Photo: Andrea Pock

Brodlsulz Klapping - einzige Mofette Österreichs

St. Anna/Aigen, Styria

A small geyser in St. Anna am Aigen A "volcanic eruption" in the middle of the forest! Lava has not been spewed out for a long time, but the carbonated water that "bubbles" out of the ground here has a lot to do with volcanoes. Several hundred meters deeper, a lot of organic material is buried, which was deposited here in a sea and then covered by lava and ash from the volcanoes. This organic material is now slowly being converted into peat and coal – and in the process, carbon dioxide is produced, which bubbles out here! The Origin of the "Brodlsulz" The Brodelsulz is located on the southeastern edge of a volcanic tongue. According to Prof. Artur Winkler Hermaden, precipitation waters penetrate several hundred meters deep through volcanic fissures and encounter still warm gases there. At the foot of volcanic plates, these springs, enriched with gases and minerals, resurface. According to newer geological findings, in the Neogene, when the southeast of Styria was flooded several times (Pannonian Sea, Sarmatian brackish water, Tortonian Sea), organic materials were deposited. These materials were subsequently covered by mud and lava. They are currently in a peatification or carbonization process. The resulting carbonic acid rises through earth fissures to the surface and emerges here with water.