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146-716: The highest elevation in the area is the unique Hesselberg (689 m) immediately north of the crater of the Nördlinger Ries which separates the Swabian from the Franconian Jura . The Franconian Keuper-Lias Plains are bounded to the north and west by the muschelkalk Gäu landscapes of the Main-Franconian Plateaux , to the southwest, of which, are the Gäu Plateaus . In the southwest, are

292-711: A 70 km diameter impact structure buried beneath the Kalahari desert in northern South Africa. The impact is dated to the Tithonian, approximately 146.06 ± 0.16 Mya. Another major structure is the Puchezh-Katunki crater , 40 kilometres in diameter, buried beneath Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in western Russia. The impact has been dated to the Sinemurian, 195.9 ± 1.0 Ma. At the beginning of the Jurassic, all of

438-499: A dominant component of Jurassic floras. The Late Triassic and Jurassic was a major time of diversification of conifers, with most modern conifer groups appearing in the fossil record by the end of the Jurassic, having evolved from voltzialean ancestors. Araucarian conifers have their first unambiguous records during the Early Jurassic, and members of the modern genus Araucaria were widespread across both hemispheres by

584-508: A high level of debt of the young principality and consequently they imposed an unbearable burden of taxes upon their subjects. As a consequence, on 6 May 1525 the German Peasants' War also broke out in southern Franconia. On this day rebellious peasants gathered on Hesselberg's peak, thence they went to Wassertrüdingen and captured the margrave vogt . Afterwards they plundered the monastery of Auhausen . On their way to Heidenheim

730-647: A kink in one of the plate boundaries, resulting in the formation of the Pacific Plate at the centre of the junction. During the Middle to early Late Jurassic, the Sundance Seaway , a shallow epicontinental sea , covered much of northwest North America. The eustatic sea level is estimated to have been close to present levels during the Hettangian and Sinemurian, rising several tens of metres during

876-576: A large number of Jews settled down in villages around Hesselberg. In addition the margraves ran mercantilistic politics and expanded agricultural education. The last margrave Alexander handed over the principality, now free from debt, to the Prussians in 1791. An important date in the mountain's history was June 10, 1803, when the Prussian king Frederick Wilhelm III climbed Hesselberg during his visit to his Frankish estates. In memory of this event

1022-654: A length of approximately 6 km and an average width of 1 to 2 km. All of its slopes except for those on the southern side are covered with coniferous or mixed forest . On the upper slopes, and especially on the eastern slope of the Röckinger mountain , there are large areas of deciduous forest . The upper part of the prominent southern side is free of forest. On the southern and north-eastern slopes there are large areas of neglected grassland with their typical juniper bushes. Hesselberg can be divided into 5 sections along its center-line (see panorama image). Hesselberg

1168-604: A lord and his only daughter. The girl kept the house and had the keys for all the rooms. At that time the Huns invaded the Hesselberg region, they burnt down the castle and the girl died within the ruins. Legend has it that she still haunts the mountain carrying her bunch of keys on her belt. She is seen mostly in Saturday night after the four Ember days . Locals tell the story of the specters of three cursed virgins that live on

1314-622: A popular youth center out of the old Hesselberg house near the peak. The afar visible television tower with its 119 m is a terrestrial transmitter of the ZDF and of the Bayerisches Fernsehen (Bavarian television) for the Franconian region. This tower, which is located at 49° 4' 12" N and 10° 31' 37" E, has an unusual construction: It is a so-called "hybrid tower" and consists of a free-standing steel skeleton framing base and

1460-453: A result of high ocean acidity and temperature inhibiting its mineralisation into apatite; the abundance of phosphorus in marine environments caused further eutrophication and consequent anoxia in a positive feedback loop. The end-Jurassic transition was originally considered one of eight mass extinctions, but is now considered to be a complex interval of faunal turnover, with the increase in diversity of some groups and decline in others, though

1606-513: A small hut on the northern slope in order to support winter sports. Tourist destinations include: Sheep grazing of the herding areas is necessary for the conservation of the semidry and dry meadows. However, encroachment of scrub such as blackthorne , rose , juniper , and ash has greatly increased at many places on the mountain despite the presence of herds belonging to two sheep farms (northern side: approx. 600 ewes , southern side: approx. 1000 ewes). Without additional mechanical maintenance

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1752-489: A wired transmission tower on top. It also broadcasts the UKW radio programme Radio 8 . In addition radio amateurs maintain a small relay station on the mountain for voice radio , packet radio , and amateur television. The energy for this station is supplied by solar cells and wind power . The borders of four municipalities cross at the mountain. It is noteworthy that the main villages of these municipalities are located at

1898-492: Is Austrohamia minuta from the Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian) of Patagonia, known from many parts of the plant. The reproductive structures of Austrohamia have strong similarities to those of the primitive living cypress genera Taiwania and Cunninghamia . By the Middle to Late Jurassic Cupressaceae were abundant in warm temperate–tropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere, most abundantly represented by

2044-755: Is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period 201.4 million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 145 Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic Era as well as the eighth period of the Phanerozoic Eon and is named after the Jura Mountains , where limestone strata from the period were first identified. The start of

2190-597: Is adult education for the rural deaconry (family nursing, village assistant, business assistant). On September 15, 2005 it was renamed to Protestant Education Center Hesselberg ( EBZ Hesselberg - Evangelisches Bildungszentrum Hesselberg ). According to Reverend Bernd Reuther, chairman of the new education center, its mission is the expansion of the range of education available with emphasis on "Faith, Rural Space, and Development of Personality" furthermore guest groups should be addressed with their own education programme. The Protestant- Lutheran deaconry Ansbach has made

2336-734: Is amongst the most important geotopes in Bavaria . On September 24, 2005 it was awarded the cachet Bayerns schönste Geotope (Bavarian's most beautiful geotopes) by Georg Schlapp (director of the Bavarian Environmental Protection Office) in the course of a ceremony. 200 million years ago the Jurassic sea extended from the North Sea basin far to the South and covered the late Triassic land. At that time

2482-504: Is characterised by the typical rock and embedded fossils that are specific for each era. Because certain fossils are solely found in certain layers, they are referred to as index fossils . In Jurassic rock ammonites are the index fossils. In the course of time the Jurassic sea silted up completely. Because during the Early Jurassic Hesselberg was located in a sheltered basin it was not as eroded by wind and water as

2628-428: Is covered with thin dry grass and a typical feature are the irregularly spaced juniper bushes. Well over 40 different species of flowering plants grow on this nutrient-poor, non-fertilised soil. Often different small species of gentian can be found. In late summer pasqueflower and Carline thistle bloom. From April until June orange tips fly over the sunny slopes. One of the most important tasks for conservation of

2774-494: Is divided into three epochs : Early, Middle, and Late. Similarly, in stratigraphy , the Jurassic is divided into the Lower Jurassic , Middle Jurassic , and Upper Jurassic series . Geologists divide the rocks of the Jurassic into a stratigraphic set of units called stages , each formed during corresponding time intervals called ages. Stages can be defined globally or regionally. For global stratigraphic correlation,

