15. Elbsandsteingebirge (Elbe Sandstone Uplands)

The Elbsandsteingebirge in the eastern part of Germany is a stunning tableland dissected by the antecedent valley of the Elbe river. Its impressive character stems from a more than 500 m thick succession of Upper Cretaceous quartz-dominated sandstones with thin intercalations of claystones, which lie almost horizontally. Major landform units include extensive flats formed upon the top of sandstone units, dissected by the steep-sided canyon of the Elbe River and its tributary valleys, and overlooked by various types of residual relief. Dissected plateaus, large tabular hills (mesas), isolated rock towers and buttes, pinnacles and boulder piles emerge in a relatively small area, allowing one to trace the geomorphic evolution of a tableland from a plateau to plain. A few of these mesas and buttes are presented in detail. Rock control on topography is pervasive and explains both the slope profiles, with the presence of cliffs in massive sandstone caprock, and the dissection along vertical joints. The Elbe River is a transit river, draining most of the Bohemian Massif, and occasionally brings catastrophic floods and inundation of the floodplain and narrow tributary valleys. The area is long renowned for its geomorphology-based scenic beauty, rendering it an excellent geotourism destination.