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Geomorphological Evidence of Past Volcanic Activity in the Southeast of Austria

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Landscapes and Landforms of Austria

Part of the book series: World Geomorphological Landscapes ((WGLC))

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Abstract

Active volcanoes do not exist in Austria today. However, remnants of volcanoes that were active during two main eruption periods between about 23 and 1 million years ago are prominent geomorphic features in the southeast of Austria. In this chapter, we discuss a complex landform evolution, in which sedimentological, tectonic, volcanic, and erosional processes acted together to create the present landscape. The study area is the Styrian basin and its vicinity, where 31 volcanic sites are located. Today, nothing is left of the primary volcanic landscape due to erosional processes lowering the original surface by some hundreds of metres since the end of the eruptions. The two main volcanic landforms present today are (i) maar-diatreme volcanoes, which form prominent and steep mountains consisting of basaltic tuff and maar lake sediments, and (ii) residuals of complex volcanoes consisting of tuff, scoria and massive basalt layers, partly buried by post-eruption sediments. The former are smaller in their spatial extent and monogenetic, whereas the latter are polygenetic, rather large, but partially buried by sediments. Some of the former volcanoes are characterized by well-developed planation surfaces that developed during the last million years. Hypsometric analyses were carried out for six volcano remnants (i) for morphometric characterization and (ii) to compare them with active volcanoes. The results revealed that only well-eroded diatreme volcanoes such as Güssing can be suitably characterized by means of a hypsometric analysis. In all other cases, this approach fails due to the complex formation and erosion history of the volcanoes.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geography and Regional Science, University of Graz, Heinrichstrasse 36, 8010, Graz, Austria

    Andreas Kellerer-Pirklbauer

  2. Centre of Natural History, Geology and Palaeontology, Universalmuseum Joanneum, Weinzöttlstrasse 16, 8045, Graz, Austria

    Ingomar Fritz

Authors
  1. Andreas Kellerer-Pirklbauer
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  2. Ingomar Fritz
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Correspondence to Andreas Kellerer-Pirklbauer .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Regional Research, Universität Wien, Wien, Austria

    Christine Embleton-Hamann

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Kellerer-Pirklbauer, A., Fritz, I. (2022). Geomorphological Evidence of Past Volcanic Activity in the Southeast of Austria. In: Embleton-Hamann, C. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of Austria. World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92815-5_33

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