2920-565: Is followed by the Kimmeridgian Warm Interval (KWI) between 164 and 150 million years ago. Based on fossil wood distribution, this was one of the wettest intervals of the Jurassic. The Pangaean interior had less severe seasonal swings than in previous warm periods as the expansion of the Central Atlantic and Western Indian Ocean provided new sources of moisture. A prominent drop in temperatures occurred during

3066-470: Is fourth order, with a periodicity of approximately 410,000 years. During the Early Jurassic the world's oceans transitioned from an aragonite sea to a calcite sea chemistry, favouring the dissolution of aragonite and precipitation of calcite . The rise of calcareous plankton during the Middle Jurassic profoundly altered ocean chemistry, with the deposition of biomineralized plankton on

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3212-578: Is in Wassertrüdingen. The term Hesselberg recreational region refers to the combined area of these member municipalities. The German Limes road leads through this region from the West to the East. The Entwicklungsgesellschaft Region Hesselberg mbH (Development Incorporation of Hesselberg Region) was founded on October 5, 1999. This is a federation of municipalities that extends far beyond the borders of

3358-555: Is linked to the Jura Mountains , a forested mountain range that mainly follows the France–Switzerland border . The name "Jura" is derived from the Celtic root * jor via Gaulish *iuris "wooded mountain", which was borrowed into Latin as a name of a place and evolved into Juria and finally Jura . During a tour of the region in 1795, German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt recognized carbonate deposits within

3504-475: Is marked by a globally documented high amplitude negative carbon isotope excursion, as well as the deposition of black shales and the extinction and collapse of carbonate-producing marine organisms, associated with a major rise in global temperatures. The TOAE is often attributed to the eruption of the Karoo-Ferrar large igneous provinces and the associated increase of carbon dioxide concentration in

3650-577: Is named after the city of Oxford in England and was named by Alcide d'Orbigny in 1844 in reference to the Oxford Clay . The base of the Oxfordian lacks a defined GSSP. W. J. Arkell in studies in 1939 and 1946 placed the lower boundary of the Oxfordian as the first appearance of the ammonite Quenstedtoceras mariae (then placed in the genus Vertumniceras ). Subsequent proposals have suggested

3796-438: Is planned for the near future, both to better market the fruit products and as a new tourist attraction. In and around the Hesselberg area there are many trails. The two main trails have many signs containing information for the hiker. The geological nature trail, which is 3 km long, leads from its starting point near Wittelshofen to the mountain's peak. The signs along the route tell of the geological history and structure of

3942-587: Is the highest point in Middle Franconia and the Franconian Jura and is situated 60 km south west of Nuremberg , Germany. The mountain stands isolated and far from the center of the Franconian Jura, in its southwestern border region, 4 km to the north west of Wassertrüdingen . The mountain's first recorded name was Öselberg , which probably derived from öder Berg (bleak mountain). This name later changed to Eselsberg and finally to

4088-707: Is the setting of the world's largest oil reserves, including the Ghawar Field , the world's largest oil field. The Jurassic-aged Sargelu and Naokelekan formations are major source rocks for oil in Iraq . Over 1500 gigatons of Jurassic coal reserves are found in north-west China, primarily in the Turpan-Hami Basin and the Ordos Basin . Major impact structures include the Morokweng impact structure ,

4234-622: Is used to mark the beginnings of stages, as well as smaller timespans within stages, referred to as "ammonite zones"; these, in turn, are also sometimes subdivided further into subzones. Global stratigraphy is based on standard European ammonite zones, with other regions being calibrated to the European successions. The oldest part of the Jurassic Period has historically been referred to as the Lias or Liassic, roughly equivalent in extent to

4380-593: Is very susceptible to landslides which has resulted in the unevenness of the meadows. On top of the Opalinus-clay lies a layer of iron sandstone (Dogger beta), which is 40 m thick. This layer is very distinctive due to its steep rise. Because the Opalinus-clay layer is impervious to water, a spring horizon has formed at the transition to the iron sandstone. The layers of Dogger gamma (Sowerbyi layers) (1 m), Dogger delta ( Ostreen -lime) (4 m), and Dogger epsilon ( Oolith -lime) (2 m) are summarised under

4526-489: Is visible from afar, belongs to Gerolfingen. In the west is Wittelshofen with about 1,300 inhabitants and an area of 24.22 km , at the confluence of Wörnitz and Sulzach rivers. The town is the starting point of the geological nature trail. Together with the municipality of Unterschwaningen these four municipalities form the administrative collective of Hesselberg. The Hesselberg municipalities of Ehingen , Gerolfingen , Röckingen , and Wittelshofen joined with

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4672-734: The Bund Naturschutz in Bayern (Bavarian Nature Conservation Alliance) (Ansbach district group), and the Landesbund für Vogelschutz in Bayern (Bavarian State Bird Conservation Alliance) (Ansbach district group) organise guided excursions and walking tours. At the mountain's foot anglers can indulge their passion at the Wörnitz and Sulzach rivers. The German Alpine Association (Hesselberg section with an office in Bechhofen ) have built

4818-543: The House of Hohenzollern under the name "Burgrave Frederick I of Nuremberg". Due to clever marriages and trade-offs the Frankish Zollern gained increasing wealth and influence. In 1331 the burgraves moved to Ansbach. In 1363 they were elevated to sovereigns and in 1417 they were feoffed with the margrave of Brandenburg . Expensive holding of court and persistent conflicts with the imperial city Nuremberg lead to

4964-513: The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) ratify global stages based on a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) from a single formation (a stratotype ) identifying the lower boundary of the stage. The ages of the Jurassic from youngest to oldest are as follows: Jurassic stratigraphy is primarily based on the use of ammonites as index fossils . The first appearance datum of specific ammonite taxa

5110-600: The La Tène period (500–15 BC) indicates any Celtic involvement. In the restless Migration Period and during the Middle Ages the walls of Hesselberg were used as a shelter and for defensive purposes. The city museum of Oettingen and the museum for pre- and early history in Gunzenhausen contains many exhibits such as tools and weapons. Under the rules of emperors Domitian (81–96 AD ) and Hadrian (117–138 AD)

5256-548: The Osterwiese . The small quarry below the main peak consists of Planula-lime in its lower part, and the Ataxiocerate 's layer (Malm gamma) in its upper, which builds up the main peak and is 20 m thick. The top layer of Malm gamma and the layers of Malm delta to Malm zeta have already been eroded away on Hesselberg. There are illustrated charts in some of the parking lots of the region which provide an insight into

5402-728: The Redcar Mudstone Formation , and was ratified in 2005. The beginning of the Pliensbachian is defined by the first appearance of the ammonite Bifericeras donovani . The village Thouars (Latin: Toarcium ), just south of Saumur in the Loire Valley of France , lends its name to the Toarcian Stage. The Toarcian was named by Alcide d'Orbigny in 1842, with the original locality being Vrines quarry around 2 km northwest of Thouars. The GSSP for

5548-544: The red helleborine have become increasingly rare. The Turk's-cap lily , which belongs to the lily family , can still be found relatively often but flower's diversity is in need of protection. The erica and the Cytisus scoparius prefer the iron sandstone layers of the lower parts of the slopes. It is unsurprising that such a peculiar mountain with its associated history is shrouded in legends, sagas and prophesies of destiny, many of these contain recognisable parallels to

5694-592: The 14th century and many Jews achieved eminence as merchants and scholars. The National Socialists were active in the villages around Hesselberg, they destroyed synagogues and expelled or displaced Jews to internment camps. The notorious anti-semitic publisher Julius Streicher , as the head of the Frankish Nazi district, established Hesselberg as a meeting place of the Nazis. After the NSDAP came to power in 1933

5840-524: The 5 km long remains of the border walls around the Osterwiese , the Ehinger mountain , and the Gerolfinger mountain provide an idea of the importance of these fortifications. Behind this sheltering stonework an important political, economic, and religious center evolved. For a long time these constructions were thought to be of celtic origin, but only one artefact (the weapons of a warrior) from

5986-636: The Aalenian, precessionally forced climatic changes dictated peatland wildfire magnitude and frequency. The European climate appears to have become noticeably more humid at the Aalenian-Bajocian boundary but then became more arid during the middle Bajocian. A transient ice age possibly occurred in the late Bajocian. The Callovian-Oxfordian boundary at the end of the MJCI witnessed particularly notable global cooling, potentially even an ice age. This

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6132-748: The Bajocian Stage after the town of Bayeux (Latin: Bajoce ) in Normandy, France. The GSSP for the base of the Bajocian is located in the Murtinheira section at Cabo Mondego , Portugal; it was ratified in 1997. The base of the Bajocian is defined by the first appearance of the ammonite Hyperlioceras mundum . The Bathonian is named after the city of Bath , England, introduced by Belgian geologist d'Omalius d'Halloy in 1843, after an incomplete section of oolitic limestones in several quarries in

6278-593: The Black Jurassic and the overlying clayey sandstone and ferruginous oolite of the Brown Jurassic sequences of southwestern Germany. The GSSP for the base of the Aalenian is located at Fuentelsaz in the Iberian range near Guadalajara, Spain , and was ratified in 2000. The base of the Aalenian is defined by the first appearance of the ammonite Leioceras opalinum . Alcide d'Orbigny in 1842 named

6424-560: The Black Jurassic in England by William Conybeare and William Phillips in 1822. William Phillips, the geologist, worked with William Conybeare to find out more about the Black Jurassic in England. The French palaeontologist Alcide d'Orbigny in papers between 1842 and 1852 divided the Jurassic into ten stages based on ammonite and other fossil assemblages in England and France, of which seven are still used, but none has retained its original definition. The German geologist and palaeontologist Friedrich August von Quenstedt in 1858 divided

6570-655: The Callovian–Oxfordian boundary, peaking possibly as high as 140 metres above present sea level at the Kimmeridgian–Tithonian boundary. The sea levels falls in the late Tithonian, perhaps to around 100 metres, before rebounding to around 110 metres at the Tithonian–Berriasian boundary. The sea level within the long-term trends across the Jurassic was cyclical, with 64 fluctuations, 15 of which were over 75 metres. The most noted cyclicity in Jurassic rocks

6716-464: The Early Jurassic, but also including part of the preceding Rhaetian . The Hettangian Stage was named by Swiss palaeontologist Eugène Renevier in 1864 after Hettange-Grande in north-eastern France. The GSSP for the base of the Hettangian is located at the Kuhjoch Pass, Karwendel Mountains , Northern Calcareous Alps , Austria; it was ratified in 2010. The beginning of the Hettangian, and thus

6862-517: The Franconian Jura, but at Hesselberg they are mostly ablated; only 85 m is left. The rocks of the Malm are partly sediments and partly formed from reefs of ancient sea sponges . This rock is widely distributed on the main peak. The light-coloured lime of the White Jurassic was a popular building material for houses ( burnt lime ) and for road construction ( rubble ). The depressions on

7008-408: The Greek goddess of dawn . His name was chosen by Albert Oppel for this stratigraphical stage because the Tithonian finds itself hand in hand with the dawn of the Cretaceous. The base of the Tithonian currently lacks a GSSP. The working definition for the base of the Tithonian is the first appearance of the ammonite genus Gravesia . The upper boundary of the Jurassic is currently undefined, and

7154-417: The Hesselberg region was on the border of that sea. Many affluxes brought huge masses of rubble from the eastern mainland and formed a multilayer seafloor, which had a rich flora and fauna . During more than 40 million years the different layers of Jurassic rock consecutively deposited: the Black Jurassic at the bottom, the Brown Jurassic above, and the White Jurassic at the top. Each of these layers

7300-420: The Hesselberg region. The tasks and spheres of influences of this incorporation are very broad and contain amongst others the economy, culture, and tourism. The main office resides at castle Unterschwaningen. The huge number of meadows containing fruit trees has led to the formation of the Interessengemeinschaft Moststraße (Community of Interest Must -Road) by several communes . The Must-Road around Hesselberg

7446-403: The Jura Mountains as geologically distinct from the Triassic aged Muschelkalk of southern Germany , but he erroneously concluded that they were older. He then named them Jura-Kalkstein ('Jura limestone') in 1799. In 1829, the French naturalist Alexandre Brongniart published a book entitled Description of the Terrains that Constitute the Crust of the Earth or Essay on the Structure of

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7592-413: The Jurassic as a whole, is marked by the first appearance of the ammonite Psiloceras spelae tirolicum in the Kendlbach Formation exposed at Kuhjoch. The base of the Jurassic was previously defined as the first appearance of Psiloceras planorbis by Albert Oppel in 1856–58, but this was changed as the appearance was seen as too localised an event for an international boundary. The Sinemurian Stage

7738-418: The Jurassic marl (Lias zeta), which is 2.7 m thick. The dark brown colours of the weathered upper layers give the name to the Brown (or Middle) Jurassic. The colours are a result of highly concentrated iron . The layer of the Dogger which is 135 m thick forms the main part of Hesselberg's slopes. The lowest sub-layer (Dogger alpha) is formed of 75 m thick Opalinus-clay. The soil of these layers

7884-422: The Jurassic was marked by the major Triassic–Jurassic extinction event , associated with the eruption of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP). The beginning of the Toarcian Age started around 183 million years ago and is marked by the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event , a global episode of oceanic anoxia , ocean acidification , and elevated global temperatures associated with extinctions, likely caused by

8030-457: The Jurassic was warmer than the present, and there were no ice caps . Forests grew close to the poles, with large arid expanses in the lower latitudes. On land, the fauna transitioned from the Triassic fauna, dominated jointly by dinosauromorph and pseudosuchian archosaurs , to one dominated by dinosaurs alone. The first stem-group birds appeared during the Jurassic, evolving from a branch of theropod dinosaurs. Other major events include

