Komorní hůrka

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Komorní hůrka
View from the direction of Franzensbad

View from the direction of Franzensbad

height 503.4  m nm
location Czech Republic
Coordinates 50 ° 6 '2 "  N , 12 ° 20' 11"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 6 '2 "  N , 12 ° 20' 11"  E
Komorní hůrka (Czech Republic)
Komorní hůrka
Type extinguished cinder cone
rock Basalt ( olivine - nephelinite )
Age of the rock quaternary

The Komorní hůrka ( Kammerbühl , 503 m) and the not far away Železná hůrka (Eisenbühl) are the only volcanoes in the Czech Republic that were active in prehistoric times .

Location and surroundings

Komorní hůrka is located in Karlovarský kraj (Karlovy Vary Region) immediately southwest of Františkovy Lázně (Franzensbad). Cheb , the capital of the Egerland, is three kilometers southeast of the mountain . Right at the foot of the mountain, trunk road No. 6 ( Europastraße 48 ) runs a little over three kilometers on a route laid out for the Reichsautobahn from Bayreuth in the direction of Karlsbad.

geology

The cinder cone Komorní hůrka (Kammerbühl) is one of the younger extinct volcanoes on the European mainland with an age of 720,000 years.

Located at the bottom of a dry lake, today's Egerer Basin, it was created by an eruption with so-called strombolian activity. The loose masses that had turned to ash and slag during the eruption settled mainly to the east, while the lava that flowed out after the gas eruption filled the volcanic throat and solidified into basalt .

history

The origin of the basalt was controversial among geologists until the 19th century. While the plutonists attributed the formation of basalts to volcanic forces , the Neptunists assumed that basalt consists of sediments and attributed this to the fact that basalts sometimes also deposit on older gravel and river sands, as was known from the Scheibenberg in the Ore Mountains .

Memorial stone to Goethe.

Goethe , himself a follower of Neptunism, visited the volcano in 1808, 1820 and 1822 in order to conduct scientific studies in the context of this dispute. He described the volcano as follows:

“The Kammerbühl (hill), otherwise also Kammerberg, got its name from a neighboring forest district and a complex of few houses there, called the Kammer. It shows up when you go from Franzensbrunn to Eger, about half an hour to the right of the path. "

At his suggestion, a few years after his death (1834–37), Kaspar Maria von Sternberg created a system of tunnels through the hill. When the basalt- filled crater was encountered, the volcanic origin of Komorní hůrka (Kammerbühl) was finally proven.

Entrance of the gallery.

In memory of the research, a portal with the inscription: “DEN NATURFREUNDEN GEWIDMET v. G. K. STERNBERG; MDCCCXXXVII "attached. The tunnel is still accessible for about four meters. On an opposite basalt rock there is a relief with Goethe's portrait and the inscription: "GOETHE / THE EXPLORER OF THE KAMMERBUEHL 1808-1822".

The basalt-like rock ejected during the eruption has recently been mined east of the mountain on an area of ​​300 × 100 m for road construction. The resulting ten-meter-deep pit is often mistaken for the crater of the Kammerbühl by visitors. The actual crater, however, is on the top of the mountain. It cannot be seen because it was filled with lava during the eruption.

In 1951 the Kammerbühl was placed under nature protection and is a Czech natural monument. Taking away volcanic rock is a criminal offense.

Paths to the summit

The mountain is located on the red marked main hiking route from Cheb to Františkovy Lázně. A junction leads past the tunnel entrance to the summit of the mountain. In front of the tunnel you pass a small information building, recognizable by a small winter garden. The neighboring town of Klest (district of Cheb) is 800 m away. The Komorní hůrka hotel is located at the foot of the mountain.

literature

  • Johannes Baier: Goethe's mineralogical studies in Bohemia. in: Geohistorische Blätter 30, Berlin 2019, pp. 29–47.
  • Johannes Baier: The Kammerbühl in Franzensbad - a volcano in the Neptunist dispute. in: Fossilien 2013 (5), Wiebelsheim 2013, pp. 285–288.
  • Gerd Simper: Understanding and experiencing volcanism. Feuerland Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 978-3-000-15117-0
  • Ernst Proft: Kammerbühl and Eisenbühl. The stratovolcanoes of the Eger Basin in Bohemia. in: Yearbook of the KK Geological Reichsanstalt. Vol. 44. Issue 1. Leipzig. 1894. pp. 25-85. ( Digitized version ; PDF; 4.0 MB)

Web links

Commons : Komorní hůrka  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Age determination Uni-Heidelberg (PDF; 80 kB)
  2. ^ Johannes Baier: Goethe and the Komorní Hůrka (Kammerbühl, Czech Republic) , Jber. Mitt. Oberrhein. geol. Ver, NF 95, 439-450, 2013 ( abstract ).