The Westerwald-Lahn-Taunus National Geopark (german: Nationale GeoPark Westerwald-Lahn-Taunus) is a community initiative by the counties of Altenkirchen, Lahn-Dill,

Limburg-Weilburg Limburg-Weilburg is a Kreis (district) in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Lahn-Dill, Hochtaunuskreis, Rheingau-Taunus, Rhein-Lahn, Westerwaldkreis. History *1867 the ''Oberlahnkreis'', capital Weilburg was created *1886 the d ...

, Westerwald and

Marburg-Biedenkopf Marburg-Biedenkopf is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Waldeck-Frankenberg, Schwalm-Eder, Vogelsbergkreis, Gießen, Lahn-Dill, Siegen-Wittgenstein. History The district was created in 1974 when th ...

. The

geopark A geopark is a protected area with internationally significant geology within which sustainable development is sought and which includes tourism, conservation, education and research concerning not just geology but other relevant sciences. In 20 ...

, which covers an area of 3,846 km², lies within parts of the German states of

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

and

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

and within the natural region of the German Central Uplands. The geopark is primarily a 'geopark of raw materials' ("Geopark der Rohstoffe") and is characterised by the diversity of mineral resources that occur here. From prehistoric times to the present day, mining and the processing of raw materials played an important role for the people of the region. Working with

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

, stone and iron as well as clay was the basis for its prosperous economic and cultural development and at the same time the central theme that runs through the entire geopark. On 8 November 2012, the Westerwald-Lahn-Taunus Geopark was certified as a 'national geopark'.

References

External links

Geopark Westerwald-Lahn-Taunus

Geopark Westerwald-Lahn-Taunus VR Touren
{{Coord missing, Germany Westerwald