Fossil site Korbacher Spalte

The State Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe conducted several excavation campaigns between 1990 and 1998, during which a total of about 2500 usable bone fragments were recovered. KorbachWith these discoveries, Procynosuchus was first identified in the northern hemisphere. This is considered evidence that at that time, all of the Earth's landmasses had already been united to form the supercontinent Pangaea. In addition to the Messel Pit World Heritage Site, the fossil site Korbacher Spalte the most important paleontological archaeological monument in Hesse.

Augmented Reality - the Korbacher Spalte is interactive!

Augmented Reality is used to Korbacher Spalte complemented by a digital and interactive highlight. Bring bygone times and creatures back to life and make your visit to the Korbacher Spalte an experience for the whole family!

All you need is your smartphone or tablet, with which you can scan the QR codes in the information pavilion directly at the Korbacher Spalte Now you can decide whether you want to scan the "Korbachthe dachshund" in a 3D simulation or prefer the creation of the Korbacher Spalte want to experience it up close in a 2D simulation.

Formation of the column:

During the Zechstein period, around 260 million years ago, a large inland sea stretched across northern Central Europe. It was supplied with seawater from the open ocean in several phases and then evaporated again due to the desert-like climate. In the process, it left behind typical rock sequences of limestone, sulfates (gypsum and anhydrite), and salts.

The space Korbach was located in the western coastal region of this Zechstein Sea, on the eastern edge of what is now the Rhenish Slate Mountains. At the time of the first sea advance, the coast was lined with a belt of vegetation that provided favorable living conditions for land-dwelling reptiles and served as a food source.

During the first phase of evaporation, the sea retreated in the increasingly hot and dry climate. As a result of climatic changes, vegetation diminished, depriving reptiles of their food source and causing herbivores to migrate. With them, carnivores also disappeared. Many animals died, and their skeletons were embedded in the sands of the desert-like landscape on the mountainside.

Some time later, during rainy seasons, the sedimentary cover, no longer protected by vegetation, along with the preserved skeletons, was washed down and redeposited on the plain formed by the Zechstein limestones in front of the mountains. In the meantime, cracks had formed in these limestones, presumably due to mechanical events such as earthquakes, and these cracks were filled with the sediment and the bones and bone fragments they contained, crushed during transport.

A little later, further erosion material from the mountains covered the landscape before the Zechstein Sea reached the area Korbach and finally covered the fossil-filled crack with new limestone deposits.

Access information:

The Quarry with information pavilion is freely accessible.

The Protective roof over the Korbacher Spalte can only be visited as part of a guided tour:

• April-October, Sunday 11:15 am
• July+August additionally Monday 16:30 pm

Guided tours cost €5,00/€2,50 (adults/children and young people). Children up to 6 years old and guests with a MeineCardPlus or SauerlandSommerCard (Winterberg) have free admission. The AuszeitCardPlus grants one free admission per year.

The entrance to the neighboring GeoFoyer Kalkturm Korbach The entrance fee is €1 per person. Opening hours:

• March-October Tue-Sun+Public Holidays 11am-16:30pm
  
• November-February Tue-Fri 14-16:30 pm, Sat+Sun+Holidays 11 am-16:30 pm.