page_title: Geology of Germany
section_title: Mesozoic platform
hierarchical_section_title: Geology of Germany / Geological levels / Mesozoic platform
context_page_description: The geology of Germany is heavily influenced by several phases of orogeny in the Paleozoic and the Cenozoic, by sedimentation in shelf seas and epicontinental seas and on plains in the Permian and Mesozoic as well as by the Quaternary glaciations.
context_section_description: The Mesozoic platform (German: Mesozoisches Deckgebirge) includes all virtually unfolded sedimentary rocks of the Mesozoic (Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous), but also includes some Paleozoic deposits of the Lopingian epoch of the late Permian. In northern Germany, in principle, even the relatively unfolded or weakly folded post-Caledonian/pre-Permian sediments (including the Ruhr Carboniferous and its western continuation in the Aachen area) are included with the Mesozoic platform.
  The outcropping Mesozoic platform at the surface comprises Zechstein (Middle/Upper Permian) marine gypsum rocks and limestones,  Buntsandstein (Lower Triassic) siliciclastic rocks, Muschelkalk (Middle Triassic) marine limestones, Keuper (Middle and Upper Triassic) mixed evaporite-carbonate-siliciclastic deposits, Lower Jurassic (Lias/Schwarzjura) marine black shales, Dogger/Braunjura (Middle Jurassic) marine, often iron-bearing, siliciclastic rocks, White Jurassic/Malm (Upper Jurassic) marine limestones, Lower Cretaceous (Wealden) continental siliciclastic rocks and Upper Cretaceous marine limestones, sandstones and gaizes. Outcropping Zechstein rocks are limited to the edges of basement uplifts. Triassic rocks cover the largest area. In the South German Block, extensively outcropping Mesozoic rocks dip towards the south-east. Due to the alternating layering of weathering/erosion-prone shales and more resistant sandstones and limestones, a cuesta landscape has formed there in the past several million years. The most conspicuous of these cuestas is the White Jura of Franconia and the Swabian Jura. Uplands formed by relatively weathering/erosion-resistant sandstones of the early/middle Buntsandstein are the Palatinate Forest, the Odenwald, the Spessart, the Südrhön and the Burgwald. Ridges of Muschelkalk limestone are found mainly in the Thuringian Basin. Probably the most well-known occurrence of Cretaceous sandstones is the Elbe Sandstone Mountains.
  In northern Germany, individual blocks have been forced up by salt domes, and have been eroded down to the older layers of the Mesozoic platform. Erosion-resistant bedrock on these blocks forms small isolated ridges, especially in the northern Harz foreland region. These include the Elm hills (Muschelkalk), the Asse hills (Buntsandstein and Muschelkalk) and the Grosser Fallstein (Muschelkalk) as well as the island of Heligoland (Buntsandstein). Cretaceous chalk can be found, partly covered by thin Quaternary deposits, only in northern Germany, including in Münsterland Cretaceous Basin, where the Cretaceous deposits directly rest on the Ruhr Carboniferous and continue westward into the Aachen Formation, as well as in the Hanover and Salzgitter area. Probably the most well-known Cretaceous limestones of Germany are those on the island of Rügen, on Germany's north coast.
caption: The Schrammsteine, Upper Cretaceous sandstones in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains near Bad Schandau
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