The Geopark, Volcanism
CAN YOU BURN YOUR FINGERS WHEN CLIMBING IN THE KARAVANKEN MOUNTAINS?
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500 million years old? The 2,000 years since the birth of Christ account for just 0.0004 % of this time. In geological terms, this southern section of the Alps is rather young! Who would have thought it?
The Karawanken Mountains play a key geological role on the fault line between the European and the Adriatic tectonic plates. So it’s not surprising that the Earth’s story here is also told by volcanoes: Namely, two. The younger of the two is the Smrekovec in the municipality of Črna na Koroškem. The second one is in the Ebriach gorge – which back then was at the bottom of the sea.
Nowadays, 670 metres above sea level and to the west of Bad Eisenkappel, you’ll come across bizarre black rocks — history turned to stone — pillow lava. This is the impressive reminder of an underwater volcanic eruption that took place, believe it or not, 450 million years ago.
Geopark Karawanken/Karavanke – an amazing cross-border discovery
