Geology of the Cave Rocks in Upper Franconia

The white-yellowish, massive Upper Jurassic dolomite reef rocks (155-150 My) of Upper Franconia are famous for climbers, because of its rich cavities, partly caused initially by burrowing marine crustaceans (= Lochkalke), partly due to rockweathering and cave erosion. It is one of the most cave-rich regions in Europe counting several hundreds of mainly smaller caves, and few very large cave systems. Those are situated on the Upper Franconia Plateau, which is cut by the Wiesent and smaller branching river valleys. The Late Jurassic fossils (ammonite steinkerns, and metasomatic changed silified and originally calcite reef fossils) found within Pleistocene sediments of the Sophie’s Cave supports reconstructing the Pliocene plateau and Pleistocene valley erosion history and geomorphological changes in the surroundings.