Creuzburg is a town and a former municipality on the Werra river in the Wartburgkreis in Thuringia , Germany . Since December 2019, it is part of the town Amt Creuzburg .
25-511: Creuzburg is in the area known as the Muschelkalk . Three mountains, Wisch, Wallstieg and Ebenauer Köpfe are near the town. Nearby towns include Treffurt and Eisenach . With a history going back over 1,000 years, Creuzburg is one of the oldest towns in Thuringia. Hill graves in the area of the city demonstrate a settlement beginning at least as early as Carolingian times. The beginnings of
50-574: A defensive wall was built. The nearby town of Scherbda, which now is part of Creuzburg, was first mentioned as a settlement around a fief in 1229. The most prosperous time in Creuzburg was during the reign of Landgrave Ludwig IV , the Holy, and his son Hermann II . After the wedding of Ludwig with the daughter of the King of Hungary , Elisabeth , who is now known as St. Elisabeth of Hungary , Creuzburg Castle became
75-449: A portion of the lands he held in Hesse . Recognizing the strategic and economic importance of the area, his successors made improvements to the area. Landgrave Hermann I began the construction of the castle on the mountain and allowed the many farmers in the area to build the settlement at the base of the mountain. In 1213, Creuzburg was established as a city. A coat of arms was established and
100-586: Is a stratigraphic hiatus between the base of the Lias and top of the Germanic Trias. In German lithostratigraphy, Buntsandstein, Muschelkalk and Keuper are seen as groups . Dutch lithostratigraphy divides the Germanic Trias along other boundaries in a Lower Germanic Trias Group and an Upper Germanic Trias Group . The Dutch Keuper and Muschelkalk have the status of formations while the Dutch Buntsandstein
125-501: Is a sequence of sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphic unit ) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic (240 to 230 million years) age and forms the middle part of the three-part Germanic Trias (that gives the Triassic its name) lying above the older Buntsandstein and below the younger Keuper . The Muschelkalk (" mussel - chalk ") consists of a sequence of limestone and dolomite beds . In
150-808: Is different and these deposits are classified as a separate formation, the Grafenwöhr Formation , which continues into the Upper Muschelkalk. In the Middle Muschelkalk, weathering can form characteristic cellular dolomite ( Zellendolomit ). The Upper Muschelkalk ( Hauptmuschelkalk ) is similar to the Lower Muschelkalk and consists of regular beds of shelly limestone, marl and dolomite. It is divided into six formations: Trochitenkalk , Meißner Formation , Irrel Formation , Gilsdorf Formation and Warburg Formation . The lower portion or Trochitenkalk
175-502: Is from this division that many of the mineral springs of Thuringia and south Germany obtain their saline contents. Germanic Trias The Germanic Trias Supergroup ( German : Germanische Trias-Supergruppe ) is a lithostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata ) in the subsurface of large parts of western and central Europe (north of the Alps ) and the North Sea . Almost all of
200-417: Is often composed entirely of the fragmentary stems of the crinoid Encrinus liliiformis ; higher up come beds with a series of ammonites , Ceratites compressus , Ceratites nodosus , and Ceratites semipartitus in ascending order. In Swabia and Franconia the highest beds are platy dolomites with Tringonodus sandergensis and the crustacean Bairdia . In addition to the fossils mentioned above,
225-773: Is one of the top sightseeing destinations. Creuzburg also boasts the oldest bridges north of the Main. Beside several hotels and restaurants Creuzburg is also the head office of the Pollmeier Massivholz GmbH & CO. KG. The company is the largest and most efficient hardwood sawmill worldwide. The B 7 highway from Kassel to Eisenach goes through Creuzburg. Personalities who have spent part of their lives in Creuzburg, or have died in Creuzburg Muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; French : calcaire coquillier )
250-414: The Germanic Trias was deposited during the Triassic period and consists of three clearly different units: Buntsandstein , Muschelkalk and Keuper , that gave the period its name ( Triassic means "threefold"). In the past the names of these three units were also used as units in the geologic timescale , but in modern literature they only have a lithostratigraphic meaning. The Germanic Trias formed in
275-581: The Saarland and Alsace and northern Eifel , the Lower Muschelkalk has more sandy beds, the Muschelsandstein ., "mussel sandstone" The Middle Muschelkalk or Anbydnite Group consists mainly of evaporites (gypsum, anhydrite and halite ) and is divided into three formations: Karlstadt Formation , Heilbronn Formation and Diemel Formation . The sedimentary facies at the margins of the Germanic Basin
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#1732852823188300-658: The Wartburg as his residence. This, for the city of Creuzburg, as well as the castle, was the end of their times of prosperity. The town sank into economic and cultural anonymity in the following centuries. Within the German Empire (1871–1918), Creuzburg was part of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach . The Creuzburg Castle, which was a residence of the Ludowing dynasty and a favorite visiting place of St. Elisabeth of Hungary ,
