The main ridge of the Taunus (german: Taunushauptkamm) refers to a 75-kilometre-long ridgeline in the High Taunus mountain in Germany, whose geological core consists of veins of hard Taunus quartzite and which separates the steeply descending Anterior Taunus to the south from the more gradually descending upland of the

Hintertaunus The Hintertaunus ("Farther Taunus") is a natural region in the German Central Upland range of the Taunus (major unit group 30), which rises to a height of and lies north of the High Taunus (301). It extends as far as the river Rhine to the w ...

or Farther Taunus in the north. The

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

between the Upper Rhine and River Main to the south and the Middle Rhine tributaries of the

Wisper The Wisper is a river in Hesse, Germany, right tributary of the Rhine. Its source is in the western Taunus, Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis district, near a small village named Wisper (municipality Heidenrod). It flows southwest through a densely forested ...

and Lahn to the north, runs for long sections along the main ridge. Several of the river flowing southwards have broken through the rock of the Taunus ridge unit in several places so that the watershed is diverted a few kilometres to the north. The main ridge of the Taunus is also a watershed that, especially in the cooler six months of the year and during inversion weather conditions, separates the

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

in the Upper Rhine Plain from clearer weather in the north. When the prevailing winds are from the northwest, the ridge receives a lot of precipitation and shelters the

Rhine-Main region The Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, often simply referred to as Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area or Rhine-Main area (German: ''Rhein-Main-Gebiet'' or ''Frankfurt/Rhein-Main'', abbreviated FRM), is the second-largest metropolitan re ...

, giving it a mild climate.

Route

The main crest of the Taunus runs from southwest to northeast from the Middle Rhine to the Wetterau in the following natural region sections:''Taunus & Gießen-Koblenzer Lahntal.'' Caution: link without return
Umweltatlas Hessen des Hessischen Landesamtes für Umwelt und Geologie: Die Naturräume Hessens und ihre Haupteinheiten * 301 '' High Taunus'' ** 301.0 '' Niederwald'' ** 301.1 ''

Rheingau Hills The Rheingau Mountains or Rheingau Hills form the westernmost section of the High Taunus and extend for 20 kilometres in a south-west to north-east direction between the Rhine valley near Lorch (Rheingau), Lorch and Assmannshausen in the wes ...

'' (''Rheingaugebirge'') ** 301.2 '' Wiesbaden High Taunus'' ** 301.3 '' Feldberg-Taunus Crest'' ** 301.4 '' Winterstein-Taunus Crest'' ** 301.5 '' Nauheim Taunus Spur'' Der main ridge of the Taunus incorporates the crest of the

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...

west of the Rhine and the heights of

Bingen Forest The Bingen Forest (german: Binger Wald) is part of the Hunsrück, a low mountain range in the Central Uplands of Germany. It is up to and is located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Location The landscape of the Bingen Forest lies on ...

References

Literature

*Alexander Stahr, Birgit Bender: ''Der Taunus-Eine Zeitreise''. Stuttgart, 2007, *Eugen Ernst: ''Der Taunus – Ein L(i)ebenswertes Mittelgebirge''. Frankfurt, 2009, *Alexander Stahr: ''Die Böden des Taunuskamms. Entwicklung-Verbreitung-Nutzung-Gefährdung''. Munich, 2014, {{Coord, 50.174699, N, 8.304977, E, type:mountain_elevation:878.5_region:DE-HE_dim:75000, display=title, format=dms High Taunus