Rotliegend

Permian of Central Europe (Dyas)

The Rotliegend, Rotliegend Group or Rotliegendes (

The name Rotliegend has in the past not only been used to address the rock strata themselves, but also the time span in which they were formed (in which case the Rotliegend was considered a

epoch

.

Facies and formation

In large parts of

Hercynian orogeny were still ongoing during the start of the Permian. At the same time local crustal extension formed intramontane basins such as the large Permian Basin which covered parts of present-day Germany, Poland, Denmark, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Netherlands. The early development of the basin went hand in hand with volcanism. Apart from these volcanic deposits the basin was filled by the erosional products of the Hercynian mountains to the south: mostly sands and gravels deposited under an arid and warm climate.^[1]

Stratigraphy

In the north of Germany and in the Netherlands, the Rotliegend is usually subdivided into two groups: a Lower Rotliegend Group (mostly volcanic rocks: tuffs and basaltic lavas) and an Upper Rotliegend Group (sandstones and siltstones). During the formation of the lower group the basin was still small and the deposition was restricted to the centre of the basin in the southeastern North Sea and northern Germany, this group is very limited in thickness in the Dutch subsurface. The upper group has a larger arial distribution since the basin had grown wider.

In Dutch lithostratigraphy, the Rotliegend lies on top of the late Carboniferous

Münsterland

, is part of the Slochteren Formation.

The Rotliegend of northern Germany is continuous with that of the Netherlands. In other parts of Germany contemporaneous basins exist, such as the

Saar-Nahe Basin, the Wetterau or the Saale Basin

. The Rotliegend of these different intramontane basins is not easy to correlate and the lithostratigraphy of each basin has its own divisions (groups and formations).

Notes

^ Ziegler (1990), p. 71

Literature

Gradstein, F.M.; Ogg, J.G. & Smith, A.G.; 2004: A Geologic Time Scale 2004,
Cambridge University
Press
Ziegler, P.A.; 1990 (2nd ed.): Geological Atlas of Western and Central Europe,
ISBN 90-6644-125-9
.

[1] Ziegler (1990), p. 71

[1]