Lehen - Roche moutonnée

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Roche moutonnées are landscape elements formed by Ice Age glaciers. As the glacier advanced, the subsoil was “run over” and eroded in the process. However, if the rock was too stable, it was only made finer and ground down. Where the glacier flowed onto the solid rock, it was flattened, known as the rearward or outflow side, and very steep. The latter happened because large parts of rock often clung to the ice and were blasted out as a result. Roche moutonnées are among the typical forms of the moraine landscape.

The same thing happened here! The wooded hilltop north of the village of Lehen consists of hard and tough iron carbonate. It was carved out as a roche moutonnée by the Salzach Glacier during the Ice Age around 20,000 years ago. While the glacier eroded the surrounding soft rock (shale, phyllite), the Härtling (harder rib) remained and is preserved to this day.

The small hematite quarry (Fe2O3) likely dates from the first half of the 19th Century. Back then, up to 30 small trades, mostly part-time farmers, delivered the iron ore dug in small mines to the Flachau ironworks.