In the Burgenland, the transition from the Alps to the Hungarian lowlands
takes place. The Leitha and Hainburger mountains in the north, the Bucklige Welt in the west and the Rechnitzer Schieferinsel in the middle part of the Burgenland belong to the Alps.
In the Tertiary period, large parts of the land subsided and formed the Vienna
basin and the Pannonian lowlands, which were flooded by the sea and filled with
the detritus of the surrounding mountains.
The Neusiedl bay forms the western part of the small Hungarian lowlands, which
border the Hainburger mountains in the north and the Leitha mountains and the
Ruster ridge in the west. Large parts of the Neusiedl bay belong to the Parndorf
plate, which developed from gravel of the Danube during the earliest Tertiary.
In the Seewinkel there follow 10 to 15 meters of huge ice-age Danube gravel. Lake Neusiedl, which has no outlet, was created when its tectonic ground subsided after the end of the Ice Age 10,000 - 20,000 years ago.
The water resources of this only 1 to 2 meters deep steppe lake depend heavily on climate changes.
From 1865 to 1870, the lake even fully dried up.
Along the Ruster ridge, which leads to the Eisenstadt bay in the west, one
finds Leitha limestone. Obtained also in the famous Roman quarry of St. Margarethen, these sea sediments are used as an excellent building material and as decoration stones.
Towards the south, on the edge of the Pannonian lowlands, lies the Landseer bay,
where volcanic eruptions occured 4 million years ago (Pauliberg and Stoober
volcano).
The Hirschstein and Geschriebenstein ridges consist of crystalline slates
(Rechnitzer Schieferinsel).
In the south the Southern Burgenland rise divides the Styrian basin and the
Pannonian region.
