Introduction
Situated in the central part of Europe, Austria covers an area of About 84 000 km2 with an E-W-trending extension of about 570 km between the Rhine valley and Lake Constance to the W and the Neusiedlersee to the E. A maximum width of c. 300 km is reached in the E part. The Republic of Austria is divided into nine states each with a separate capital (Fig. 25): Vorarlberg (Bregenz), Tyrol (Innsbruck), Salzburg (Salzburg), Carinthia (Klagenfurt), Styria (Graz), Upper Austria (Lint), Lower Austria (St Pölten), Burgenland (Eisenstadt) and Vienna, the capital city of Austria. The neighboring countries are Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Italy. Two-thirds of the country is occupied by the mountain ranges of the Eastern Alps with their highest summits in the W and central parts (Grossglockner, 3779 m). Towards the E, against the Hungarian Plain, the mountain ranges flatten and widen. To the E of Vienna, the transition takes...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Beck-Mannagetta, P. 1964) Geologische &Übersichtskarte der Republik Östereich, 1: 1 Mio. Vienna: Geologische Bundesanstalt Behrmann, J.H. 1990) Zur Kinematik der Kontinentkollision in den Ostalpen. Stuttgart: Geotertonische Forschungen, 76, 180 pp.
Elias, M. and Wessely, G. 1990) The autochthonous Mesozoic on the eastern flank of the Bohemian Massif — an object of mutual geological efforts between Austria and CSSR, in Thirty years of geological cooperation between Austria and Czechoslovakia (eds D. Minarikova, and H. Lobitzer). Prague: Geological Survey and Vienna Federal Geological Survey: pp. 78–83.
Faupl, P. and Wagreich, M. 1992) palaeogeographic implications. Cretaceous Res., 13, 387–403.
Flügel, H.W. and Faupl, P. (eds) 1987) Geodynamics of the Eastern Alps, Vienna: F. Deuticke, 418 pp.
Frisch, W. 1981) Plate motions in the Alpine region and their correlation to the opening of the Atlantic ocean. Geol. Rund-schau, 70, 402–11.
Frisch, W. and Neubauer, F. 1989) Pre-Alpine terranes and tectonic zoning in the eastern Alps. Geol. Sec. Am. Spec. Pap., 230, 91–100.
Höck, V. and Koller, F. 1987) The Idalp ophiolite (Lower Engadin Window, Eastern Alps)-Its petrology and geochemistry. Ofioliti, 12, 179–92.
Janoschek, W.R. and Matura, A. 1980) Outline of the geology of Austria. Abhandlungen Geologische Bundesanstalt, 34, 7–98.
Kozur, H. and Mostler, H. 1992) Erster paläontologischer Nachweis von Meliaticum und Süd-Rudabanyaicum in den Nördlichen Kalkalpen (Östereich) und ihre Beziehungen zu den Abfolgen in den Westkarpaten. Geol. Paläonto. Mitt. Innsbruck, 18, 87–129.
Ladwein, W., Schmidt, F., Seifert, P. and Wessely, G. 1991) Geodynamics and generation of hydrocarbons in the region of the Vienna Basin, Austria. in Generation, Accumulation and production of Europe's Hydrocarbons (ed. A.M. Spencer) Spec. pub. Petroleum Geoscientists, 1, Oxford: Oxford University Press, PP 289–305.
Neubauer, F. and Genser, J. 1990) Architektur und Kinematik der östlichen Zentralalpen-eine Übersicht. Mitt. Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins der Steiermark, 120, 203–19.
Oberhauser, R. (ed.) 1980) Der Geologische Aufbau Östereichs. Vienna-New York: Springer, 700 pp.
Ratschbacher, L. and Neubauer, F. 1989) West-directed decollement of Austro-Alpine cover nappes in the eastern Alps: geometrical and theological considerations, in Alpine Tectonics (eds M.P. Coward, D. Dietrich, and R.G. Park). Geol. Soc. London Spec. Publ., 45, 243–262.
Ratschbacher, L., Frisch, W., Linzer, H.-G. and Merle, O. 1991) Lateral extrusion in the Eastern Alps, part 2: structural analysis. Tectonics, 10, 257–271.
Scharbert, S. 1987) Rb-Sr Untersuchungen granitoider Gesteine des Moldanubikums in Österreich. Mitt. Östereich. Mineral. Gesellschaft, 132, 21–37.
Schnabel, W. 1992) New data on the Flysch Zone of the Eastern Alps in the Austrian sector and new aspects concerning the transition to the Flysch Zone of the Carpathians. Cretaceous Res., 13, 405–19.
Steininger, F.F., Wessely, G., Rögl, F. and Wagner, L. 1986) Tertiary sedimentary history and tectonic evolution of the Eastern Alpine foredeep. Giornale di Geologia (Bologna), ser. 3, 48, 285–97.
Thöni, M. and Jagoutz, E. 1993) Isotopic constraints for Eoalpine high-P metamorphism in the Austroalpine nappes of the Eastern Alps: bearing on Alpine orogenesis. Schweiz, Mineral, Petrogr. Mitt., 73, 205–17.
Tollmann, A. 1977–1986) Geologie von Östereich. Vienna: F. Deuticke. Vol. 1 1977), 766 pp.; Vol. 2 1985), 710 pp.; Vol. 3 1986), 718 pp.
Von Raumer, J. and Neubauer, F. (eds) 1993) Pre-Mesozoic Geology of the Alps. Berlin-Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 677 pp.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Chapman & Hall
About this entry
Cite this entry
Faupl, P. (1997). Austria. In: Encyclopedia of European and Asian Regional Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4495-X_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4495-X_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-412-74040-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4495-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive