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Rhenish Slate Mountains

Rhenish Massif
Haupteinheitengruppen Rheinisches Schiefergebirge.png
Highest point
Peak Großer Feldberg
Elevation 2,881 ft (878 m)
Geography
Countries Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France
States/Provinces North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse
Parent range Central Uplands
Geology
Orogeny Variscan (Hercynian)
Age of rock Devonian
Carboniferous
Type of rock metamorphic rock

The Rhenish Massif or Rhine Massif (German: Rheinisches Schiefergebirge: Rhenish Slate Mountains) is a geologic massif in western Germany, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg and northeastern France.

The Rhenish Massif consists of the Belgian and French Ardennes, the German Eifel and east of the river Rhine the Sauerland and Siegerland. The Mosel and Hunsrück hills form its southwestern part, the Westerwald, Lahn-Dill area and the Taunus occupy the southeastern part. The massif is divided in two by the Middle Rhine Valley (Rhine Gorge), a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Geologically the Rhenish Massif consists of metamorphic rocks, mostly slates (hence its German name), deformed and metamorphosed during the Hercynian orogeny (around 300 million years ago). Most of the massif is part of the Rhenohercynian zone of this orogeny, that also encompasses the Harz further east and Devonian rocks of Cornwall (southwestern England).


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