The Javořice Highlands ( cs, Javořická vrchovina, german: Jaborschützer Bergeland) is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. The

highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

s, together with the Jevišovice Highlands threshold, form the Western-Moravian part of

Moldanubian Zone The Moldanubian Zone is in the regional geology of Europe a tectonic zone formed during the Variscan or Hercynian Orogeny (400 to 300 million years ago, during the Devonian and Carboniferous periods). The Moldanubian Zone crops out in the Bohe ...

- east south part of Bohemian Massif.

Geography

The Javořice Highlands rise to the north of the Gmünd,

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

between

Slavonice Slavonice (; german: Zlabings) is a town in Jindřichův Hradec District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,300 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation ...

, and the Studená and Mrákotín in the north. The Highlands have an area of and an average height of . The highest peak is ''

Javořice Javořice (german: Jaborschützeberg) is a mountain in the Javořice Highlands mountain range within the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands in the Czech Republic. With an elevation of , it is the highest mountain of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands and o ...

'' at ; other peaks are ''Hradisko'' , ''Pivničky'' ''Vysoký kámen'' , ''Bukový vrch'' , ''Starohuťský vrch'' , and ''Čihadlo'' . To the southeast is the Holbruner Wald (Holbrun Forest) in

part of Javořice Highlands as well and in the east Jevišovice Highlands. The Javořice Highlands naturally established Bohemian-Moravian border. The mountain range is 76% forested, though mainly by plantations. The forests are in good condition. For the landscape ary typical numerous

bogs A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main Wetland#Types, types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, ...

and

ponds A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

. The primary composition of the range is

carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...

cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

and granodiorite.

Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

veins Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated b ...

are common.

Soil horizon A soil horizon is a layer parallel to the soil surface whose physical, chemical and biological characteristics differ from the layers above and beneath. Horizons are defined in many cases by obvious physical features, mainly colour and texture. ...

is mainly

cambisol A Cambisol in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is a soil in the beginning of soil formation. The horizon differentiation is weak. This is evident from weak, mostly brownish discolouration and/or structure formation in the soil pr ...

. The

Thaya The Thaya ( cs, Dyje ) is a river in Central Europe, the longest tributary to the river Morava. Its drainage basin is . It is ( with its longest source river German Thaya) long and meanders from west to east in the border area between Lower Au ...

(parallel valley), and Jihlava ( source),

Nežárka Nežárka () (german: Naser) is a river in South Bohemia, Czech Republic. It flows into the Lužnice in Veselí nad Lužnicí. It is 56.0 km (35 miles) long, and its basin area is 1,001 km2. The river flows through Jindřichův Hradec a ...

( source) as well among others, originates here.

Towns

The area is sparsely populated. There are no larger settlements. The most populated towns in the highlands are

Nová Bystřice Nová Bystřice (, german: Neubistritz) is a town in Jindřichův Hradec District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,200 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zo ...

and Strmilov.

Gallery

Vysokokamenská vrchovina, z Landštejna 01.jpg, Look from Landštejn castle to

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

Praha, obelisk na Hradě (5).jpg, 15.5 m high

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

in Prague Castle originating from Javořice massif PP Míchova skála (1).JPG, The ''Cheesewring'' rock Míchova skála Cizkrajov, od Montserratu 01.jpg, Cizkrajov – Javořice Highlands on horizon

Geography

Towns

Gallery

Further reading