page_title: Albtrauf
section_title: Geomorphology
hierarchical_section_title: Albtrauf / Geomorphology
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Albtrauf in der Abendsonne, von Tübingen aus gesehen. Română: Albtrauf văzut din Tübingen.
context_page_description: The term Albtrauf refers to the northwest facing escarpment of the Swabian Alps, situated in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. It is the most distinctive stepped slope within the alpine region of the South German Scarplands, leading roughly from the southwest to the northeast.
  The Albtrauf has its geological extension in the northeast, in the stepped slopes of the Franconian Jura and in the southwest and west among the Jurassic-era stepped slopes of the Baaralb, Hegaualb, Randen, Klettgau, Aargau as well as the Table Jura stretches from the city of Basel to the Ajoie and the French Scarplands.
  In geology and geomorphology, however, the term “Trauf” merely describes the brink of the stepped slopes where various stepped surfaces meet.
context_section_description: The intermediate inclination of the Albtrauf amounts to roughly 35 degrees. In the Erms valley region and near Balingen the Albtrauf reaches an average height of nearly 400m. The edge of the slope is at approximately 1000 metres above sea level (German: Normalhöhennull, English: standard elevation zero) in the southwest and at approximately 650 metres above sea level in the northeast. 
  In the Eastern Alps and in parts of the Mid Alps (up to Bad Urach) W ß does not appear as a layer-former, but as escarpment in the slope which climbs up to the W δ. W ß and W δ levels, the latter being about 100 m high, are distinctly pronounced from Reutlingen to Mössingen. Further to the west the W ß forms both the front of the Albtrauf and an adjoining dip slope, which is several kilometres broad. Moreover, the W δ step, which includes inliers and outliers located on the outskirts such as Kornbühl, is receding. 
  Retrogressive erosion has caused the Albtrauf to recede southeast by an average of few millimeters each year. This process is responsible for the deep dips and embayment along the Albtrauf. Landslides and rockfalls also contribute to this process. The ensemble of relief features includes cuestas, front side valleys, rock ledges, spurs and inliers. The most famous inliers and outliers without a dip slope include, from northeast to southwest, Ipf, Hohenstaufen, Achalm and Hohenzollern (Zoller). Kaltes Feld, Michelsberg, Farrenberg, the plateau of Burgfelden (Böllat-Heersberg) and Plettenberg rank among the most impressive inliers and outliers with a dip slope.
caption: Albtrauf, viewed from Tübingen
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix F20", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Camera FinePix F20     Ver1.00", "Image DateTime": "2008:05:01 07:09:51", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "294", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1374", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9784", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/140", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:05:01 07:09:51", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:05:01 07:09:51", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "719/100", "EXIF ApertureValue": "23/5", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "207/50", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "24", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2848", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2136", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1226", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3703", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "3703", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}