South German Scarplands

These two great areas of scarpland are linked in the south by the scarps of the Tafeljura on the High Rhine, as well as those in the region of Basel, the Ajoie and in the rest of the Belfort Gap.

In the area of the Faltenjura, around the southern perimeter of the Upper Rhine Rift in the Sundgau (Pfirter Jura), the two scarplands (unfolded layers) are separated from one another by a short distance.

In the Triassic and Jurassic periods the region sometimes lay above sea level and sometimes below it, so that alternate beds of continental and marine deposition were laid down.

The typical, present-day, escarpments have emerged since the Neogene geological period, after the Upper Rhine Rift Valley was formed as a result of plate tectonic processes about 30 million years ago.

This uplifting had the consequence that in the entire South German scarpland region the strata no longer lay horizontally, but were tilted away from the Rhine rift descending from west to east.

The Upper Rhine Rift Valley and the Mainz Basin have relatively fertile arable land as a result of ice age deposits of loess.

Vineyards are concentrated in the lower regions of the scarplands, whilst forestry plays an important role in the higher mountain areas.