Alpine orogeny. These are summarised on the following diagrams:   Various metamorphic conditions experienced by the Austro-Alpine sequences, after  Schuster et al., 2001

Alpenseminar and Blog post by Thomas Biehl On the 14th of May we had a presentation about really impressive and destructive landslides in the Alps. These landslides are generally related to large earthquakes and there are few examples that we may consider here: 1. Dobratsch - Carinthia In 1348 a destructive earthquake occurred near the town of Villach on the Austrian/Italian border. This earthquake resulted in several landslides along the 2166 m high Dobratsch massif, which lies atop the Periadriatic Lineament. Overview of the Dobratsch landslides, after  Lenhardt, 2007   The largest of these landslides was known as the "Rote Wand". This caused the destruction of a dam and the flooding of the whole Gail River Valley. Overview of the regional structure of the Dobratsch Mountains, after Stefan et al., 2004 2. Köfelsberg - Tirol Rapid Alpine deglaciation during the Holocene, approximately 9000 BC, resulted a massive landslide near th

Alpenseminar by Ole Schramme   On the 27th of April we had a presentation on the very impressive Brenner Base tunneling project through the Alp Mountains. This project involves the construction of a railway tunnel connecting Innsbruck (Austria) with Franzensfeste (Italy). This forms an important economic transport route linking northern Europe to the Medditeranean. When completed, this will be the longest tunnel in the world, reaching a total length of 53 km. The geology across the profile looks as follows: Geological overview of the tunnel route, after  Bradner et al., 2008 Project planning began in 1978 and is expected to be completed in 2025. The complicated geological makes this a difficult engineering project. From 2001-2005 an extensive geolgical, hydrogeological and geophysical investigation took place. These various geo-technical surveys have now allowed for a very precise view of the Alpine geology expected to be transected by this tunnel:

Every week the group will be selling cakes and tea during the Dondertag Geowissenschaftliche Kolloquium. Last week we even had special cake from Georgia! So, do come and check out the interesting Kolloquium  presentations, and try out the great Kuchen! Herr Jan Eric Timm chatting to the visitors of the weekly Kolloquium at the Burgweg Campus