Segmann - Ice Stream Height

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At the peak of the Würm ice age, 24-22,000 years ago, the Salzach glacier filled the Salzach valley. Only the mountains, crests and ridges higher than 2,000-2,100 m protruded from the ice flow. Everything below was covered by the ice masses.

The thickness of the ice masses was immense! The valley floor of the Salzach river was cleared and deepened by the eroding effect of the ice flowing away. Drilling showed the solid rock at the mouth of the Großarler Ache river into the Salzach river 45 m below today's level; at the Kleinarler Ache river, it was more than 78 m and at the Fritzbach river, it was more than 50 m below today's level. The ice age valley floor, which is also the base of the glacier, was 45 to 100 m lower than today.

By contrast, the highest erratic finds - these include e.g. crystalline rocks found in the Northern Calcareous Alps and do not fit here geologically - are at 1,920 m (Gamerith & Heuberger, 1999). This is a granite gneiss block weighing around 500 kg on the way from the Erichhütte (1,545 m) to the Taghaube (2,159 m). From this, we can measure the vertical extent of the high ice age glaciation in the geopark at approx. 1, 400 m.