Central Uplands


The Central Uplands 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.
: 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, or downfaulted or thrust over one another. Thus the German Central Uplands exhibit the widest variety of forms, something that is also attributable to the erosion of sediments from the Mesozoic. 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 rangeHighest ElevationHeight CoordinatesPrecision
Wiehen HillsHeidbrink320± 30″
ElmEilumer Horn323± 30″
Calenberg HighlandHohe Egge 437± 30″
Teutoburg ForestBarnacken446± 30″
SiebengebirgeGroßer Ölberg460± 1″
Egge HillsPreußischer Velmerstot468± 30″
KyffhäuserKulpenberg474± 1″
SollingGroße Blöße528± 30″
KaiserstuhlTotenkopf557± 1″
SpessartGeiersberg586± 30″
Gladenbach UplandsAngelburg609± 30″
HabichtswaldHohes Gras615± 30″
OdenwaldKatzenbuckel626± 30″
KnüllEisenberg636± 1″
Kaufungen ForestHirschberg643± 30″
WesterwaldFuchskaute656± 30″
Ebbe MountainsNordhelle663± 1″
Palatine ForestKalmit673± 1″
KellerwaldWüstegarten675± 10″
North Palatine HighlandDonnersberg687± 10″
Franconian JuraHesselberg689± 30″
Elbe Sandstone MountainsHoher Schneeberg / Decínský Snežník722± 30″
EifelHohe Acht746± 30″
Hoher MeißnerKasseler Kuppe754± 30″
VogelsbergTaufstein773± 30″
Zittau MountainsLausche793± 30″
Franconian ForestDöbraberg794± 30″
HunsrückErbeskopf816± 30″
Elster MountainsPocatecky Vrch 818± 30″
Rothaar MountainsLangenberg843± 30″
Thuringian HighlandGroßer Farmdenkopf869± 30″
TaunusGroßer Feldberg882± 1″
RhönWasserkuppe950± 1″
Thuringian ForestGroßer Beerberg983± 5″
Swabian JuraLemberg1015± 30″
Upper Palatine ForestSchwarzkopf/Cerchov1041± 30″
Fichtel MountainsSchneeberg1053± 30″
HarzBrocken1141± 30″
Ore MountainsKeilberg/Klinovec 1243± 30″
Bavarian ForestGroßer Arber1456± 30″
Black ForestFeldberg1493± 1″