Devonian of Austria

Abstract In Austria the Devonian crops out south of the alpindinaric fault located in the southern part of Carinthia, north of the Yugoslavian border. It forms the base of the Mesozoic of the Southern Alps, the Carnic Alps and the Karawanken Mountains. North of this probable pre-Palaeozoic or Palaeozoic lineament Devonian rocks are found only in the region of the Upper Eastalpine nappe. There, fossiliferous Devonian sequences appear only in the central part of Carinthia, in the Palaeozoic of Graz and of the Burgenland, and at the base of the Mesozoic of the northern Limestone alps in the northern Greywacke-zone near Eisenerz (Styria) and Schwaz (Tyrol). Strong variscan and alpine movements disturbed the original connection of these Palaeozoic regions. In addition to the thick reef facies with hercynic faunal elements, particularly well-developed in the Carnic Alps and the Devonian of Eisenerz, the Devonian sequence appears also in a platform limestone facies and a basin shale facies.