The image shows the vista from the trail northeastwards with the striking Wandflue cliffs. The Bettlachstock, a prominent wooded hill of 1’350 meters above sea level, is located in my back.
The Jura Mountains are made of stacks of flat-lying sedimentary rock layers. This is the current knowledge about their origin:
More than 200 million years ago the area of the Jura Mountains was flooded by the primeval ocean Tethys. In the course of the following 65 million years over 1’000 m of fossil-rich sediments were deposited here. The layer structure of this process can still be seen in the cliffs in my photograph.
The formation of the Jura Mountains began in the Cenozoic Era [the past 65 million years]. The mountain ranges were thrust forward in giant sheets in front of the rising Alps.