8176-487: The Jurassic, both the North and South Pole were covered by oceans. Beginning in the Early Jurassic, the Boreal Ocean was connected to the proto-Atlantic by the "Viking corridor" or Transcontinental Laurasian Seaway, a passage between the Baltic Shield and Greenland several hundred kilometers wide. During the Callovian, the Turgai Epicontinental Sea formed, creating a marine barrier between Europe and Asia. Madagascar and Antarctica began to rift away from Africa during

8322-437: The Jurassic, the North Atlantic Ocean remained relatively narrow, while the South Atlantic did not open until the Cretaceous. The continents were surrounded by Panthalassa , with the Tethys Ocean between Gondwana and Asia. At the end of the Triassic, there was a marine transgression in Europe, flooding most parts of central and western Europe transforming it into an archipelago of islands surrounded by shallow seas. During

8468-510: The Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary is currently the only system boundary to lack a defined GSSP. Placing a GSSP for this boundary has been difficult because of the strong regionality of most biostratigraphic markers, and lack of any chemostratigraphic events, such as isotope excursions (large sudden changes in ratios of isotopes ), that could be used to define or correlate a boundary. Calpionellids , an enigmatic group of planktonic protists with urn-shaped calcitic tests briefly abundant during

8614-535: The Known Lands of the Earth. In this book, Brongniart used the phrase terrains jurassiques when correlating the "Jura-Kalkstein" of Humboldt with similarly aged oolitic limestones in Britain, thus coining and publishing the term "Jurassic". The German geologist Leopold von Buch in 1839 established the three-fold division of the Jurassic, originally named from oldest to the youngest: the Black Jurassic , Brown Jurassic , and White Jurassic . The term " Lias " had previously been used for strata of equivalent age to

8760-407: The Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) of Scotland, which remains the only known unequivocal fossil of the group before the Cretaceous. Despite being the earliest known member of the Pinaceae, Eathiestrobus appears to be a member of the pinoid clade of the family, suggesting that the initial diversification of Pinaceae occurred earlier than has been found in the fossil record. The earliest record of

8906-413: The Lias. A special feature is the Posidonia schist (Lias epsilon), which is 10 m thick. In this sub-layer fossils from larger animals are also found such as ichthyosaurs . The cavity of the Posidonia schist, which is at the starting point of the nature trail, is a unique natural geological monument where it is prohibited to search for and to collect fossils. Above these well visible schist layers lies

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9052-416: The Middle Jurassic. Also abundant during the Jurassic is the extinct family Cheirolepidiaceae , often recognised through their highly distinctive Classopolis pollen. Jurassic representatives include the pollen cone Classostrobus and the seed cone Pararaucaria . Araucarian and Cheirolepidiaceae conifers often occur in association. The oldest definitive record of the cypress family ( Cupressaceae )

9198-445: The Middle to Late Jurassic, corresponding to the increasing aridity of the region. Ginkgoales , of which the sole living species is Ginkgo biloba , were more diverse during the Jurassic: they were among the most important components of Eurasian Jurassic floras and were adapted to a wide variety of climatic conditions. The earliest representatives of the genus Ginkgo , represented by ovulate and pollen organs similar to those of

9344-405: The North Atlantic Ocean with eastern Panthalassa. Palaeontological data suggest that the seaway had been open since the Early Jurassic. As part of the Nevadan orogeny , which began during the Triassic, the Cache Creek Ocean closed, and various terranes including the large Wrangellia Terrane accreted onto the western margin of North America. By the Middle Jurassic the Siberian plate and

9490-462: The North China-Amuria block had collided, resulting in the closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean . During the Early Jurassic, around 190 million years ago, the Pacific Plate originated at the triple junction of the Farallon , Phoenix , and Izanagi tectonic plates , the three main oceanic plates of Panthalassa. The previously stable triple junction had converted to an unstable arrangement surrounded on all sides by transform faults because of

9636-489: The Osterwiese leads through a picturesque, shady linden avenue in its final part. On the southern slope lies Gerolfingen with about 1,100 inhabitants and an area of 13 km with a road to the parking lots on Hesselberg. A trail leads from Gerolfingen through meadows with fruit trees and a beautiful chestnut avenue, whose older part was complemented with new plantations in autumn 2004. The village of Aukirchen with its historical town-hall and St. John's Church, which

9782-411: The Romans pushed the border of their province Raetia farther to the North. They expanded the wall of Limes in order to protect against the Germanic peoples and equipped it with many watchtowers, and in the immediate vicinity of Hesselberg large Castella were built. Under the rule of emperor Caracalla (around 213 AD) the last and widest extension of the Limes took place. To the west of the mountain

9928-402: The Schlößleinsbuck: daughters of the local bishop Stuart Ward. Two of them are dressed completely in white, but the third one wears a black skirt. The three virgins appeared to a farm laborer, who tilled a field near the mountain. They begged him to follow them into the mountain to release them and that because he is of pure heart, he need not fear the evil forces of darkness. They told him that on

10074-502: The TOAE represented one of the most severe extinctions in their evolutionary history. While the event had significant impact on marine invertebrates, it had little effect on marine reptiles. During the TOAE, the Sichuan Basin was transformed into a giant lake , probably three times the size of modern-day Lake Superior , represented by the Da'anzhai Member of the Ziliujing Formation . The lake likely sequestered ~460 gigatons (Gt) of organic carbon and ~1,200 Gt of inorganic carbon during

10220-414: The Tithonian, known as the Early Tithonian Cooling Event (ETCE). The end of the Jurassic was marked by the Tithonian–early Barremian Cool Interval (TBCI), beginning 150 million years ago and continuing into the Early Cretaceous . The Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (TOAE), also known as the Jenkyns Event, was an episode of widespread oceanic anoxia during the early part of the Toarcian Age, c. 183 Mya. It

10366-529: The Toarcian around 174 million years ago. During the Toarcian Warm Interval, ocean surface temperatures likely exceeded 30 °C (86 °F), and equatorial and subtropical (30°N–30°S) regions are likely to have been extremely arid, with temperatures in the interior of Pangea likely in excess of 40 °C (104 °F).The Toarcian Warm Interval is followed by the Middle Jurassic Cool Interval (MJCI) between 174 and 164 million years ago, which may have been punctuated by brief, ephemeral icehouse intervals. During

10512-637: The annual Frankish Days (held until 1939) developed from party manifestations. Those were the largest manifestations in Franconia besides the Nuremberg rally . Hermann Göring attended the Frankish Days twice as a speaker and Adolf Hitler also once attended. Up to 100,000 visitors on the Osterwiese listened to the virulently anti-Semitic speeches of Julius Streicher. At that time Hesselberg

10658-545: The appearance of the earliest crabs and modern frogs , salamanders and lizards . Mammaliaformes , one of the few cynodont lineages to survive the end of the Triassic, continued to diversify throughout the period, with the Jurassic seeing the emergence of the first crown group mammals . Crocodylomorphs made the transition from a terrestrial to an aquatic life. The oceans were inhabited by marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs , while pterosaurs were

