The Schinznach Formation forms the regional aquifer below the potentially lowermost confining units of the Bänkerjoch Formation (Section 4.5.3.12). During the Middle Triassic, the study area was part of the Central European Basin (Chapter 3). The mostly carbonate sediments were deposited in a shallow marine depositional environment (Merki 1961, Pietsch et al. 2016, Adams & Diamond 2017).

Fig. 4‑7:Map of depositional environments during the Middle Triassic (Anisian – Ladinian) preserved in the Schinznach Formation

Refer to Fig. 4‑3 for a schematic representation of depositional environments. The north arrow refers to present-day geographic north.