Central Uplands

The Central Uplands (German: die Mittelgebirge) is one of the three major natural regions of Germany and covers most of the land area of the country. To the north lies the North German Plain or Northern Lowland; to the south, the Alps and the Alpine Foreland.

File:Im innere Kaiserstuehl.jpg

Central Uplands in Baden-Württemberg: the Kaiserstuhl

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Central Uplands in North Rhine-Westphalia: Siegtal in the Rhenish Massif

Formation

The German Central Uplands, like the Scandinavian and British mountain ranges and the Urals, belong to the oldest mountains of Europe, even if their present-day appearance has only developed relatively recently. In the Carboniferous, i.e. about 350 million years ago, Variscan mountain ranges were formed in central Europe by the uplifting caused by tectonic plate collision. Immediately after their formation the erosion of the mountains began under the influence of exogenous processes during the Permian period. During the Triassic period, which began about 225 million years ago, what is now central Europe was sometimes above and sometimes below sea level. As a result, there are various layers of sedimentary rock in the Central Uplands: in most cases new red sandstone has been laid down as the terrestrial layer of rock and keuper and muschelkalk as marine sedimentary layers. The Jurassic period primarily saw the formation of limestone, whilst chalk was the main deposition from the Cretaceous period.

With the beginning of the Cenozoic era, some 70 million years ago, the process of erosion of the Hercynian mountain ranges changed. During the Tertiary, alpidic mountain building took place, in the course of which strong forces deformed the stumps of the Hercynian mountains. As these rocks were already folded, further tension led to cracks and fractures, which in turn created fault blocks. These blocks were later uplifted (forming horsts such as the Harz), or downfaulted (trough faults or graben such as the Upper Rhine Valley) or thrust over one another (tilted fault blocks such as the Ore Mountains). Thus the German Central Uplands exhibit the widest variety of forms, something that is also attributable to the erosion of sediments from the Mesozoic (Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous). In some ranges the sediments have been relatively well-preserved, in others they have been carried away completely. The determining factor is the geographical location and associated intensity of exogenous processes.

Most important ranges

The following table lists the mountains and hills over 300 m high that are generally considered to be part of the Central Uplands. The coordinates give the location of the highest point in each case. Many of the uplands overlap. The ranges are listed in order of height.

Mountain or hill range	Highest Elevation	Height (m)	Coordinates	Precision
Wiehen Hills	Heidbrink	320		± 30″
Elm	Eilumer Horn	323		± 30″
Calenberg Highland	Hohe Egge (Süntel)	437		± 30″
Teutoburg Forest	Barnacken	446		± 30″
Siebengebirge	Großer Ölberg	460		± 1″
Egge Hills	Preußischer Velmerstot	468		± 30″
Kyffhäuser	Kulpenberg	474		± 1″
Solling	Große Blöße	528		± 30″
Kaiserstuhl	Totenkopf	557		± 1″
Spessart	Geiersberg	586		± 30″
Gladenbach Uplands	Angelburg	609		± 30″
Habichtswald	Hohes Gras	615		± 30″
Odenwald	Katzenbuckel	626		± 30″
Knüll	Eisenberg	636		± 1″
Kaufungen Forest	Hirschberg	643		± 30″
Westerwald	Fuchskaute	656		± 30″
Ebbe Mountains	Nordhelle	663		± 1″
Palatine Forest	Kalmit	673		± 1″
Kellerwald	Wüstegarten	675		± 10″
North Palatine Highland	Donnersberg	687		± 10″
Franconian Jura	Hesselberg	689		± 30″
Elbe Sandstone Mountains	Hoher Schneeberg / Decínský Snežník	722		± 30″
Eifel	Hohe Acht	746		± 30″
Hoher Meißner	Kasseler Kuppe	754		± 30″
Vogelsberg	Taufstein	773		± 30″
Zittau Mountains	Lausche	793		± 30″
Franconian Forest	Döbraberg	794		± 30″
Hunsrück	Erbeskopf	816		± 30″
Elster Mountains	Pocatecky Vrch (see also: Hoher Brand)	818		± 30″
Rothaar Mountains	Langenberg	843		± 30″
Thuringian Highland	Großer Farmdenkopf	869		± 30″
Taunus	Großer Feldberg	882		± 1″
Rhön	Wasserkuppe	950		± 1″
Thuringian Forest	Großer Beerberg	983		± 5″
Swabian Jura	Lemberg	1015		± 30″
Upper Palatine Forest	Schwarzkopf/Cerchov	1041		± 30″
Fichtel Mountains	Schneeberg	1053		± 30″
Harz	Brocken	1141		± 30″
Ore Mountains	Keilberg/Klinovec (see also: Fichtelberg)	1243		± 30″
Bavarian Forest	Großer Arber	1456		± 30″
Black Forest	Feldberg	1493		± 1″

Panorama from Rimberg, interface between Rothaar Mountains (Rhenish Massif) and West Hesse Highlands

Panorama from Rimberg, interface between Rothaar Mountains (Rhenish Massif) and West Hesse Highlands

See also

• Geography of Germany
• Mittelgebirge, generic German term for low mountain or high hill ranges
• Natural regions of Germany

Sources

• Dickinson, Robert E (1964). Germany: A regional and economic geography (2nd ed.). London: Methuen. ASIN B000IOFSEQ.