Frankenstein massif
The Frankenstein massif is a natural spatial subunit in the Vorderen Odenwald , which extends over 6.94 km² with the ordinance no . 145.01 and a heavily forested ridge in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district , with minimal proportions in the extreme northwest also in the urban area of the independent city of Darmstadt in Hesse , which rises above the Bergstrasse in the north-western Odenwald . The Frankenstein massif gave the Frankenstein complex its name as the geological name of the rock types occurring here and further east.
Geographical location
Part of the Frankenstein massif is the Nieder-Beerbach district in the center and the Nieder-Ramstadt district of the Mühltal community in the north, the Darmstadt-Eberstadt district in the northwest and the Seeheim-Jugenheim community in the southwest .
The Frankenstein massif is an almost six and a half kilometer long north-south oriented ridge and is marked with the farthest northwest lying elevations, which are more than 400 m above sea level. Reach NHN Höhe, a cornerstone of the Vorderen Odenwald . The ridge line of the massif begins in the north with the Kohlberge ( 270 m ) at the breakthrough of the Modau from the Odenwald to the west to the lowlands on the Bergstrasse. South of the Kohlberge , shortly before it merges with the Modau, in the narrow Kerbtal of the Mordach , the Beerbach creates the only breakthrough through the ridge line. The steep ascent from the Mordach to the south is called the Himmelsleiter and leads to an unspecified summit ( 342 m ) some 700 meters away , a secondary summit of the Schlossberg ( 370 m ), which is 900 meters further south , on which Frankenstein Castle was built. This is followed, evenly distributed over around 1000 meters, by the three highest vertices of the ridge line, starting with the 419.7 m high Ilbes mountain near the magnetic stones , which serves as a trigonometric point . The second vertex is at the same time the highest elevation of the Frankenstein massif with about 430 m , which has not been given an exact height in the topographic maps. The third ascent reaches a height of 421.6 m and is marked in some maps with the name Langenberg . The series ends with a falling tendency with the 374.8 m high Galgenberg . After a further 1000 meters there is a transition over the ridge line of the Frankenstein massif at 251 m height on the Karlshöhe ( 257.3 m ) for forest paths, before this ends in the south with a steep drop to the Kerbtal of the Elsbach in the valley floor.
The Frankenstein massif is a popular destination due to the popularity of Frankenstein Castle. If the visibility is good, you can see Frankfurt in the north and the Spessart in the east from forest-free areas . To the south the Neunkircher Höhe , the Krehberg and the Melibokus can be seen. Worms and Mannheim are visible in the southwest . The Donnersberg can be seen in the west and the Taunus in the northwest .
geology
The Frankenstein massif is a complex of igneous rock that was formed at a depth of approx. 10 to 14 kilometers at the turn from the Devonian to the Carboniferous approx. 360 million years ago. It is mainly composed of gabbros , but also includes diorites , peridotites (very olivine- rich rocks) and hornblendite (largely pure hornblende rocks). Furthermore, the Frankenstein massif is the type locality of the rock types "beerbachite" (a xenolithic amphibolite - hornfels , originally misinterpreted as gabbro " aplite ") and malchite (a quartz- leading gangue rock with small insets of hornblende and labradorite ) that is, these rocks were first described in the scientific literature based on their occurrence there.
The Frankenstein massif is surrounded by crystalline slates , which are strongly interlocked with the magmatites in the north. To the west, the massif is cut off by the rift edge fault of the Upper Rhine Rift .
The magmas from which the rocks emerged cooled relatively quickly (in less than 10 million years) to below 200 ° C and were later never heated above this temperature again. The melts arose as a result of subduction on the northern edge of the small continent Armorica , which collided with the Paleozoic “Ur-Western Europe” (“West Baltica ” including the eastern part of the small continent Avalonia ) in the further course of the Lower Carbons (see Variscan orogeny ). Regional geologically, the Frankenstein massif is part of the Odenwald Crystalline and thus part of the Central German Crystalline Zone of the Central European Variscides.
Magnetic stones
etymology
The Frankenstein massif was probably named after Frankenstein Castle.
Natural monuments and climbing rocks
Brohmfels of the gabbro cliffs on the eastern Frankenstein slope and magnetic stones on the so-called Ilbes mountain .
See also
Web links
Geo-Naturpark (Bergstrasse-Odenwald) , on geo-naturpark.de
Individual evidence
- ^ City map Darmstadt, Falk-Verlag, Ostfildern, 2013
- ↑ a b c d Alexander Zwing, Valerian Bachtadze: Paleoposition of the northern margin of Armorica in Late Devonian times: Palcomagnetic and rock magnetic results from the Frankenstein Intrusive Complex (Mid-German Crystalline Rise). Journal of Geophysical Research. Vol. 105, No. B9, 2000, pp. 21445-21456, doi: 10.1029 / 2000JB900167
- ↑ Siegfried Matthes, Wolfgang Schubert: The original beerbachite in the Odenwald, an amphibolite horn rock in pyroxene horn rock facies. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology. Vol. 33, 1971, pp. 62-86, doi: 10.1007 / BF00373794
- ↑ RW LeMaitre (Ed.): Igneous Rocks. A Classification and Glossary of Terms . 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2002, ISBN 978-0-521-66215-4 , pp. 107 .
- ↑ I. Noorbehesht, P. Paulitsch: The Dynamics of Frankenstein massif. The opening. Special volume 27 (Odenwald), 1975, pp. 59-66
Coordinates: 49 ° 47 ' N , 8 ° 40' E