High Taunus

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High Taunus
Hoher Taunus
Taunus - Deutsche Mittelgebirge, Serie A-de.png
Overview map of the Taunus
Highest point
Peak Großer Feldberg
Elevation 879 m above NHN
Dimensions
Area314.92 km2 (121.59 sq mi)
Geography
State Hesse, Germany
Range coordinates 50°13′57″N8°27′32″E / 50.23250°N 08.458917°E / 50.23250; 08.458917 Coordinates: 50°13′57″N8°27′32″E / 50.23250°N 08.458917°E / 50.23250; 08.458917
Parent range Taunus
Geology
Orogeny Low mountains
Type of rock Grey phyllite, Hermeskeil beds, coloured slate, Taunus quartzite

The High Taunus (German : Hoher Taunus) is the name of a major natural region unit (no. 301) in the Hessian Central Uplands range of the Taunus mountains and forms the area immediately around the main ridge of the Taunus. It should not be confused with the term Hochtaunus, in the sense used in the name of the county of Hochtaunuskreis which is only the eastern part of the Feldberg massif. The High Taunus separates the Anterior Taunus in the south from the Lower Taunus in the north and includes the majority of the highest mountains and hills of the Taunus. The eastern part of the natural region lies within the Taunus Nature Park and its western part in the Rhine-Taunus Nature Park.

Contents

Location

The High Taunus runs as a mountain ridge from southwest to northeast from the Middle Rhine opposite the Bingen Forest to the Wetterau before Bad Nauheim for a distance of 75 kilometres; its average widths being only 4 to 5 km. The narrowest point on the ridge is only 2.4 km and is located on the heights of the Saalburg. At 7 km, the widest part of the natural region lies between Presberg and Rüdesheim am Rhein. From the Main-Taunus Plain (ca. 100 m above  sea level (NHN) ) in the south the ridge zone climbs rapidly and steeply to over 600 to 879 m, and rises above the plain by 400 to 600 metres (m). To the north the Taunus ridge descends steeply but only around 200 to 300 m to the Lower Taunus.

The geological heart of the Taunus crest unit is formed by strata of Taunus quartzite several hundred metres thick. The very weather-resistant rock forms many of the peaks on the main ridge of the Taunus, such as the Großer Feldberg which, at 879 m is the highest mountain in the Taunus, but it also forms island-like mountains to the south such as the Hallgarter Zange, the Schläferskopf, the Kellerskopf and the Altkönig. In places, a parallel ridge has formed: along the Theißtal near Niedernhausen, which is bounded in the north and south by two lines of mountains.

Mountains

The highest mountains in the High Taunus include the:

Grosser Feldberg Grosser-feldberg-taunus020.jpg
Großer Feldberg

Name, (height in metres above sea level), location

Settlements

Glaskopf and village Glashutten. Rear left: Kleiner Feldberg Glaskopf-JR-G6-3147-3153-2009-05-17.jpg
Glaskopf and village Glashütten. Rear left: Kleiner Feldberg
Eppenhain and Atzelberg with radio tower on the left, Rossert hilltop Hainkopf on the right DSC08544 Atzelberg Eppenhain und Rossert-Nebenkuppe Hainkopf von Sudwesten.jpg
Eppenhain and Atzelberg with radio tower on the left, Rossert hilltop Hainkopf on the right

The settlements in or on the edge of the High Taunus include:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taunus</span> Mountain range in Germany

The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is Großer Feldberg at 878 m; other notable peaks are Kleiner Feldberg and Altkönig.