10804-589: The area's settlement history. Hesselberg was used as a shelter and dwelling in prehistoric times. Archaeological artefacts from the Stone Age (approx. 10,000–2000 BC ) have been found mainly on the Osterwiese . In the Bronze Age (approx. 2000–1300 BC) it was constantly settled. In the Urnfield time (approx. 1200–750 BC) the colony at the plateaus was surrounded with curtain walls , and moats . Even today

10950-479: The atmosphere, as well as the possible associated release of methane clathrates . This likely accelerated the hydrological cycle and increased silicate weathering , as evidenced by an increased amount of organic matter of terrestrial origin found in marine deposits during the TOAE. Groups affected include ammonites, ostracods , foraminifera , bivalves , cnidarians , and especially brachiopods , for which

11096-518: The base of the Toarcian is located at Peniche, Portugal , and was ratified in 2014. The boundary is defined by the first appearance of ammonites belonging to the subgenus Dactylioceras ( Eodactylites ) . The Aalenian is named after the city of Aalen in Germany. The Aalenian was defined by Swiss geologist Karl Mayer-Eymar in 1864. The lower boundary was originally between the dark clays of

11242-619: The boundary of the Franconian and the Swabian/Alamannic dialects. Despite the fact that the Franks overrode the Alamanni in a partly violent fashion, mixed settlements, such as Ehingen and Röckingen, almost always with a Franconian mayor, developed in the Hesselberg region. The Franks founded the villages of Lenters heim , Obermögers heim , Geils heim , Franken hofen , and Königs hofen amongst others. The Franconian peasants established

11388-762: The caves. He lived there for many months, uncertain of how to escape. When the traditional Yule celebrations began, he joined with the Konvencio union, becoming King of the Goblins, and leading them to victory against the other unions! Each Christmas, walkers can call out 'Konvencio' into the wind, and hear the other goblins grumble about their defeat. One day it is prophesied that Viktor will be reincarnated, return to Konvencio, and lead them to victory once again. All references are in German. Jurassic The Jurassic ( / dʒ ʊ ˈ r æ s ɪ k / juurr- ASS -ik )

11534-755: The centre of the Franconian Keuper-Lias Plains. In the north, is the city of Bamberg and, in the north-northeastern extremity, is the town of Coburg . The Franconian Keuper-Lias Plains are part of the South German Scarplands and are further divided into natural regions as follows: (in brackets the predominant rock keuper (K), lias (L), and dogger (D)) 49°27′00″N 10°48′00″E  /  49.4500°N 10.8000°E  / 49.4500; 10.8000 Hesselberg Hesselberg ( pronounced [ˈhɛsl̩ˌbɛʁk] ; 689 m above sea level)

11680-499: The citizens ("descrubbing" significantly improves the pasture conditions) has multiple functions: Due to its multilayered rock, soil, climate, and cultivation, Hesselberg has bred a variety of vegetation with some plant communities particular to the area. An important task of the landscape maintenance is the conservation of the dry and non-forested neglected meadows and dry meadowy slopes. Botanists have named this type of vegetation Magerrasen (neglected grassland). The ground there

11826-412: The crying of cuckoos contribute to the mood of the wood as well as the singing of countless birds. Various Ranunculaceae —such as liverworts and wood anemones —are the signs of spring in Hesselberg's forests. In May ramsons turn the ground of the deciduous forest into a carpet of green and white blooms. After blooming the intense odour of garlic fills the air. The various species of orchids such as

11972-478: The current name Hesselberg . As a butte the mountain provides an insight into Jurassic geology. It has also witnessed an eventful history, many incidents were handed down from generation to generation and these mixed with facts have become legends. Nowadays many people visit Hesselberg in order to enjoy nature and the wonderful vista. When the weather is clear the Alps 150 km away can be seen. The mountain has

12118-407: The different layers are assigned to this classification. The Black Jurassic is so called due to the dark colours of clay and marl characteristic of this era. This layer is approximately 50 m thick and forms the fertile hilly area around the mountain. Its lowest sub-layers (Lias alpha to gamma) are beneath the surface. The Amaltheenton (Lias delta) at 35 m is the thickest sub-layer of

12264-447: The dominant flying vertebrates . Modern sharks and rays first appeared and diversified during the period, while the first known crown-group teleost fish appeared near the end of the period. The flora was dominated by ferns and gymnosperms , including conifers , of which many modern groups made their first appearance during the period, as well as other groups like the extinct Bennettitales . The chronostratigraphic term "Jurassic"

12410-524: The early Middle Ages the Hesselberg region was part of the king's forests. Sparse castle ruins are found on Ehinger mountain and on Schlössleinsbuck. The construction on Ehinger mountain has its seeds in the Carolingian - Ottonian period (8th–9th centuries). Tombs discovered there point towards a violent end caused by Hungarian soldiers at the end of the 10th century when the Hungarians burnt down

12556-656: The end of the 5th century the Franks emerged from the lower Main valley and initiated the second wave of colonisation. From 496 to 506 and under the rule of Merovingian king Clovis I they defeated the Swabian Alamanni, who lost their northern territories that had formerly reached into the Neuwieder basin, and they were pushed back behind the Oos - Hornisgrinde - Asperg -Hesselberg line. Today this line closely matches

12702-688: The end of the Jurassic. The oldest unambiguous members of Podocarpaceae are known from the Jurassic, found across both hemispheres, including Scarburgia and Harrisiocarpus from the Middle Jurassic of England, as well as unnamed species from the Middle-Late Jurassic of Patagonia. During the Early Jurassic, the flora of the mid-latitudes of Eastern Asia were dominated by the extinct deciduous broad leafed conifer Podozamites , which appears to not be closely related to any living family of conifer. Its range extended northwards into polar latitudes of Siberia and then contracted northward in

12848-653: The end of the Triassic, the Peltaspermaceae became extinct in most parts of the world, with Lepidopteris persisting into the Early Jurassic in Patagonia. Dicroidium , a corystosperm seed fern that was a dominant part of Gondwanan floral communities during the Triassic, also declined at the Triassic–Jurassic boundary, surviving as a relict in Antarctica into the Early Jurassic. Conifers formed

12994-524: The eruption of the Karoo-Ferrar large igneous provinces . The end of the Jurassic, however, has no clear, definitive boundary with the Cretaceous and is the only boundary between geological periods to remain formally undefined. By the beginning of the Jurassic, the supercontinent Pangaea had begun rifting into two landmasses: Laurasia to the north and Gondwana to the south. The climate of

13140-417: The event. Seawater pH , which had already substantially decreased prior to the event, increased slightly during the early stages of the TOAE, before dropping to its lowest point around the middle of the event. This ocean acidification is the probable cause of the collapse of carbonate production. Additionally, anoxic conditions were exacerbated by enhanced recycling of phosphorus back into ocean water as

