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Deutschland Tour 2021

A warm welcome to all geology and cycling enthusiasts!

On this page, I will post for each of the four stages in the Deutschland Tour brief, plain language blogs about the general geology and geological history that characterizes the stage. Individual blogs will appear online on the morning of the stage. I’ll clarify the general geological concepts necessary to understand the landscape and elevation profile of the stage in question, paying close attention to the state of the climate and oceans at the times when the geologic formations formed. Don't hesitate to give notice of any further curiosity via Twitter: I will do my best to answer all questions.

Stage 1 

Stage 2 

Stage 3 

Stage 4 

General Geology of Germany

Germany has everything to offer for fans of both geology and cycling. While sediments are currently accumulating in the German Wadden Sea, the oldest rocks in Germany formed more than two billion years ago. In-between these two extremes, there are rocks and sediments that tell us a story about ice ages, sea level change, mountain building, meteorite impacts, volcanism, sedimentation and erosion. Geologists and cyclists alike subdivide Germany in three main areas.

The lowlands of northern Germany are the perfect setting for flat sprinting rides, such as the opening stage of the Deutschland Tour. This is the favourite terrane for riders like Mark Cavendish or Caleb Ewan. This part of Germany has been tectonically subsiding for more than hundred million years, forming a layer cake of sedimentary layers in the subsurface.

South of the lowlands, the landscape becomes hillier and the outcropping rocks become older. Here, a wide variety of rocks can sediments can be found. This part of Germany is a veritable patchwork of geological blocks, each with its own tectonic history. During the second, third and fourth stage of the Deutschland Tour, we will look a little more closely at the history of some of these blocks. The main differences between rock types in this large area are determined by the amount of pressure and temperature the rocks have been subjected to. Metamorphic crystalline areas, like the Black Forest or the Bohemian Massif, were strongly affected when they were deeply buried during a mountain building phase, some 300 million years ago. They show up as reddish and grey-brown colours on the geologic map. The so-called “slate belts” (e.g. Rhenish Massif, Harz, Thuringian Slate Mountains) were folded, but not deeply buried. They show up as orange-brown and greenish colours on the geologic map. In-between the slate belts and crystalline massifs, one finds unfolded sedimentary rocks of the Mesozoic Era (purple colours: the time of the dinosaurs!), the alpine foreland in yellow colours, and the Rhine graben. This hilly landscape offers opportunities for cyclists with explosive power, like for example Michael Woods and Tom Pidcock, and this exactly what we’ll see in the second, third and fourth stage of the Deutschland Tour.

The third and last main geologic area in Germany is the Alps, in southern Bavaria. Geologically speaking, this mountain chain is very young as it formed in the past tens of millions of years because of the tectonic collision between Europe and Africa. The Alps are not included in this year’s Deutschland tour, but they are the preferred setting for the feather-weight mountain goats among cyclists, like for example Geraint Thomas or Adam Yates.

General Geology Germany
The Deutschland Tour 2021 in its geologic context: The first stage unfolds in the lowlands of northern Germany, whereas the rest of the Deutschland Tour is decided in the hills that are made up of a wide variety of geologic blocks, each with its own particular sedimentologic and tectonic history. Yellow colors indicate Cenozoic rocks and sediments (last 66 million years). Light blue colors indicate rocks from the Jurassic (201 - 145 million years ago). Purple colors refer to the Triassic (252 - 201 million years ago). Red colors indicate volcanic and metamorphic rocks of various ages. Source: Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe & Staatliche Geologische Dienste Deutschlands