Bastei Bridge and the Elbe Sandstone Mountains This spectacular location is the Bastei Bridge over t
Bastei Bridge and the Elbe Sandstone Mountains This spectacular location is the Bastei Bridge over the Elbe River in eastern Germany near the city of Dresden. The rocks are sandstones of the Elbe formation, deposited in waters of a shallow sea during the Cretaceous period. At the time, sea level was much higher than today and oceans covered many of the continents. Rivers brought sand grains pouring into the area that is now central Europe; those sand grains were cemented into strong layers of sandstone. Once the rocks were exposed…they cracked, allowing water into vertical layers. Those spots eroded, but areas that didn’t crack stood strong against erosion, eventually creating this topography. The bridge over the Elbe river was constructed in the mid-1800s out of rocks of the Elbe Sandstone, and today sits within Saxon Switzerland National Park. -JBB Image credit:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Basteibr%C3%BCcke_morgens_%28Zuschnitt%29.jpghttp://books.google.com/books?id=-TI55urJYyEC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=Elbe+sandstone+Geology&source=bl&ots=7SO5J_znXh&sig=dbjtSvM0bwWYX6BM83tMO0o_35c&hl=en&sa=X&ei=zSsJU-LZGc_PkQemrIHgCA&ved=0CFUQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Elbe%20sandstone%20Geology&f=false -- source link
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