The Classic Fossiliferous Palaeozoic Units of the Eastern and Southern Alps

Abstract

In this work we review the present knowledge about stratigraphy, development of facies and tectonic evolution of the Variscan sequences of the Eastern and Southern Alps. In the Eastern Alps outcrops of fossiliferous rocks of Lower Palaeozoic age are irregularly distributed. They form a mosaic-like pattern of dismembered units incorporated into the Alpine nappe system (see Fig. 1 of Schonlaub, p.65 this Vol.). Such areas include the Gurktal Nappe of Middle Carinthia and parts of Styria, the surroundings of Graz, a small area in southern Burgenland and the Greywacke Zone of Styria, Salzburg and Tyrol. South of the Periadriatic Line Variscan sequences are represented in the Carnic and Karawanken Alps where they form the basement of the Southern Alps. As regards the regions occupied by quartzphyllitic rocks of presumably Palaeozoic age the reader is referred to the contribution by Neubauer and Sassi (this Vol.).