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Landscapes and Landforms of Austria pp 137–145Cite as

Granite Tors of the Waldviertel Region in Lower Austria

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Abstract

The Waldviertel region in the northern part of Lower Austria hosts numerous localities of granite tors which add to the diversity of landscape developed through protracted long-term deep weathering and regolith stripping. They are varied in size and shape. Castellated tors tend to occur at higher elevations, whilst bouldery tors and monolithic boulders, isolated or in clusters, are common within gently rolling upland surfaces. A rich suite of surface microforms includes weathering pits, flared slopes, karren, rills, and pseudobedding. The area of the Kogelsteine near Eggenburg is a unique geosite at the eastern margin of Waldviertel, with the history of deep weathering, stripping, burial, exhumation, and further development in subaerial conditions.

Keywords

  • Waldviertel
  • Granite
  • Tors
  • Weathering
  • Exhumed landforms
  • Geoheritage

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Acknowledgements

PM wishes to thank Karl-Heinrich Huber for generous supply of papers describing granite localities in the region and Reinhard Roetzel for introduction to sites along the eastern border of Waldviertel during a memorable field trip in 2002, literature advice, photo sharing, and corrections made to the early version of this chapter. Suggestions from Marie-Françoise André are also gratefully acknowledged. Last but not least, we thank the editor, Christine Embleton-Hamann, for invitation to contribute to this volume and help in gathering necessary cartographic materials.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geography and Regional Development, University of Wrocław, pl. Uniwersytecki 1, 50-137, Wrocław, Poland

    Piotr Migoń, Aleksandra Michniewicz & Milena Różycka

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  1. Piotr Migoń
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  2. Aleksandra Michniewicz
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  3. Milena Różycka
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Correspondence to Piotr Migoń .

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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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Migoń, P., Michniewicz, A., Różycka, M. (2022). Granite Tors of the Waldviertel Region in Lower 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_8

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