Sachsen

Saxony


The German State Sachsen is located in the far east of the country. It is bordered by Poland to the east and the Czech Republic to the south. The other German states bordering to the west and north are Thüringen (Thuringia), Sachsen-Anhalt, and Brandenburg. Most of the state is a Mesozoic basins, an almost five kilometer deep pack of horizontal mesozoic sedimentary rocks. There are some cellars and pretty young lignite is mined in huge open cast mines. But the is no karstification, despite a big amount of limestone. The relief is very flat and so the area is draining on the surface, as a result there is no solution and karstification.

The state has two regions which are of great geologic interest and have a lot of sites we could list. The Elbsandsteingebirge (literally: Elbe river sandstone mountain ridge) is actually the eroded rest of a massive layer of sandstone. The rocks form pillars, plateaus, gorges and caves. The second area is located in the low mountain ridge along the Czech border named Erzgebirge (ore mountains). The whole area is crossed by various mineralized dykes with polymetallic ores. The mining lasted for many hundreds of years, and there are thousands of historic mines. For both areas we have a separate page (see link below).

This State has the highest amount of underground sites of all States in Germany. That's a result of 50 show mines, most of them in the Ore Mountains, which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List for their mining heritage. There are also some subterranea like cellars, and one single show cave.