| Thuringian Forest | |
|---|---|
| Thüringer Wald | |
 View from Schneekopf towards Oberhof | |
| Highest point | |
| Peak | Großer Beerberg |
| Elevation | 983 m (3,225 ft) |
| Coordinates | 50°39′34″N10°44′42″E / 50.65944°N 10.74500°E /50.65944; 10.74500 |
| Geography | |
 | |
| Country | Germany |
| Region | Thuringia |
| Range coordinates | 50°40′N10°45′E / 50.667°N 10.750°E /50.667; 10.750 |
| Geology | |
| Orogenies | Variscan, Saxonian |
| Rock age | Paleozoic |
| Rock type(s) | sedimentary, metamorphic, magmatic |
TheThuringian Forest[1][2] (Thüringer Wald inGermanpronounced[ˈtyːʁɪŋɐˈvalt]ⓘ) is a mountain range in the southern parts of theGerman state ofThuringia, running northwest to southeast. Skirting from its southerly source in foothills to a gorge on its north-west side is theWerra valley. On the other side of the Forest is an upper outcrop of theNorth German Plain, theThuringian Basin, which includes the cityErfurt. The south and south-east continuation of the range is the highland often called theThuringian-Vogtlandian Slate Mountains.[a]
Among scattered foothills at its northern foot are the townsEisenach,Gotha andArnstadt. The towns ofIlmenau andSuhl sit in slight dips on the range itself to the north and south respectively.
The Thuringian Forest forms a continuous chain of ancient rounded mountains with steep slopes to both sides and poses ample difficulties in transit routing save through a few navigable passes. It is about 70 km (43 mi) long and 20 km (12 mi) wide.[3] The highest elevation isGroßer Beerberg at 982 m (3,222 ft) above sea level.
TheRennsteig (sometimes calledRennweg) is an ancient path following the main ridge and connecting the summits. It is now a famous hiking path and marks the traditional boundary between thehills-dominated terrain of central Germany and the more rugged terrain characteristic of southern Germany, and also the boundary between the cultural regions of central and northThuringia andFranconia. Dialects and traditional customs and costumes are different on either side of the Rennsteig. The Rennsteig is the subject of the songRennsteiglied (de), the unofficialhymn of Thuringia.
MotorwayA 4 passes north of the Thuringian Forest, whileA 71, intersecting the former south ofErfurt, crosses the range from the northeast to the southwest, passes under the ridge in theRennsteig Tunnel near Oberhof, and is joined nearSuhl byA 73. Two more long-distance roads,Bundesstraßen 19 and 84, pass over the western parts of the range, whileBundesstraße 88 skirts the northern foothills between Eisenach and Geraberg.
TheNeudietendorf–Ritschenhausen railway crosses the Thuringian Forest inBrandleite Tunnel between Gehlberg and Oberhof, theWerra Railway between Eisenach and Eisfeld does so in a tunnel nearFörtha. Both are in daily operation. A third line, the southern section of the Plaue–Themar railway, does not use a tunnel, but crosses the mountain ridge at Rennsteigswitchback station. It has only been used by museum trains since 1998. TheNuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway, due to be commissioned in December 2017, crosses the Thuringian Forest with the help of several tunnels and bridges.[4]
Thüringerwaldbahn, across-country line of theGotha tramway network, serves the northern foothills of the Thuringian Forest betweenGotha andBad Tabarz, including a branch toWaltershausen.[5]
Geologically, the Thuringian Forest is defined by a belt of strongly uplifted and deformedmetamorphic andigneous rock that divides the relatively flat sedimentary plains of theThüringer Becken (to the northeast) from similar rock formations in the valley of theWerra (to the southwest). It consists of a largefault block inhercynian orientation, which consists fromsandstones andconglomerates ofRotliegend age in its western parts (Eisenach trough), followed bygranites andgneisses of theRuhlaer Kristallin formation of earlypaleozoic origin which were uplifted in the Rotliegend era, and the conglomerates, sandstones, and abundantvolcanic rocks (rhyolites andandesites) of the Oberhof trough.[3] Ore deposits associated with the upthrust of the range have been of significant historical importance in the development of the region, for example, the metalworking tradition inSuhl[6] and the mining history ofIlmenau.[7]
The uplift of thehorst-like fault block was part of the Saxonian tectonic processes and is understood as a long range effect of theAlpine orogeny. It began in the upperCretaceous era and ended in the lateTertiary after about 40 million years.
