Thuringian Highland

The Thuringian Highland, Thuringian Highlands or Thuringian-Vogtlandian Slate Mountains (Thüringer Schiefergebirge or Thüringisches Schiefergebirge, literally "Thuringian Slate Hills") is a low range of mountains in the German state of Thuringia.

Geography
The Thuringian Highland borders on the Thuringian Forest to the southwest. It is a plateau about 20 km wide that slopes southeast towards the Saale valley in the area of the Saale Dam and includes parts of the Thuringian Forest and Thuringian Highland and Upper Saale Nature Park.

The largest towns in the Thuringian Highland are Saalfeld and Bad Blankenburg which lie on its northern perimeter, Neuhaus am Rennweg in the highest region and Bad Lobenstein on the eastern edge (where it transitions into Franconian Forest).

The area includes a total of 4 smaller regions:
 * upper Saale valley
 * Plothen Lake District
 * High slate mountains
 * Sormitz-Schwarza region

The slate mountains of the Vogtland and Thuringian Highland stretch from the Thuringian Forest to the Ore Mountains. They are between about 300 m to high, and comprise gently rolling hills which are part of the backbone of the Central Uplands. They extend for about 75 km from east to west and 50 km from north to south. Typical features of the landscape are the dolerite peaks or Kuppen (like the Pöhlde or the Hübel) with their wooded crests. These are made from a volcanic rock, dolerite, which is harder than the surrounding rocks and so weathers more slowly, giving rise to the characteristic Kuppen.

Geology
As its German name suggests, the Thuringian Highland is mainly made of slate rock. Although this region was formed in a similar way to the Harz, it lacks the sharp divisions caused by fault lines. Almost all the way round the region transitions gradually into the surrounding land. The rocks found here are from the Palaeozoic era, i.e. the Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian and Lower Carboniferous periods. The most important ones are:


 * Shale,
 * Alaunschiefer,
 * Radiolarite,
 * Limestone,
 * Sandstone,
 * Greywacke,
 * Dolerite,
 * Spilite
 * and volcanic conglomerates.

Karst-forming, and hence cave-forming, limestone only occurs in a few, small, isolated areas. As a result the number of caves is very low.

Rivers and hydro-electric power
In the Saale Valley there are two of the largest dams in Germany, which form the Hohenwarte and Bleiloch Reservoirs. In the Schwarza Valley there is the Goldisthal Pumped Storage Station, opened in 2003, which is one of the largest pumped-storage hydro-electric power stations in Europe.

Mountains and hills
Around the steep-sided valleys of the Schwarza and Saale the height difference between hilltops and valley bottoms is often as much as 300 m or more, which is large for hills of this size.
 * 1) Großer Farmdenkopf (869 m), Sonneberg district
 * 2) Kieferle (867 m), Sonneberg district
 * 3) Bleßberg (865 m), Hildburghausen district
 * 4) Dürre Fichte (861 m), Sonneberg district
 * 5) Breitenberg (Thuringian Forest) (844 m), Sonneberg district
 * 6) Fellberg (842 m), Steinach, Sonneberg district
 * 7) Eselsberg (842 m), Hildburghausen district, Thuringian Forest/Thuringian Highland border
 * 8) Pechleite (839 m), Hildburghausen district
 * 9) Fehrenberg (835 m), Hildburghausen district, Thuringian Forest/Thuringian Highland border
 * 10) Hoher Schuß (827 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 11) Wurzelberg (820 m), Sonneberg district
 * 12) Jagdschirm (813 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 13) Hintere Haube (811 m), Ilm district
 * 14) Langer Berg (809 m), Ilm district
 * 15) Hettstädt (808 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 16) Rauhhügel (802 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 17) Roter Berg (799 m), Sonneberg district
 * 18) Wetzstein (791 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 19) Meuselbacher Kuppe (786 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 20) Fröbelturm (784 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 21) Grendel (784 m), Hildburghausen district
 * 22) Spitzer Berg (781 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 23) Simmersberg (781 m), Landkr. Hildburghausen, Thuringian Forest/Thuringian Highland border
 * 24) Himmelsleiter (Berg) (774 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 25) Töpfersbühl (762 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 26) Sieglitzberg (733 m), Saale-Orla district
 * 27) Kirchberg (Thuringia) (725,3 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 28) Rosenberg (Thuringian Highland) (716 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 29) Großer Mühlberg (714 m), Sonneberg district
 * 30) Quittelsberg (709 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 31) Bocksberg (696 m), Sonneberg district
 * 32) Auf der Heide (668 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 33) Beerberg (667 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 34) Barigauer Höhe (665 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 35) Zipptanskuppe (657 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 36) Rosenbühl (653 m), Saale-Orla district
 * 37) Keilsburg (648 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 38) Eisenberg (636 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 39) Talberg (602 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 40) Batzenberg (588 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 41) Schwarzer Berg (Thuringia) (582 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 42) Elmischer Berg (529 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 43) Geiersberg (520 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 44) Rabenhügel (506 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 45) Roderberg (502 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 46) Sommerberg (493 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district
 * 47) Ziegenberg (460 m), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district

Literature

 * Ernst Kaiser: Thüringerwald und Schiefergebirge, 2nd improved and expanded edn., Gotha, 1955.
 * Adolf Hanle (ed.): Thüringerwald und Schiefergebirge, Mannheim etc. 1992. ISBN 3-411-07191-5