325-725: The age of the Germanic Trias is not totally corresponding with the Triassic period. The base of the Buntsandstein was formed during the Changhsingian , the uppermost stage of the Permian, about 252 million years ago . The top of the Keuper is Rhaetian in age and at about 200.5 million years ago at least a few million years older than the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. Usually there
350-535: The castle. Ludwig never returned. His brother Heinrich Raspe acted as regent during the childhood of Ludwig's son, Hermann II. Elisabeth left Thuringia and moved back to the Hessian lands, where she later died in Marburg . Upon reaching adulthood, Hermann began his reign as Landgrave of Thuringia and Hesse. Castle remained his residence until his sudden death at the age of 18. His uncle and successor Heinrich Raspe used only
375-564: The central European Muschelkalk except for similarities in fossil content. Closer at hand, the Alpine Muschelkalk differs in many respects from that of Central Europe, and in its characteristic fossil fauna has a closer affinity with the Triassic Tethys realm . The Muschelkalk can be up to 100 meters thick; it is divisible into three subdivisions, of which the upper and lower are pale thin-bedded limestones with greenish-grey marls ,
400-526: The following are Muschelkalk forms: Coenothyris vulgaris, Mentzelia mentzeli and Spiriferina hirsuta, Myophoria vulgaris, Rhynchotites hirundo, Ceratites munsteri, Ptychites studeri, Balatonites balatonicus, Aspidura scutellata, Daonella lommeli , and in the Alpine region several rock-forming algae (for example, Baciryllium, Gyroporella, and Diplopora ). The salt beds are worked at Halle (Saale) , Bad Friedrichshall , Heilbronn , Szczecin and Erfurt . It
425-473: The large Germanic Basin , a basin that covered much of midwestern Europe (including the south of the North Sea and Baltic Sea ) during the Triassic. The Muschelkalk has a predominantly marine facies whereas the Buntsandstein and Keuper are mostly continental . In the central parts of the Germanic Basin, the Germanic Trias has an average thickness of 800 meters, but regional differences are considerable. In
450-644: The middle group being composed of gypsiferous and saliniferous marls with dolomite. Stylolites are common in all the Muschelkalk limestones. The lithostratigraphic status of the Muschelkalk differs regionally. In Germany it is considered a group , in the Netherlands a formation . The German Muschelkalk Group is subdivided into three subgroups: Upper, Middle and Lower Muschelkalk. The Lower Muschelkalk consists mainly of limestone, calcareous marls and clayey marls. Some beds are composed of porous cellular limestone,
475-743: The north of Germany the thickness of the Buntsandstein alone can exceed 1400 meters. The Germanic Trias lies on top of the Permian Zechstein Group and below Lower Jurassic units, such as the Lias Group or Altena Group . The base is not defined in the same way everywhere. In northern Germany the base is formed by the Calvörde Beds , in the Spessart and Odenwald by the base of the Heigenbrücken-Sandstone . Radiometric dating has shown
500-404: The past, the time span in which the Muschelkalk was deposited could also be called "Muschelkalk". In modern stratigraphy , however, the name only applies to the layers of rock. The name Muschelkalk was first used by German geologist Georg Christian Füchsel (1722-1773). In 1834, Friedrich August von Alberti included it into the Triassic system . The name indicates a characteristic feature of
525-677: The second residence of the Thuringian Landgraves (after the Wartburg ). Many festivals were celebrated during this time, and the children of the couple were born in the castle. Ludwig redecorated the castle and built the first stone bridge across the Werra to secure the trade route. Before he left for the Crusades in 1227, he bade farewell to his subjects in a major assembly of the Thuringian nobles in
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#1732852823188550-516: The settlement on what became the site of the castle are a result of its position on a major crossroads. The old West-East trade route met at the Werra with the trade route from the south. In the 10th and 11th Centuries, the region was under control of the Fulda Abbey . In 1137, the city came under control of the Thuringian Ludowinger dynasty. Landgrave Ludwig I acquired it in exchange for
575-408: The so-called Schaumkalk , there are also oolite beds. The Lower Muschelkalk is divided into six formations: Jena Formation , Rüdersdorf Formation , Udelfangen Formation , Freudenstadt Formation and Eschenbach Formation . The Lower Muschelkalk is sometimes called Wellenkalk , German : Welle the "wave" chalk, so called on account of the buckled wavy character the bedding has received. In
600-652: The unit, namely the frequent occurrence of lenticular banks composed of fossil shells. The Muschelkalk is restricted to the subsurface in most of Germany and adjacent regions as the Low Countries , the North Sea and parts of Silesia , Poland and Denmark . Outcrops are found in Thuringia , the Harz , Franconia , Hesse , Swabia , and the Saarland and in Alsace . The Muschelkalk
625-552: Was deposited in a land-locked sea which, in the earlier part of its existence, had only imperfect communications with the more open waters of the Tethys Ocean to the south. The basin in which the Muschelkalk was deposited is called the Germanic Basin . Sometimes stratigraphic units with the same age from the Alps , southern Europe and even Asia are called Muschelkalk too. Of course these rocks have little history in common with
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