The Großer Beerberg is a
mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...
, , whose summit is the highest point in the
Thuringian Forest
The Thuringian Forest (''Thüringer Wald'' in German language, German ) is a mountain range in the southern parts of the Germany, German state of Thuringia, running northwest to southeast. Skirting from its southerly source in foothills to a gorg ...
and the state of
Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
. It is located between the three villages of
Heidersbach,
Goldlauter and
Gehlberg in the borough of
Suhl. The mountain is made of
rhyolite
Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture (geology), texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained matri ...
(quartz porphry) that was formed through volcanic processes in the
Rotliegendes rock of the Oberhof Formation, about 280 million years ago,
[Lützner, H., Andreas, D., Schneider, J.W., Voigt, S. & Werneburg, W. (2012): Stefan und Rotliegend im Thüringer Wald und seiner Umgebung. In: Deutsche Stratigraphische Kommission (publ.; coordination and production: H. Lützner & G. Kowalczyk für die Subkommission Perm-Trias): Stratigraphie von Deutschland X. Rotliegend. Teil I: Innervariscische Becken. Schriftenreihe der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften 61: 418–487.] and which was uplifted over the surrounding sediments to form a
butte
In geomorphology, a butte ( ) is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and table (landform), tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from the French l ...
.
Between the summit of the Beerberg and that of its eastern neighbour, the
Schneekopf (978 m), the second highest mountain of Thuringia, is a 60-metre-deep
col. To the west is the
Sommerbachskopf (941 m).
On the summit of Beerberg is one of the few
moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...
s of the Thuringian Forest. Until the end of the 1980s there was an observation tower on the mountain. A few years ago, a small platform was again established below the summit at ''Plänckners Aussicht'', which offers an outstanding view to the south and southwest.
The section of the
Rennsteig long-distance path between
Oberhof and
Schmücke
The Schmücke, also called the Kahle Schmücke, is a hill ridge up to and only about 7 km² in area.Area measurement usinGeopfade(kmz, 10 kB) It lies within the districts of Kyffhäuserkreis and Landkreis Sömmerda, Sömmerda in the Ger ...
runs across the mountain. The nearest town is Suhl.
See also
*
List of mountains in Thuringia
*
List of mountain and hill ranges in Germany
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beerberg, Grosser
Mountains of Thuringia
Thuringian Forest