13286-559: The evidence for this is primarily European, probably controlled by changes in eustatic sea level. There is no evidence of a mass extinction of plants at the Triassic–Jurassic boundary. At the Triassic–Jurassic boundary in Greenland, the sporomorph (pollen and spores) record suggests a complete floral turnover. An analysis of macrofossil floral communities in Europe suggests that changes were mainly due to local ecological succession . At

13432-518: The farm laborer became very scared and left the virgins unsaved. It is further told that the virgins still speak to brave men, who should follow them into the mountain in order to save them. There were once rumours of a deep network of caves known as the Regensen grottoes. Within the cave network there were many goblins, organised into different unions with peculiar names like Hof, Ping and Konvencio. One day, an innocent young boy named Viktor fell into

13578-446: The farther they chased the faster the rabbit ran. Finally they gave up. When they returned to the cave they remembered their fellow in the hole and they immediately pulled the rope up. It was stained with blood and at its end there hung a goat's hoof and a note with the mark 'Skrap' upon it, but the boy was gone forever. Legend has it that a long time ago a big fortress stood upon Hesselberg, known as Owl Castle. In that castle there lived

13724-441: The first local code provided the basis for municipal autonomy, which was expanded by the second Bavarian municipal edict in 1818. Following this many small villages became self-administrating and received the status of a municipality—by the means of law as juristic persons . Prior to World War II Jewish life and culture played an important role in the whole Hesselberg region. Jewish settlers had already been mentioned in writs in

13870-686: The first appearance of Cardioceras redcliffense as the lower boundary. The village of Kimmeridge on the coast of Dorset , England, is the origin of the name of the Kimmeridgian. The stage was named by Alcide d'Orbigny in 1842 in reference to the Kimmeridge Clay . The GSSP for the base of the Kimmeridgian is the Flodigarry section at Staffin Bay on the Isle of Skye , Scotland , which

14016-409: The first appearance of the ammonite Strambergella jacobi , formerly placed in the genus Berriasella , but its use as a stratigraphic indicator has been questioned, as its first appearance does not correlate with that of C. alpina . The Kimmeridge Clay and equivalents are the major source rock for the North Sea oil . The Arabian Intrashelf Basin, deposited during the Middle and Late Jurassic,

14162-425: The first trees would develop. In the final stage the mountain would become mostly overgrown with forest. The herbs and grasses of the neglected grassland have a positive influence on the quality of the sheep's meat. Due to this fact the restaurants of the Hesselberg region increasingly offer dishes of Hesselberg lamb . In many ways the fruitful meadows and fields of the Early Jurassic soil in Hesselberg's vicinity are

14308-417: The form of flat swamps . The special flora and fauna of the wells is not immediately obvious, because most of the organisms are microscopic . Sundew is a very rare plant found in these wetlands. On Hesselberg all forms ( high forest , coppice-with-standards , coppice ) and types ( temperate coniferous forest , mixed forest , deciduous forest ) of forests can be found. The coppice in the upper regions of

14454-616: The fortifications of the Limes, the Castelli, and many settlements. The Romans had to shift their borders back to the Danube . The Alamanni founded their first granges and farmed the land as arable and livestock farmers. As well as the local town names that end with " -ingen " the strip cultivation indicates Alamannic foundation. The villages Röck ingen , Eh ingen , Gerolf ingen , Weilt ingen , and Irs ingen have their origins in that period. At

14600-399: The fruit groves provide the optimal habitat for a diversity of small animals, birds, and plants. The wryneck is one of the typical inhabitants of these meadows, because they avoid bleak areas and dense forests. Just as important for the small animals, birds, and plants are the various hedges and shrubs, which can be found everywhere on and around Hesselberg. In our farmed landscape hedges have

14746-402: The genus Elatides . The Jurassic also saw the first appearances of some modern genera of cypresses, such as Sequoia . Members of the extinct genus Schizolepidopsis which likely represent a stem-group to the pine family ( Pinaceae ), were widely distributed across Eurasia during the Jurassic. The oldest unambiguous record of Pinaceae is the pine cone Eathiestrobus , known from

14892-743: The geologically and topographically similar Swabian Keuper-Lias Plains . To the east, the landscape transitions into the Malm Plateau of the Franconian Jura , to the northeast are the Upper Palatine-Upper Main Hills (especially the Upper Main Hills ) as a buffer zone between the Franconian Jura and the Upper Palatine-Bavarian Forest . The conurbation of Nuremberg , with its outlying towns of Fürth and Erlangen , lie roughly in

15038-614: The king endowed the Hesselberg Mass . In 1806 the Hesselberg region was handed over to Bavaria in the course of an exchange of lands between Bavaria and Prussia: Bavaria received the Prussian principality Ansbach including Hesselberg and in return Prussia obtained the Wittelsbach 's earldom of Berg (capital city Düsseldorf ), located at the Niederrhein (Bavarian-Prussian Contract of Paris, February 15, 1806). In 1808

15184-430: The largest variety of microhabitats. In addition to the groves there is a herb layer—rich in species—a sunny herb fringe, coarse woody debris , and possibly special biotopes , such as the piles of stones. Because of the transition from water-permeable to impermeable rock layers several spring horizons have emerged, explaining the richness of the springs. On Hesselberg there are several deep wells, but most springs appear in

15330-608: The late Early Jurassic in association with the eruption of the Karoo-Ferrar large igneous provinces , opening the western Indian Ocean and beginning the fragmentation of Gondwana. At the beginning of the Jurassic, North and South America remained connected, but by the beginning of the Late Jurassic they had rifted apart to form the Caribbean Seaway, also known as the Hispanic Corridor, which connected

15476-416: The late Sinemurian–Pliensbachian before regressing to near present levels by the late Pliensbachian. There seems to have been a gradual rise to a peak of ~75 m above present sea level during the Toarcian. During the latest part of the Toarcian, the sea level again dropped by several tens of metres. It progressively rose from the Aalenian onwards, aside from dips of a few tens of metres in the Bajocian and around

15622-465: The latest Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous, have been suggested to represent the most promising candidates for fixing the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary In particular, the first appearance Calpionella alpina , co-inciding with the base of the eponymous Alpina subzone, has been proposed as the definition of the base of the Cretaceous. The working definition for the boundary has often been placed as

15768-667: The main peak served as a radar station for the U.S. Army . In 1972 the Landkreis (district) of Dinkelsbühl and the Hesselberg municipalities was closed in the course of the district reform and incorporated into the Landkreis Ansbach . In the course of latter reforms many small autonomous municipalities merged into the municipalities of today. The most important annual event is the Bavarian Protestant Church Congress. This well known beyond

15914-428: The modern species, are known from the Middle Jurassic in the Northern Hemisphere. Several other lineages of ginkgoaleans are known from Jurassic rocks, including Yimaia , Grenana , Nagrenia and Karkenia . These lineages are associated with Ginkgo- like leaves, but are distinguished from living and fossil representatives of Ginkgo by having differently arranged reproductive structures. Umaltolepis from

