Gosau Group

Gosau Group
Stratigraphic range: Late Cretaceous-Eocene
~90–50 Ma
Rocks of the Gosau Group exposed in the Imster Muttekopf
Typestratigraphic group
Sub-units
OverliesUnconformity with folded and faulted Permian to Lower Cretaceous rocks
Thickness2,200–2,600 m (7,200–8,500 ft)
Location
Coordinates47°36′N 13°30′E / 47.6°N 13.5°E / 47.6; 13.5
Approximate paleocoordinates32°06′N 15°36′E / 32.1°N 15.6°E / 32.1; 15.6
RegionCentral Europe
CountryAustria
Germany
Slovakia
ExtentGosau Basin, Limestone Alps
Gosau Group is located in Austria
Gosau Group
Gosau Group
Gosau Group
Gosau Group
Gosau Group
Gosau Group
Gosau Group
Gosau Group
Gosau Group (Austria)

The Gosau Group (German: Gosau-Gruppe) is a geological stratigraphic group in Austria, Germany and western Slovakia whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous to Eocene.[1][2] It is exposed in numerous sporadic isolated basins within the Northern Calcareous Alps. It is divided into two subgroups, the Lower Gosau Subgroup which dates from the Turonian to Campanian, approximately 90 to 75 Ma and the Upper Gosau Subgroup which dates to the Santonian to Eocene, about 83.5 to 50 Ma. The formations within each subunit vary significantly between basins. The sequence is largely marine, but the Grünbach Formation represents a terrestrial deposit. Many of the units of the group are fossiliferous, typically providing marine fossils such as ammonites, though terrestrial remains including those of dinosaurs are known from the Grünbach Formation and Schönleiten Formation.

  1. ^ Höfling, 1985
  2. ^ McCann, 2008