Lake Como

Many of the deep lakes in the Alps are known to fill valleys that were once carved out by the glaciers of the ice ages. However, this is not the case with the lakes in the Southern Alps. Where Lake Como, Lake Lugano, Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore are located today, there were already deep … Continue reading “Lake Como”

Tenerife

It was about time that I paid a visit to the Canary Islands. After all, Teide is the highest hotspot volcano after Hawaii’s and much quicker to reach… However, there are also a few important differences to Hawaii, for example, a stratovolcano like Teide is not exactly typical of a hotspot, nor are the large … Continue reading “Tenerife”

Zermatt-Saas Ophiolite (excursion)

The rocks of the Zermatt-Saas zone are an ophiolite, i.e. originally oceanic lithosphere (of the Penninic Ocean, the deep-sea basin of the Alpine Tethys). However, the unit is highly deformed, so that the normal sequence of serpentinite (mantle), gabbro, basalt and sediments cannot be found in one piece. Furthermore, they were metamorphosed (eclogite facies, retrograde … Continue reading “Zermatt-Saas Ophiolite (excursion)”