Thuringian forest is surrounded on three sides by triassic rocks: theThuringian Basin in the northeast, theHesse Highlands in the west, and the northeastern parts of theSouth German Scarplands in the south, and by theVariscan rocks of theThuringian Highland towards the east. The geological borders differ from the geographical ones insofar, as the Rotliegend rock of the Thuringian forest finds its continuation in the Masserberg and Crock block inHildburghausen district, southeast of the main range, and the rock types of the Thuringian Highland are also found in the Schleuse horst between Schönbrunn reservoir and Schönau, and in the Vesser complex nearSchmiedefeld, an island of Variscan rocks embedded in Rotliegend. While the near-surface rocks of the Thuringian Highland comprise mostly thefolded Variscanbasement, the oldest unfolded overlying strata (dating from the Permosilesian age) of this basement are exposed in the Thuringian forest. Common to both ranges, but also to other low mountain ranges in Central Europe uplifted at the same time, are the borderingZechstein deposits which containBryozoa reefs. These stretch especially wide on the northwestern edge of the Thuringian forest, where the landscape park ofAltenstein Palace is located on one of the largest Zechstein reefs in Germany.
The Eisenach trough is part of the much larger Werra basin, which in turn is part of the Saar-Unstrut depression ofearly Permian origin. It was uplifted as one of the fault blocks in the Saxonian tectonic era[8] and is filled with Variscanmolasses, namedEisenach formation after the location. It consists mostly of monotonous sequences of reddishconglomerates representing a proximalalluvial fan which originated in debris flows from the Ruhla anticline. Dated in the upper Rotliegend, the Eisenach formation consists of some of the youngest geological units in the Thuringian forest. The lack of volcanic rocks suggests that at the time of the deposition of the Eisenach formation, no significant tectonic processes took place in the Werra basin which was by then a mostly consolidated depositional environment.[8]
In the Ruhla anticline the basement rocks, folded in the Variscan era, are exposed. They are namedRuhlaer Kristallin after the location and are according toFranz Kossmat considered part of the Central German Crystalline Zone, of whichOdenwald andSpessart are also constituents.[9] In the Rotliegend era the region formed the crest of a mountain range where the debris originated that was deposited in the Eisenach trough and the northwestern part of the Oberhof trough.
The sedimentary, volcano-sedimentary, and magmatic rocks which were deposited or formed in the area from the Cambrian until the upperDevonian were subjected to intensemetamorphosis during the Variscan uplift and are now mostly present in the form ofgneiss orschist.[10]
The Oberhof trough is by far the largest of the main geologic parts of the Thuringian Forest. It consists of the uplifted part of the so-calledThuringian Forest Basin whose contents can be further subdivided into several formations. Their relative ages have not been fully resolved yet, partly because the Oberhof trough had been arift zone with intense tectonics and continual changes of the internal relief and of the main areas of deposition.[8] The tectonic processes were accompanied by an intensefelsitic volcanism which was the origin of many volcanic rock formations, predominantly rhyolites ofporphyric structure with accompanyingtuff deposits. These volcanic rocks alternate in sequence with the typical reddish molasse sediments (conglomerates, sandstones, siltstones, and claystones) of the Rotliegend.
TheLittle Thuringian Forest (German:Kleiner Thüringer Wald) is a narrow horst south ofSuhl and northwest ofSchleusingen, northwest of Schleuse river, embedded in theTriassic foothills of Southern Thuringia. It is oriented roughly parallel to the Thuringian Forest and, while a separate structure, is geologically very similar to the latter, as it consists of the same rock types such as granite,hornfels, porphyrites, Rotliegend and Zechstein sediments, and thus forms part of theVariscan chain.[11][12] It is about 11 km (6.8 mi) long and 1 km (0.62 mi) to 2 km (1.2 mi) wide, with an average altitude of 460 m. Mining forfluorite,baryte, andlimonite has been attempted there on several occasions, but was given up as unprofitable due to difficult drainage. Large baryte deposits prospected in the 1950s have remained untouched.
