Geopunkt Schwefelquelle (Start Alpenhotel Plattner)

From a distance, the quaint little square with its quietly splashing fountain gives no indication of what to expect when you come closer. If you hold your nose close to the wooden inlet, the smell of rotten eggs makes you turn away immediately - to try it a second time. The smell comes from hydrogen sulphide, a gas produced by sulphur bacteria when they grow plants or decompose animals under decaying conditions, such as in a swamp. So where does the sulphur come from if there is no marshy ground around it? Possible sources are rocks with fossil organic matter, such as the Auernig, at the foot of which the spring rises. These are sandstones and the finer siltstones as well as slates, the remains of plants and coal layers,contained. Also the very low water temperature, which still falls below seven degrees Celsius in summer, underpins an origin deep in the mountain. The spring contains enough sulphur (two milligrams per litre) to be called a sulphur spring. However, its salt content is too low for a mineral water.