Geomorphology of the Hollengebirge (Upper Austria)

The Hollengebirge in the Northern Limestone Alps is part of the Tyrolean na ppe. and because of its old fluviatile and young karstic landscape in a mon olithic limestone area a most interesting object for geomorphological resea rch. Although the author tried to find the so called "Augensteine" (tertiar y gravel), he was not successfull on the plateau of the Hollengebirge, thou gh he examined many of locations with Terra fusca thoroughly. Moreover, the profiles of these soils differ markedly from comparable sites on the other plateaus of the Northern Limestone Alps (Tennengebirge, Dachs tein, Totes Gebirge). The Terra fusca in the Hollengebirge contains over 97 per cent silt and has, therefore, to be described as a wind-blown sediment . During the pleistocene, the Hollengebirge was characterized by a local gl aciation. At the Wurm-Maximum, however, the Traun valley glacier surrounded the Hollengebirge in the South and the South-East, but did not reach the H ollengebirge in the Buhl and later on. Therefore comparisons with other gla ciated areas are difficult. Nevertheless, at least three late-pleistocene g laciations can be reconstructed in the Hollengebirge (Buhl, Steinach and Gs chnitz). In the Daun period the Hollengebirge was most probably not glaciat ed.