9 BlütenReich Rüfikopf - Path of a Thousand Colours 30–31 10 Steinernes Meer – Freiburger Hütte – Formarinsee 32–33 Geological lexicon 11 Tannberg 36–39 12 In the Footsteps of the Walser People 40–41 13 Gypsum Holes Nature Reserve 42–45

UPPER RHAETIAN LIMESTONE:

This pale limestone is approximately 220 million years old. It was created in a similar way to the Barrier Reef, corals in front and lagoons behind providing a habitat for snails and mussels. The sea created this sedimentary stone from their shells and chalk deposits.

RED LIAS:

this limestone also gives the Rote Wand (Red Wall) mountain its name, is approximately 200 million years old and contains some iron. The main fossils are ammonites and belemnites.

STEINERNES MEER

Geological Lexicon

CALCITE:

A “joint filler” which fills out hollows such as crevices in limestone. Aragonite, which is made up of mussel and snail shells, is crystallised into calcite. Coral branches are also filled with this crystalline white material.

AMMONITE:

Ammonites are cephalopods that became extinct around 70 million years ago, with shallow, spiral shells,

the front of which was used as the living chamber. They are widely regarded as distant predecessors of the squid.

BELEMNITE (THUNDERBOLT):

These were rod-shaped, squid-like marine creatures with 10 tentacles. The skeletons of these invertebrates have retained their cigar shape as fossils. They became extinct approximately 70 million years ago, but live on in the squid.

MEGALODONS (COW HOOF MUSSELS):

The mussels stood upright in the sand and could reach considerable sizes. The shells of the extinct species have been replaced by calcite. People once believed that the patterns in the stone, which look like cow’s hooves, were the print of the devil’s hooves.

NAUTILI:

Are squids with spiral-shaped, rolled up or elongated shells with several chambers, the outermost of which is inhabited by the animal. Unlike ammonites, the shell spirals bend forwards and nautili can still be found in the seas today

! Please don’t strike the stones - you could permanently destroy the fossils!