The Hohe Tauern window is a geological structure in the Austrian Central Eastern Alps. It is a window (in German fenster) in the Austroalpine nappes where high-grade metamorphic rocks of the underlying Penninic nappes crop out. The structure is caused by a large dome-like antiform in the nappe stacks of the Alps.
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Detersion of the Schlatenkees glacier on visible parts of the Hohe Tauern window
The relatively hard rocks of the Hohe Tauern window are more resistant to erosion, so the window has a high relief. The mountain chains thus formed are called the Hohe Tauern. Most of Austria's highest mountains are in the Hohe Tauern, among them the Großglockner (3798 m) and Großvenediger (3674 m).[1]
See also
- Penninic nappes
References
- ^ Bertrand, Audrey (2014). Exhuming the core of collisional orogens, the Tauern Window, (Eastern-Alps) (Thesis). doi:10.17169/refubium-9484.
External links
- "The formation of the Alps". Nationalpark Hohe Tauern.
- Schmid, Stefan M.; Scharf, Andreas; Handy, Mark R.; Rosenberg, Claudio L. (27 July 2013). "The Tauern Window (Eastern Alps, Austria): a new tectonic map, with cross-sections and a tectonometamorphic synthesis" (PDF). Swiss Journal of Geosciences. 106 (1): 1–32. doi:10.1007/s00015-013-0123-y.