SURVEY OF MUNICH TERTIARY BASIN 73 
GEOLOGICAL SETTING 
The Munich Tertiary basin of southern Bavaria is a local widen- 
ing of the belt of Tertiary formations which lics in front of the north- 
ern edge of the Alpine mountain system and which extends from 
western Switzerland through northern Switzerland, southern Wuert- 
temberg, southern Bavaria, into Austria, to connect with the Vienna 
Tertiary basin (Fig. 2). 
North of the Munich Tertiary basin, there is the broad east-north- 
east-west-southwest zone of the Schwabian and Frankish Jura, an 
area of gently dipping Jurassic sedimentary beds. The dip in general 
is southerly, toward the basin, although at the eastern end of the 
zone, the Upper Jurassic beds dip gently eastward under a thin cover 
of Cretaceous, and into the syncline which extends northward from 
Regensburg. The Malm (Upper Jurassic) and under it, the Middle 
and Lower Jurassic and the Triassic formations, dip under the Ter- 
tiary beds of the Tertiary basin, but the southward extent of the 
several members of the Mesozoic under the Tertiary basin is un- 
known from geologic data. The Mesozoic beds of corresponding age 
which crop out in the Alps are of different aspect and were deposited 
in an ocean basin which had no connection with the basin in which 
the Mesozoic sediments of Germany were deposited; and a Mesozoic 
landmass must have separated the two ocean basins. That ancient 
Mesozoic landmass has been termed the Vindelician ridge. The Meso- 
zoic formations which dip southward under the Tertiary beds, some- 
where at the south must wedge out against the north flank of the 
ridge. The Tertiary beds in general transgress northward over the 
Mesozoic formations; in the east, probably over Cretaceous; but 
farther west over the Malm (Upper Jurassic). At the surface, from 
Vohburg west to Ulm, however, the Tertiary and Jurassic beds are 
presumed to be in fault contact. 
The Jurassic and Triassic formations are composed of well con- 
solidated, or fairly well consolidated beds presumably of high density. 
The Jurassic-Triassic stratigraphic section in order of increasing age 
and depth has the following character: Malm, massive limestone and 
dolomite; Dogger and Lias, shale, marl, limestone, and sandstone; 
Keuper, shale, marl, sandstone; Muschelkalk, massive limestone and 
anhydrite; Buntsandstein, massive sandstone. 
The famous Ries area lies in the zone of the Frankish-Schwabian 
Jura. It is supposed to be the result of an enormous volcanic explo- 
sion; and in the general area around the Ries, the Jurassic beds have 
been cut by a considerable number of igneous intrusions. 
595 
