Children of the sea - the Allgäu and Lechtal Alps

Sand, mud, shells of dead animals, dead plants - from these the mountains of our Allgäu and Lechtal Alps were formed.

About 240 million years ago, the present continents formed the huge primeval continent of Pangaea. Part of the sea that surrounded Pangaea was the Thetys Sea, the place of origin of our mountains. Here, over millions of years, calcareous shells of dead sea animals, sand, dead plant parts and mud sank to the sea floor. From the initially loose sedimentary layers, sedimentary rocks formed due to the enormous pressure of the growing layers.

Even today continues what formed the mountains of the Alps - a pushing, lifting and folding of the former seabed.

Ice is responsible for the present appearance of the Lech Valley. The Würm Ice Age (110,000 - 10,000 BC) created the mighty Lech Glacier, whose ice masses reached as far as the Alpine foothills. 800 m thick ice lay in the valley basin of Reutte, only the highest mountain peaks were still visible. The Lech glacier blocked with its ice masses the glaciers of the side valleys. This is the reason why in the Lech Valley the side valleys are formed as hanging valleys - they hang above or flow into the main valley in a step several hundred meters high. Impressive gorges and waterfalls at the exit of the side valleys still tell of this today.