The Waltershausen foothills (German:Waltershäuser Vorberge) are a wooded chain ofBuntsandstein hills immediately north of and parallel to the Thuringian Forest between Eisenach, Waltershausen, Friedrichroda, and Georgenthal. An outcrop ofMuschelkalk rock can be found in their northern part, south of Waltershausen. They are generally regarded a part of theThuringian Basin,[13] but with numerous deeply eroded river valleys and the dense forestation they resemble very much the Thuringian Forest.
The Thuringian Forest is located in the Central European transition zone between the Atlanticoceanic climate and thecontinental climate of Eastern Europe. Humid air arrives mainly from the west, so that the western slopes and the crest of the chain experience the highest levels of precipitation. While the exception of the northwestern part with its lower altitudes (650 mm), the yearly precipitation reaches about 1000 mm, in the higher parts up to about 1300 mm. In contrast, the leeward Thuringian Basin is one of the driest regions in Germany with only around 460 mm to 590 mm of precipitation per year. As the Thuringian Forest forms a barrier to the main weather currents, erosion is strong and has led to a more pronounced relief than in many other of the European low mountain chains.
The mean temperatures decrease with altitude:
| Altitude | Thuringian Basin | 500 m | 700 m | 900 m |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July | 18 °C | 15.5 °C | 14 °C | 12.5 °C |
| January | -0.5 °C | -2 °C | -3 °C | -4 °C |
| Yearly average | 8.5 °C | 6.5 °C | 5 °C | 4 °C |
While the Thuringian Basin experiences less than 100 days per year with temperatures below 0 °C, this number rises to more than 150 in the upper altitudes of the Thuringian Forest.
The Northwest Thuringian Forest comprises an area of about 70 km2 reaching heights up to 470 m (1,540 ft), hardly exceeding those of the adjacentBuntsandstein forelands to the southwest, but exhibiting a much more pronounced relief. It stretches untilMoosbach stream, a tributary or Erbstrom river, in the north east, and toBundesstraße 19 in the east and south, which follows the upper reaches of Elte river between the villages of Wilhelmsthal and Etterwinden. The predominant rock species isEisenacherRotliegend, namelyconglomerates andsandstones. The area is known for the so-calledDrachenschlucht, a narrow gorge near Eisenach, and theWartburg castle. The northern part of the area is drained by several streams into theHörsel, the southern part into the Elte. Hence, the ridge of the Northwestern Thuringian Forest only forms thewatershed between Hörsel and the middle course of theWerra.
Notable summits include:
The much larger natural region of Central Thuringian Forest with an area of about 850 km2, whose ridge rises mostly above 600 m (2,000 ft), is subdivided into several parts described below in their sequence from the north-west to the south-east.
This part, situated around the town ofRuhla north of theRennsteig, is geologically formed by thebasement rocks of theRuhlaer Kristallin, consisting ofgranites,gneiss, andschist. There is no pronounced ridge, summits on both sides of the watershed reach heights of 700 m (2,300 ft) or more. Its northeastern parts drain towards the Hörsel, the southwestern parts towards the middle course of the Werra. The area is limited towards the south-east by state road 1027 between Schwarzhausen and Bad Liebenstein.
Notable summits include:
Reaching untilTambach-Dietharz, the part of Thuringian forest around the town ofBrotterode is geologically more heterogeneous than the region around Ruhla. State road 1026 betweenFriedrichroda andFloh-Seligenthal which follows the valleys of the rivers Schilfwasser and Schmalkalde and passes throughKleinschmalkalden and state road 1028 between Georgenthal and Floh-Seligenthal which follows the valleys of the rivers Apfelstädt and Flohbach divide the area into segments. In this area the mountain ridge becomes more pronounced. The summit ofGroßer Inselsberg of volcanic origin causes a marked shift of the ridge towards the north. South of Georgenthal, the mountain range becomes the watershed between Elbe and Weser.
Notable summits include:
TheB 247 fromLuisenthal via Oberhof andZella-Mehlis toSuhl, which follows theOhra to the north, a section along theLichtenau to the south and finally the lower reaches of theMühlwasser, together with the slightly more than 10 km long L 1028 road that runs parallel to it to the northwest separates this natural sub-division of the Thuringian Forest from the rest. Apart from the south, this region is traversed by very few public roads and is only populated in the south – in the villages ofSchnellbach andStruth-Helmershof in the municipality ofFloh-Seligenthal, theRotterode,Unterschönau andOberschönau suburbs ofSteinbach-Hallenberg and the town of Zella-Mehlis.
