Germany
The Germany workshop reflected a period of active development in WRB, with strong emphasis on testing and refining classification concepts. Participants examined a wide range of soils, including urban and anthropogenic soils, which were gaining increasing attention. The community worked on improving diagnostic horizons and ensuring consistency in application. Discussions also addressed the role of soil classification in environmental assessment and land use planning. The workshop contributed to strengthening WRB as a practical and scientifically sound system.
The basic geological structure of the greater excursion area is subdivided in crystalline basement (‘Mitteldeutsche Kristallinzone’), transition zone, platform cover and widespread Cenozoic loose masses.
The crystalline basement consists of intensely consolidated and commonly folded Proterozoic and Paleozoic rocks. It is part of the Variscan basement, which follows the general Hercynian trend (NWSE), modified by Permo-Carboniferous and Saxonian tectonic activities. Lower Paleozoic crystalline schists and abyssal rocks of the Saxo-Thuringian zone can only be found in the Kyffhäuser-Mountains. In the north, the Saxo-Thuringian zone is followed by sequences of the Rheno-Hercynian zone. Typical rocks of this structural unit are graywackes, shales, siliceous schists and with diabasic lava and tuff associated quartzites of the Hartz Mountains. The Hartz Mountains are the northernmost German mountain range. Their development started at Devonian (Variscan orogenesis) and was finished with late cretaceous sub-hercynican up-lift movements. The surface of the crystalline basement forms the base of the Saale basin. During the PermoCarboniferous, thick alternated stratifications of sandstones, siltstones and mudstones were deposited in this molasse sequence. The sediments are intercalated with volcanic tuffs and isolated occurrences of coal. Emplacements of felsic to intermediate volcanic rocks in the Halle region (e.g., ‘Hallescher Porphyr’) and southeast of the Harz Mountains are characteristic for the Late Permian.