16060-404: The mountain itself. The remains of the Limes now form stone ridges hidden in the woods. Nowadays most of the civil and military wall remains are hidden beneath the ground of local meadows and fields. On top of Castellum Ruffenhofen a Roman park is built. In the local museum of Weitlingen there are a few Roman exhibits. Around 260 AD Alamannic and Germanic groups entered the region and destroyed

16206-524: The mountain's foot, whereas the other municipal parts form a starlike pattern around these centers. In the north is Ehingen with about 2,100 inhabitants and an area of 47 square kilometres. A trail leads from here through meadows with fruit trees then the afforested northern slope towards the peak. The signs on this trail contain information about beekeeping . In the east is the small municipality Röckingen with about 800 inhabitants and an area of 10.91 km . The predominantly sunny trail towards

16352-503: The mountain. The Hesselberg-trail forms a round-trip of Hesselberg's heights. Both trails are well combinable. The Osterwiese is meeting point for model plane pilots, the launch areas for hang-gliders and paragliders can be found there too. The regional gliding airfield is in nearby Irsingen. Sporting clays was prohibited by the Nature Conservation Agency due to lead exposure. The Hesselberg Tourist Office,

16498-540: The municipalities of Dürrwangen , Langfurth , Mönchsroth , Unterschwaningen , Wassertrüdingen , Weiltingen , and Wilburgstetten on January 31, 1973 to form the Fremdenverkehrsverband Hesselberg e. V. (Tourist Association Hesselberg e. V.). Dürrwangen has since left the association. On the occasion of its 30th anniversary the Fremdenverkehrsverband Hesselberg e. V changed its name to Touristikverband Hesselberg e. V. . Its headquarters

16644-400: The neglected grassland is traditional herding . Grazing with sheep is a prerequisite for the long-lasting conservation of this grassland. If the amount of herding was reduced, initially more thorny and needle-bearing shrubs would grow because these are eschewed by sheep - the large number of juniper bushes thrive for the same reason. Under cover of these thornbushes and hedges other groves and

16790-503: The northern slope has the strangest appearance. After coppicing more light reaches the ground and thermophile animals such as the sand lizard thrive. Later, when the canopy closes again, many other specialised animals such as the Eurasian woodcock find a suitable habitat. All game that is typical of German forests (for example hare , roe , red fox , and squirrel ) are present in Hesselberg's woods. The drumming of woodpeckers and

16936-422: The ocean floor acting as a buffer against large CO 2 emissions. The climate of the Jurassic was generally warmer than that of present, by around 5–10 °C (9–18 °F), with atmospheric carbon dioxide likely about four times higher. Intermittent "cold snap" intervals are known to have occurred during this time period, however, interrupting the otherwise warm greenhouse climate. Forests likely grew near

17082-460: The oceans, resulting in large areas of desert and scrubland in the lower latitudes between 40° N and S of the equator. Tropical rainforest and tundra biomes are likely to have been rare or absent. The Jurassic also witnessed the decline of the Pangaean megamonsoon that had characterised the preceding Permian and Triassic periods. Variation in the frequency of wildfire activity in the Jurassic

17228-544: The open space on the mountain will not remain open in the long term. Since 1997 the municipality of Ehingen has struck out in new directions to deal with the conservation of these vast herding areas on Hesselberg's northern slopes. Annual civil campaigns of important "descrubbing" and maintenance tasks are performed as a collaboration between the Landschaftspflegeverband Mittelfranken (Middle Franconian Landscape Conservation Association) and

17374-428: The opposite of the nutrient-poor neglected grassland. This region has been traditionally used for agriculture. In its fields wheat , rye , oat , beetroot , and corn are cultivated. On the farms pigs and cattle are raised and dairy farming is performed. In the lower and middle parts of the slopes old and non-fertilised meadows with fruit trees offer a blaze of colour of different flowers. With their high trunks

17520-525: The peasants were captured or killed by margrave soldiers from Gunzenhausen . During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) large areas of today's Middle Franconia were devastated and depopulated. It was not until the end of the 17th century that the economic and financial situation of the margraves improved. The margraves allowed Austrian and French religious refugees to become nationals and supported Jewish merchants in building up an existence, therefore

17666-589: The plain between the mountain and the Hahnenkamm . The hard rock resisted erosion and left Hesselberg as a distinctive Zeugenberg rising above the landscape like an island. This kind of mountain-formation is known as inverted relief . There is a geological nature trail on the mountain with signs that describe its origin. Each of the three main parts of the Jurassic era is divided into six sub-divisions, which are numbered with Greek letters alpha to zeta ( Quenstedt 's classification). The rocks that are found in

17812-611: The poles, where they experienced warm summers and cold, sometimes snowy winters; there were unlikely to have been ice sheets given the high summer temperatures that prevented the accumulation of snow, though there may have been mountain glaciers. Dropstones and glendonites in northeastern Siberia during the Early to Middle Jurassic indicate cold winters. The ocean depths were likely 8 °C (14 °F) warmer than present, and coral reefs grew 10° of latitude further north and south. The Intertropical Convergence Zone likely existed over

17958-496: The real history of the area. In heavy thunder storms people recognised the remaining walls of the ruins as eerie figures and specters, which they associated with the former inhabitants of the castles. Later the castle remains were carried away and used as construction material elsewhere strengthening the image of castles sunk into the mountain. Four examples from the numerous legends of Hesselberg are provided: A long time ago some young lads herded sheep on Hesselberg. At that time there

18104-609: The refugees that were placed on Hesselberg. Since 1951 Hesselberg has been important to the local Lutherans . In this year the Lutheran adult education center was founded and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria Congress took place for the first time. Since then thousands of Christians have gathered on Whit Monday to celebrate this ceremony of faith. Between 1945 and 1992 the area around

18250-568: The region and each year on Whit Monday it attracts thousands of Protestants. In a tradition dating from 1803 the Hesselberg Mass has been held on the Osterwiese on the first Sunday in July; it was on this day that king Frederick William III of Prussia and his wife Luise visited the mountain. The Protestant-Lutheran Adult Education Center Hesselberg was founded on May 14, 1951; it was the first Bavarian adult education center. Its main task

18396-648: The region. The GSSP for the base of the Bathonian is Ravin du Bès, Bas-Auran area, Alpes de Haute Provence , France; it was ratified in 2009. The base of the Bathonian is defined by the first appearance of the ammonite Gonolkites convergens , at the base of the Zigzagiceras zigzag ammonite zone . The Callovian is derived from the Latinized name of the village of Kellaways in Wiltshire , England, and

18542-485: The shepherd Hans Goth. Under the banner phrase "One day for the mountain" many teenagers, seniors citizens, farmers, and non-farmers make a pilgrimage to the mountain on a particular day each autumn and work together. The work gets done in just four hours of working time, interrupted by a short snack and finished with lunch. On average there are 40 people voluntarily working in Ehingen. This active support of sheep farming by

18688-489: The term "ooliths". These layers contain many fossils. On the very top of the Middle Jurassic layers is the Ornate's clay layer (Dogger zeta), which is only 2 m thick. This small layer forms a terrace around the Hesselberg. On its southern side the buildings of the folk high school were constructed. The topmost Jurassic layer is called the White Jurassic due to its light colour. These layers can be up to 400 m thick in

