Großer Inselsberg is a mountain in the

Thuringian Forest The Thuringian Forest (''Thüringer Wald'' in German), is a mountain range in the southern parts of the German state of Thuringia, running northwest to southeast. Skirting from its southerly source in foothills to a gorge on its north-west side i ...

with a height of above sea level, located on

Rennsteig The () is a ridge walk as well as an historical boundary path in the Thuringian Forest, Thuringian Highland and Franconian Forest in Central Germany. The long-distance trail runs for about from and the valley in the northwest to and the ...

in the districts of

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the Gotha (district), district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine House of Wet ...

and Schmalkalden-Meiningen. It is the fourth-highest distinct mountain of

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

, after Großer Beerberg (), Schneekopf () and Großer Finsterberg () and forms a landmark that can be viewed in particular from northern and western directions.

Geography

The summit of Großer Inselsberg is located about NNE of

Brotterode Brotterode () is a town and a former municipality next to the Rennsteig in the Thuringian Forest, in the Schmalkalden-Meiningen district, in Thuringia, central Germany. Since 1 December 2011, it is part of the town Brotterode-Trusetal. It is si ...

and southwest of

Bad Tabarz Bad Tabarz is a municipality in the district of Gotha, in Thuringia, Germany. It is a winter sports resort and the terminus of the Thüringerwaldbahn rural tramway. References Municipalities in Thuringia Gotha (district) Saxe-Cobu ...

. It forms a narrow, arched plateau of about length. The steep slopes are marked by deep dents and spurs formed by weathering. The summit has a dominance radius of extending to Sommerbachskopf ( a.s.l.) and a prominence of relative to the saddle at ''Heuberghaus''. With the exception of the buildings, the summit region of Großer Inselsberg has been a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological o ...

since 30 March 1961.

Geology

Großer Inselsberg is a

rhyolitic Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals ( phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The ...

butte that has withstood the weathering of the surrounding softer rock layers. The near-surface rocks of the summit region belong to the lower vulcanites of the ''Oberhof'' sequence in the lower

Rotliegend The Rotliegend, Rotliegend Group or Rotliegendes (german: the underlying red) is a lithostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) of latest Carboniferous to Guadalupian (middle Permian) age that is found in the subsurface of large areas in wes ...

and crop out in ''Reitsteine'', a steep escarpment southeast of the summit. They are embedded in the conglomerates, sandstones and siltstones of the ''Goldlauter'' sequence to the north and the grainy

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized 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 years ago ...

origin to the south. An abrupt transition between the Inselsberg rhyolite and the gneiss can be observed along the west–east Inselsberg fault.

Flora

The potential natural vegetation of the mountain is a

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engl ...

forest, on the northern slope with an undergrowth of heath bedstraw, on the sunny southern side with woodrush. Some near-natural beech forests are preserved on the southern and the northeastern slope. The common

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfam ...

has been introduced through silviculture. The once indigenous

silver fir Silver fir is a common name for several trees and may refer to: *''Abies alba ''Abies alba'', the European silver fir or silver fir, is a fir native to the mountains of Europe, from the Pyrenees north to Normandy, east to the Alps and the Car ...

has disappeared. Other naturally occurring tree species include

sycamore Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the ancient Greek ' (''sūkomoros'') meaning "fig-mulberry". Species of trees known as sycamore: * ''Acer pseudoplata ...

, Norway maple,

ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non-gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

, elm, sessile oak, pedunculate oak,

silver birch ''Betula pendula'', commonly known as silver birch, warty birch, European white birch, or East Asian white birch, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to Europe and parts of Asia, though in southern Europe, it is only found ...

alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains fur ...

, goat willow, and wild cherry.

Name

The name is popularly ascribed to the solitary aspect of Großer Inselsberg and is said to be derived from German ''einzeln'' ("solitary") or ''Insel'' (Island), but is probably derived from a stream called ''Emse'' or in the Middle Ages ''Enze'' which has its source on the northwestern slope of the mountain.

Tourism

The mountain is one of the best known excursion destinations in Thuringia. Its summit is crossed by the traditional mountain path

, whose route is shared here by the European long-distance hiking path E3 and the international mountain hiking path Eisenach–Budapest (EB). A road facilitating access to the summit branches off the state road 1024 between Brotterode and Tabarz, and parking spaces are provided. A youth hostel, a restaurant and an outlook tower serve tourists.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosser Inselsberg Mountains of Thuringia Thuringian Forest