Gailtaler Alpen & Karnische Alpen Mts, Carinthia, Austria

The GAILTALER ALPEN Mts, extending over a distance of roughly 100 km from Villach in the east to the tyrolian border in the west, are situated between the upper Drau valley in the north and the Gail valley in the south. They mainly consist of triassic limestones and dolomites, superimposing the older central alpine rocks ('Altkristallin'), which constitute the mountains of the Goldeck, Kreuzeck and Schober groups adjoining them to the north. The carbonatitic rocks include numerous sedimentary-type Pb-Zn deposits (e.g. Bad Bleiberg, Burg near Rubland, Jaukenhöhe), which were the subject of extensive mining activities in the past. At the basis of this complex, also referred to as 'Drauzug', a layer of older sedimentary rocks of the Rotliegende series (Laas formation, Gröden formation, Alpine sandstone formation) and, below these, the rocks of the so-called Gailtal crystalline ('Gailtal-Kristallin'), mainly micaschists and phyllites, are situated. The latter are rich in vein-type Cu mineralizations, which are exposed in some places in the Gail valley and in the southern Gailtaler Alpen Mts. In the northeast, near Stockenboi and Feistritz an der Drau, a narrow zone of upper palaeozoic phyllites is located. It is adjoined to the northwest by the Goldeck group, which, geologically, forms the southeastern extension of the Kreuzeck group.

The KARNISCHE ALPEN Mts are situated south of the Gail valley, extending into Italy. They mainly consist of triassic limestones.

Ref.: G. Niedermayr, I. Praetzel: Mineralien Kärntens, 1995