The Hochtaunuskreis is a Kreis (district) in the middle of Hesse, Germany and is part of the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Neighbouring districts are Lahn-Dill, Wetteraukreis, district-free Frankfurt, Main-Taunus, Rheingau-Taunus, Limburg-Weilburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lahn</span> Right tributary of Rhine river in Germany

The Lahn is a 245.6-kilometre-long (152.6 mi), right tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schmitten im Taunus</span> Municipality in Hesse, Germany

Schmitten im Taunus is a municipality in the Hochtaunuskreis in Hessen, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niedernhausen</span> Municipality in Hesse, Germany

Niedernhausen im Taunus is a municipality in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany, with almost 15,000 inhabitants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Großer Feldberg</span>

The Großer Feldberg is, at a height of 879.5 metres, the highest elevation of the Taunus mountains, and of the entire Rhenish Massif. It is situated in the Hochtaunuskreis district in Hesse, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steinbach (Taunus)</span> Town in Hesse, Germany

Steinbach is a town in the Hochtaunuskreis that borders Frankfurt am Main to the east. Other neighbouring towns are Oberursel, Kronberg im Taunus and Eschborn. It is in the German state of Hesse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glashütten (Taunus)</span> Municipality in Hesse, Germany

Glashütten is a small municipality in the Hochtaunuskreis. This community in the Taunus, which is made up of the three formerly independent communities of Glashütten, Schloßborn and Oberems, lies in the Hochtaunus Nature Park, not far from Königstein im Taunus, Germany.

Feldberg may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalmit</span>

The Kalmit is the highest peak in the Palatinate Forest and the second highest in the Palatinate region of Germany. It is 672.6 m above sea level (NHN) and located 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) south of the town of Neustadt an der Weinstraße.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belchen</span> Mountain in the Black Forest, Germany

The Belchen, 1,414 metres (4,639 ft), or Black Forest Belchen is the fourth-highest summit of the Black Forest after Feldberg, Seebuck and Herzogenhorn. The municipalities of Münstertal, Schönenberg and Kleines Wiesental meet on the summit dome of Belchen which is located in the southwest German state of Baden-Württemberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altkönig</span>

The Altkönig is the third highest mountain of the Taunus range in Hesse, Germany, reaching a height of 798.2 m above sea level (NHN).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Black Forest</span>

The Southern Black Forest is the highest part of the Black Forest, an area heavily transformed by ice age glaciation south of a line roughly from Freiburg im Breisgau to Donaueschingen. The term High Black Forest is not quite identical; that usually includes the highest part of the Central Black Forest, southeast of the Elz valley, as well. The Southern Black Forest Nature Park also takes in this area, extending across the whole of the High Black Forest as well as several peripheral areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hohloh</span> Mountain in Germany

The Hohloh is a mountain, 988.3 m above sea level (NHN), on the eastern main ridge of the Northern Black Forest in Germany. It lies near the village of Kaltenbronn in the borough of Gernsbach, a town in the county of Rastatt in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Its summit is the highest point in the borough of Gernsbach and the eastern chain of the Northern Black Forest, the ridge between the rivers Murg and Enz. A mountain pass runs northeast of the summit plateau between the two river valleys passing over the saddle of Schwarzmiss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Main ridge of the Taunus</span>

The main ridge of the Taunus refers to a 75-kilometre-long ridgeline in the High Taunus mountain in Germany, whose geological core consists of veins of hard Taunus quartzite and which separates the steeply descending Anterior Taunus to the south from the more gradually descending upland of the Hintertaunus or Farther Taunus in the north. The watershed between the Upper Rhine and River Main to the south and the Middle Rhine tributaries of the Wisper and Lahn to the north, runs for long sections along the main ridge. Several of the river flowing southwards have broken through the rock of the Taunus ridge unit in several places so that the watershed is diverted a few kilometres to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taunus Nature Park</span>

The Taunus Nature Park is a nature park in Central Germany with an area of 134,775 hectares (1347.75 km2) in the Central Upland range of the Taunus. It is one of two Hessian nature parks in the Taunus and the second largest nature park in Hesse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Wall (Taunus)</span>

The White Wall in the Taunus is a quartzite field on the Altkönig that was formed in the ice age as a result of frost weathering. It lies at a maximum elevation of 634 m above sea level (NHN) near Oberursel in the Hessian county of Hochtaunuskreis in Germany.

References

  1. Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt: Statistisches Jahrbuch 2011/12, Band 2, Seite 21; retrieved 5 January 2014.

Literature