 Around 225 million years ago the area was a coastal region with frequent changes caused in the influence of land and sea.As a result, today, layers of claystone and Benker sandstone ("Estheria") lie on top of each other.In the latter, geologists found fossils of ostracods ("Palaesteria minuta"), after which the layers are named (in German), the remains of coelacanth as well as the scales, teeth and fin spines of prehistoric sharks.