Geology in the Rheinische Schiefergebirge — Part 1 — North Eifel

The Rheinische Schiefergebirge forms the southernmost part of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is mainly built by rocks of the Earth’s Ages, especially those of the Devon period. Younger solid rocks can only be found in the peripheral areas. The northern Eifel, which is covered in this publication, is the northern part of the Eifel, North Rhine-Westphalia. In the Hohen Venn, the centrepiece of the northern Eifel, you will find sandstones, claystones and quartzite from the time of the Cambrian period, which, at around 530 million years, are the oldest open-minded rocks in North Rhine-Westphalia. In total, the Earth’s history recorded in the solid rocks of the northern Eifel covers around 460 million years between the Cambrian and the Upper Cretaceous (70 million years, i.e.). During this period, the various solid rocks were created. The more recent deposits from the tertiary and quaternary periods are usually unsettled and form the top mountain range. Not only the geology is varied in the northern Eifel. Due to their wealth of raw materials, you can find a large number of mining relics, the oldest of which originated from the Neolithic era from flint mining at Lousberg near Aachen. A special chapter “Montanarchäology” is dedicated to ancient, historical mining. Another special feature of the Nordeifel is the Eifelwasserleitung, which supplied Cologne with water in Roman times. A chapter is also dedicated to this early engineering geological achievement. Furthermore, the deposits, groundwater, soils and outstanding geotopes of the northern Eifel are described. A list of geoscientific institutions in the region, a detailed list of literature and a glossary make the volume an indispensable companion.