TheElbe-Weser watershed, accompanied by theRennsteig, reaches heights of around 900 m at several places southwest to west of Oberhof, but does not really form any individual mountains and has very much the character of a mountain crest. By contrast, theGroßer Hermannsberg and Ruppberg (see below) that rise to the southwest of the ridge are better known and popular tourist destinations. To the northeast, where the terrain gradually flattens out, are two of the 3 largest reservoirs in the Thuringian Forest (see below). The best known rock formation in the mountain range, theFalkenstein, is also found in this area.
Notable summits include:
The northeastern flank of the mountains is drained by right tributaries of theApfelstädt, especially theSchmalwasser, and left tributaries of theOhra, notably the Kernwasser, via the (Apfelstädt,)Gera andUnstrut into theSaale. The Apfelstädt is impounded by the Tambach-Dietharz Dam into a small lake and the Schmalwasser and Ohra by theSchmalwasser andOhra Dams into larger reservoirs.
The south is drained by the Asbach which flows via theStille into theSchmalkalde and by rivers and streams belonging to the fan-like system of tributaries ofHasel (Werra), in particular theSchwarza,[14]Häselbach,[15]Lichtenau and a stream from Albrechts, feeding into theWerra.
This region between federal roadsB 4 betweenIlmenau andStützerbach, following the riversIlm, Lengwitz, and Nahe, and B 247 between Luisenthal and Suhl contains the three highest summits as well as the fifth highest summit of the whole range. The only settlements wholly within this region are Gehlberg north of Rennsteig and Vesser south of it. Parts ofSchmiedefeld and Goldlauter-Heidersbach (part of Suhl) also extend into this part of the Forest. The highest summits crowning the mountain ridge are of volcanic origin. The terrain dips rapidly down to heights below 800 m towards the north-east, while heights remain above this altitude south-west of Rennsteig for some distance in the horseshoe-shaped Adlersberg massif.
MotorwayA 71 and theNeudietendorf–Ritschenhausen railway pass under the Brandleite Massif between Gehlberg and Oberhof in Rennsteig road tunnel andBrandleite Tunnel.
The area is drained towards the north by the riverLütsche which feeds the Lütsche reservoir and byWilde Gera andZahme Gera towardsGera river andUnstrut, and by Freibach stream, a tributary of Ilm river, and towards the south byLauter, a tributary of Hasel, and mainly byErle, feeding the Erle reservoir, Breitenbach, Vesser, and Nahe intoSchleuse.
Notable summits include:
The region around Frauenwald and Neustadt forms the most south-eastern part of the Thuringian forest proper. It is limited by state road B 4 in the northwest, and by a line along the rivers Talwasser (with Ilmsenbach), Neubrunn, and Schleuse. The adjacent Thuringian Slate Mountains form a geographically and geologically separate natural region, although they are often popularly referred to as a continuation of the former range. Populated places wholly within the region areFrauenwald, Allzunah,Neustadt am Rennsteig, and Oehrenstock. Parts of Stützerbach also reach into this area. Roads follow theRennsteig, the mountain crests, or the valleys of the rivers.
The main ridge of the mountain range exceeds altitudes of 800 m in several places. The highest and best known summit isKickelhahn (861 metres above sea level) southwest ofIlmenau. As seen from there, all secondary crests towards the northeast and the southwest clearly originate from the main one and show even and gentle slopes, not counting the steep descent into the foreland. The southwestern crests reach altitudes of about 800 m. The dividing valleys are often narrow gorges.
The zone drains:
The Schleuse, Gabel and Tanne feed the Schönbrunn reservoir.
Notable summits include:
Due to its geographical characteristics and the favourable climate, the Thuringian Forest is an important year-round tourist destination.Winter sports play an important role, facilities of international significance are concentrated around Oberhof. Famous sights includeWartburg Castle outsideEisenach whereMartin Luther lived in exile, theselenite cave (Marienglashöhle, a former mine) nearFriedrichroda, the firearms museum inSuhl, and the historic town centres of Eisenach andIlmenau.
The Rennsteig trail is the most popular long-distance hiking trail in Germany. It is part of:
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