The Little Thuringian Forest (german: Kleiner Thüringer Wald)
is a region of mountains and hills that lies southwest of
Suhl
Suhl () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located SW of Erfurt, NE of Würzburg and N of Nuremberg. With its 37,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest of the six urban districts within Thuringia. Together with its northern neighbour-town Zella- ...
and northwest of
Schleusingen
Schleusingen is a town in the district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 10 km north of Hildburghausen, and 12 km southeast of Suhl.
Geography
The town of Schleusingen in the Henneberger Land got its name from ...
, and extends as far as an imaginary line from
Schmeheim via
Bischofrod
Bischofrod is a municipality in the district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Rus ...
and
Gethles to
Rappelsdorf. Its length is about , its width varies between and .
Its name is not to be understood in an orographic or geographic sense, but is due to the marked similarity of its bedrock to that of 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 ...
to the north of it.
Geography
![Ansicht von Eichenberg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Ansicht_von_Eichenberg.JPG)
The region extends northwest from
Schleusingen
Schleusingen is a town in the district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 10 km north of Hildburghausen, and 12 km southeast of Suhl.
Geography
The town of Schleusingen in the Henneberger Land got its name from ...
, beginning near
Rappelsdorf, via
Gethles,
Ahlstädt
Ahlstädt is a municipality in the district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russ ...
,
Bischofrod
Bischofrod is a municipality in the district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Rus ...
,
Keulrod,
Eichenberg to north of the ''Sandberg'' near
Grub
Grub can refer to Grub (larva), of the beetle superfamily Scarabaeoidea, or as a slang term for food. It can also refer to:
Places
* Grub, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland
* Grub, St. Gallen, Switzerland
* Grub (Amerang), a hamlet in Bavaria, ...
, in the northwest of
Hildburghausen district, parallel to the Thuringian Forest range. The Little Thuringian Forest is surrounded on all sides by forested mountains formed of
Buntsandstein
The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphy, allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the Subsurface (geology), subsurface ...
and
Muschelkalk
The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; french: calcaire coquillier) is a sequence of sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic (240 to 230 million ye ...
, some of which rise over 200 metres above it.
Geology
Geologically, the Little Thuringian Forest is a
horst that consists of a band-like island of
paleozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...
materials similar to those in the bedrock of 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 ...
that surfaces in the southwestern foothills of the latter mountains. Like the latter, it is part of the
Variscan mountains
The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea.
Nomenclature
The name ''Variscan'', come ...
, but the stratigraphic throws are lower and have occurred on a smaller scale. It is tectonically isolated from the Thuringian Forest and the
Thuringian Highlands, and is situated outside their border fault. Its highest summit is
Schneeberg near Bischofrod at 692 m a.s.l., rising from a ''Buntsandstein'' layer. While geologically a separate mountain range, it does not appear as such to the casual observer, but as a hilly area with an average height of 460 m a.s.l. embedded between eroded deposits of the
Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...
period. Towards the southwest it is limited by a marked border fault. Even the
Muschelkalk
The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; french: calcaire coquillier) is a sequence of sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic (240 to 230 million ye ...
hills beyond the latter are to higher. Several valleys of the foothills of the Thuringian Forest transect the area, showing evidence of a weak
folding
Fold, folding or foldable may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Fold'' (album), the debut release by Australian rock band Epicure
* Fold (poker), in the game of poker, to discard one's hand and forfeit interest in the current pot
*Abov ...
process.
The Little Thuringian Forest is surrounded by
Zechstein
The Zechstein (German either from ''mine stone'' or ''tough stone'') is a unit of sedimentary rock layers of Middle to Late Permian (Guadalupian to Lopingian) age located in the European Permian Basin which stretches from the east coast of Englan ...
formations everywhere except along its border fault west of Gethles and Bischofrod. Its northern border is
Gruber Berg with an outcrop of Zechstein rock.
Economy
The area is characterised by farmed fields, since the condition of the soils allows for agricultural productivity, in contrast to the forested Buntsandstein heights. The settlements in the region are thus traditionally farmers' villages. In particular, the Zechstein subsoil around Gethles, Ahlstädt, and Eichenberg yields a good, albeit heavy farming soil. Also, the stratified dolomitic rocks (''Plattendolomit'') underlie a good farming soil, as does the finely grained lower Buntsandstein with interspersed clay layers. Less suited for cultivation are the upper Buntsandstein soils, and the areas with nutrient-poor porphyric and granitic subsoils are the least cultivable ones.
Iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
,
baryte
Baryte, barite or barytes ( or ) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate ( Ba S O4). Baryte is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of the element barium. The ''baryte group'' consists of baryte, celestine (strontium sulfate), ...
, and
fluorite
Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon.
The Mohs sca ...
were mined on Kuhberg hill near Gethles,
on Steinberg near Ahlstädt, and between Bischofrod and Eichenberg. Mining, however, was not profitable in the long run due to difficult drainage. The conformation of large deposits of baryte of high quality in the late 1950s did not lead to a revival of mining activities.
Tourism
There is no
protected landscape
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...
in the Little Thuringian Forest. An application in the early 1990s was never implemented. Maps and publications implying the contrary do not refer to the geological rock complex described above, but the wooded ridges that rise to the north and northwest of it, including peaks such as the ''Donnersberg'', ''Schleusinger Berg'', ''
Schneeberg'', ''Kesselberg'', ''Galgenberg'', ''Eichenberg'' , ''Ehrenberg'' etc. that are part of the Buntsandstein formation. Hikers following these maps, for example, from Bischofrod or Eichenberg across ''Schneeberg'' to the northwest will actually leave the Little Thuringian Forest, as defined in the geological sense.
References
[ Translated by D. Hucke and M. Dworatzek]
Maps
* Geologische Spezialkarte. Königlich Preußischen Geologische Landesanstalt. Scale 1:25000. Sheets ''Schleusingen'' (1898), ''Themar'' (1892), ''Hildburghausen'' (1892)
* Maximilian Tornow (1907): Der Kleine Thüringer Wald. Scale 1:25000
* Shows the area as a band of Zechstein rocks.
{{coord missing, Thuringia
Central Uplands
Mountain ranges of Thuringia
Forests and woodlands of Thuringia
Suhl
Hildburghausen (district)