18834-544: The three field crop rotation with its Flurzwang (a German system of rules relating to communal farmland in the Middle Ages), which was practiced until the modern consolidation of farming. In the 7th century—under the rule of Merovingian king Dagobert I — Christianisation started in Augsburg . In the 8th century Anglo-Saxon missionaries founded the monastery of Heidenheim under Franconian Carolingian rule. In

18980-573: The three series of von Buch in the Swabian Jura into six subdivisions defined by ammonites and other fossils. The German palaeontologist Albert Oppel in his studies between 1856 and 1858 altered d'Orbigny's original scheme and further subdivided the stages into biostratigraphic zones, based primarily on ammonites. Most of the modern stages of the Jurassic were formalized at the Colloque du Jurassique à Luxembourg in 1962. The Jurassic Period

19126-516: The wall crossed the rivers Wörnitz and Sulzach in a north-south direction. A few kilometres to the north of Wittelshofen it turned eastward. Due to this sharp bend the strategically important Hesselberg was included within the Roman Empire . There were Castella at Aufkirchen , Ruffenhofen , Dambach , and Unterschwaningen . Castellum Ruffenhofen was the largest in the Hesselberg area. No Roman buildings have been found by archaeologists on

19272-537: The way into the mountain they would first meet six men who have beards to the floor and sit around a table, the Pipianer. In the second room there would be sat a black dog with fervid eyes, holding a key in its mouth, the Jaksland. The farm laborer should take this key, even if the dog is spitting fire. With this key would then be able to get into a chamber containing a great treasure, which would then belong to him. But

19418-574: The western plateau are caused by these excavations. The lowest layers form the Impressa -layers (low Malm alpha), which are approximately 25 m thick, and the Bimammatum -lime (high Malm alpha). The old name of the Planula -lime (Malm beta) is factory lime, which indicates the use as building material. This layer, which is 15 m thick and interspersed with sponge reefs , forms the plateau of

19564-421: The whole castle. The building on Schlössleinsbuck was originally intended for use as a refuge, in the 11th or 12th century it was expanded by the lords of Lentersheim and adapted as a well-fortified knight 's castle. The castle's destruction is related in the family tree of the lords of Lentersheim: When Conrad of Lentersheim returned from the northern Italian campaigns of king Frederick II. in 1246, his castle

19710-497: The world's major landmasses were coalesced into the supercontinent Pangaea , which during the Early Jurassic began to break up into northern supercontinent Laurasia and the southern supercontinent Gondwana . The rifting between North America and Africa was the first to initiate, beginning in the early Jurassic, associated with the emplacement of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province . During

19856-585: The yew family ( Taxaceae ) is Palaeotaxus rediviva , from the Hettangian of Sweden, suggested to be closely related to the living Austrotaxus , while Marskea jurassica from the Middle Jurassic of Yorkshire, England and material from the Callovian–Oxfordian Daohugou Bed in China are thought to be closely related to Amentotaxus , with the latter material assigned to the modern genus, indicating that Taxaceae had substantially diversified by

20002-416: Was a deep cave on the mountain, which is buried today. Bursting with curiosity they wanted to know what was inside. One of them was lowered by rope down into the deep hole. Beforehand the boys had decided to pull him up immediately when he gave a tug on the rope. Soon after the boy went into the cave, a three-legged rabbit hobbled across the way, the other lads followed it spontaneously in order to catch it, but

20148-579: Was completely destroyed. Thereupon he began building a new castle in Neuenmuhr. In fact, soldiers from the Hesselberg region accompanied the mentioned Hohenstaufen king Frederick II to Italy in 1239 in order to fight against pope Gregory IX . Until they died off at the beginning 19th century, the lords of Lentersheim lived at their castles in Alten- and Neuenmuhr, today's Muhr am See . After this direct colonisation of Hesselberg ended. Aufkirchen , which

20294-527: Was first defined and introduced into scientific literature by Alcide d'Orbigny in 1842. It takes its name from the French town of Semur-en-Auxois , near Dijon . The original definition of Sinemurian included what is now the Hettangian. The GSSP of the Sinemurian is located at a cliff face north of the hamlet of East Quantoxhead , 6 kilometres east of Watchet , Somerset , England , within the Blue Lias , and

20440-589: Was fortified during medieval times, had a city wall and four city gates . At that time Aufkirchen had town privileges . The age of burgraves in Middle Franconia had its origin in the High Middle Ages when king Henry VI feoffed Frederick III , who originated from Swabia , with the heritable fiefdom of the Nuremberg burgrave office in 1192. Frederick III founded the Frankish line of

20586-569: Was governed by the 405 kyr eccentricity cycle. Thanks to the breakup of Pangaea, the hydrological cycle during the Jurassic was significantly enhanced. The beginning of the Jurassic was likely marked by a thermal spike corresponding to the Triassic–Jurassic extinction and eruption of the Central Atlantic magmatic province. The first part of the Jurassic was marked by the Early Jurassic Cool Interval between 199 and 183 million years ago. It has been proposed that glaciation

20732-610: Was named Heiliger Berg der Franken (Holy Mountain of the Franks). No remains of this dark time are left on Hesselberg. The lofty Nazi plans were never put into practice—the construction of the Adolf-Hitler-School was not realised, nor the Julius-Streicher- Mausoleum . Prior to World War II the Nazis could only finish an administration building with a garage. Later this garage was used as a chapel by

20878-437: Was named by Alcide d'Orbigny in 1852, originally the base at the contact between the Forest Marble Formation and the Cornbrash Formation . However, this boundary was later found to be within the upper part of the Bathonian. The base of the Callovian does not yet have a certified GSSP. The working definition for the base of the Callovian is the first appearance of ammonites belonging to the genus Kepplerites . The Oxfordian

21024-406: Was present in the Northern Hemisphere during both the early Pliensbachian and the latest Pliensbachian. There was a spike in global temperatures of around 4–8 °C (7–14 °F) during the early part of the Toarcian corresponding to the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event and the eruption of the Karoo-Ferrar large igneous provinces in southern Gondwana, with the warm interval extending to the end of

21170-440: Was ratified in 2000. The beginning of the Sinemurian is defined by the first appearance of the ammonite Vermiceras quantoxense . Albert Oppel in 1858 named the Pliensbachian Stage after the hamlet of Pliensbach in the community of Zell unter Aichelberg in the Swabian Alb , near Stuttgart , Germany. The GSSP for the base of the Pliensbachian is found at the Wine Haven locality in Robin Hood's Bay , Yorkshire , England, in

21316-430: Was ratified in 2021. The boundary is defined by the first appearance of ammonites marking the boreal Bauhini Zone and the subboreal Baylei Zone. The Tithonian was introduced in scientific literature by Albert Oppel in 1865. The name Tithonian is unusual in geological stage names because it is derived from Greek mythology rather than a place name. Tithonus was the son of Laomedon of Troy and fell in love with Eos ,

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