The Lusatian Mountains (; ; ) are a mountain range of the Western Sudetes on the southeastern border of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

with the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. They are a continuation of the

Ore Mountains The Ore Mountains (, or ; ) lie along the Czech–German border, separating the historical regions of Bohemia in the Czech Republic and Saxony in Germany. The highest peaks are the Klínovec in the Czech Republic (German: ''Keilberg'') at ab ...

range west of the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

valley. The mountains of the northern, German, part are called the

Zittau Mountains The Zittau Mountains (, ; ), formerly also called the Lusatian Ridge (''Lausitzer Kamm''; ''Łužiski česak''), refer to the German part of the Lusatian Mountains that straddle the Saxony, Saxon-Bohemian border in the extreme southeast of the ...

Geography

The range is among the westernmost extensions of the

Sudetes The Sudetes ( ), also known as the Sudeten Mountains or Sudetic Mountains, is a geomorphological subprovince of the Bohemian Massif province in Central Europe, shared by the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. They consist mainly of mountain rang ...

, which stretch along the border between the historic region of

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

in the north, and

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

and

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

in the south up to the

Moravian Gate The Moravian Gate (, , , ) is a geomorphological feature in the Moravian region of the Czech Republic and the Upper Silesia region in Poland. It is formed by the depression between the Carpathian Mountains in the east and the Sudetes in the west. ...

in the east, where they join the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

. The northwestern foothills of the Lusatian Mountains are called the

Lusatian Highlands The Lusatian Highlands at www.silvaportal.info. Accessed on 10 July 2011. or Lusatian Hills České Středohoří The České středohoří (), also known as Central Bohemian Uplands or Central Bohemian Highlands,e.g. ''The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 31'', Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1998, p. 371 is a geomorphological region in northern Bohemia of the ...

mountains. The range is largely made up of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

sedimentary rocks leaning on a

Precambrian The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...

crystalline

basement A basement is any Storey, floor of a building that is not above the grade plane. Especially in residential buildings, it often is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, water heating, ...

. The northern ridge is marked by the Lusatian Fault, a geological disturbance zone separating the Bohemian sandstones from the Lusatian

granodiorite Granodiorite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase feldspar than orthoclase feldspar. The term banatite is sometimes used informally for various rocks ranging from gra ...

. During the

Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

volcanic

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...

streams broke through the sandstone layer and solidified into

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

and

phonolite Phonolite is an uncommon shallow intrusive or extrusive rock, of intermediate chemical composition between felsic and mafic, with texture ranging from aphanitic (fine-grained) to porphyritic (mixed fine- and coarse-grained). Phonolite is a var ...

. Several sandstone contact areas were also hardened to columns and distinct rock formations.

Mountains and hills

The highest peak is the

Lausche Lausche () is the highest peak of the Lusatian Mountains and the highest mountain in the Germany, German part of the Upper Lusatia region at . The Conical hill, conical mountain is part of the Zittau Mountains range, situated on the border of th ...

(793 m). Other notable peaks include the Pěnkavčí vrch (792m), Jedlová (774m), Klíč (760m), Hochwald (750m) and Studenec (736m). *

(''Luž''), 793 m * Pěnkavčí vrch (''Finkenkoppe''), 792 m *

Jedlová Jedlová () is a municipality and village in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,100 inhabitants. Jedlová lies approximately south-west of Svitavy, south-east of Pardubice, and east of Prague P ...

(''Tannenberg''), 774 m * Klíč (''Kleis''), 760 m * Hochwald (''Hvozd''), 750 m * Studenec (''Kaltenberg''), 736 m *

Stožec Stožec () is a municipality and village in Prachatice District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 200 inhabitants. Stožec lies approximately south-west of Prachatice, west of České Budějovice, and south of Pra ...

(''Großer Schöber''), 665 m * Jezevčí vrch (''Limberg''), 665 m *

Malý Stožec Malý or Maly is a Slavic surname. It may refer to: * Arturo Maly (1939–2001), Argentine actor * Dominik Malý (born 1996), Slovak footballer * Gerő Mály (1884–1952), Hungarian actor * Jakub Malý (1811–1885), Czech writer * Josef Malý (1 ...

(''Kleiner Schöber'') 659 m * Zlatý vrch (''Goldberg''), 657 m * Chřibský vrch (''Himpelberg''), 621 m * Jánské kameny (''Johannisstein''), 604 m * Střední vrch (''Mittenberg''), 593 m *

Sokol Sokol, Sokół or SOKOL may refer to: Sports * Sokol movement, a Pan-Slavic physical education movement, and its various incarnations: ** Czech Sokol movement, the original one ** Polish Sokół movement ** Russian Sokol movement ** Sokol mov ...

(''Falkenberg''), 592 m *

Töpfer Töpfer, also spelled as Toepfer, is a German surname meaning potter. People * Alfred Toepfer (1894–1993), German entrepreneur, founder of Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F.V.S. * Antje Töpfer (born 1968), German politician * Ernst Toepfer (1877� ...

, 582 m *

Popova skála Popov (; masculine), or Popova (; feminine), is a common Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian surname. Derived from a Slavonic word ''pop'' (, "priest"). The fourth most common Russian surname, it may refer to: * Alek Popov (born 1966), ...

(''Pfaffenstein''), 565 m * Ortel (''Ortelsberg''), 554 m * Zámecký vrch (''Schlossberg''), 530 m * Oybin, 514 m * Kuhberg, 433 m

Protections

The Czech part of the Lusatian Mountains have 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, funga, or features of geologic ...

since 1976, covering an area of . Administratively it is known as the Lusatian Mountains Protected Landscape Area (''CHKO Lužické hory'') and has the status of CHKO, a so-called Landscape park. The smaller German part of the mountains also became a nature protection in 2008, when the Zittau Mountain Nature Park was established, with the effect that the entire Lusatian Mountains is now under some form of nature protection.

References

External links

Czech site

{{Authority control Sudetes Mountain ranges of the Czech Republic Regions of Saxony Mountain ranges of Saxony

Geography

Mountains and hills

Protections

See also

References

External links