352 A. Vaughan Jennings — Geology of Bad Nauheim. 



vine-clad on its steeper southern aspect, but scarred here and there 

 by reddish rock patches where the iron-stained quartzites of which 

 it consists have been quarried for building material or for road-metal. 

 From the summit there is a drop on the south and west to the saddle 

 at Hasselheck, and then a steady rise to the Winterstein and the 

 o-eneral mass of the Taunus. Towards other points of the compass- 

 one looks over a wide valley-country with rich fields and scattered 

 villages and trees, so that our hill of observation constitutes as it 

 were a promontory running out from the high ground into the plain. 



On the south the plain stretches away twenty miles to Frankfurt,, 

 merging into the broad valley of the Main. The plain is not^ 

 however, a monotonous level, as in the foreground rises the low 

 hill on which stands the old town of Friedberg, with its picturesque 

 turreted tower rising above the ancient fortress. Northward the 

 low country extends past Weisel and Butzbach to the blue distance 

 round the Vogelsberg. To the east the landscape is similarly varied 

 by the low rises behind the railway and the more distant Miinzenberg 

 with its double-towered castle. 



Taking thus a comprehensive view of the whole district, the 

 geologist will note that there are thi'ee distinct scenic elements to 

 be considered. First, the Taunus range which stretches south and 

 west from his point of observation ; secondly, the relatively low 

 land on the south, east, and north-east ; and lastly, the detached and 

 separated elevations which rise from the plain. To understand the 

 meaning of these three features it becomes necessary to examine 

 the rocks of which they are composed. 



A superficial examination of specimens in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood shows that the rock is a white or reddish * quartzite,' using 

 the term in its widest sense ; more accurately, a series of compact 

 sandstones and grits which have sufi'ered greater or less alteration. 



There is in many places a well-defined flaggy structure, indicating 

 the sedimentary character of the formation. It has a distinctly 

 Palaeozoic aspect, and in many places recalls some of the British 

 Devonian strata to the mind. Such is, in fact, the age ascribed to it, 

 as it belongs to the ' Taunus-quarzit,' which, though here devoid 

 of fossils, is now known, by observations elsewhere, to belong ta 

 the Lower Devonian series.^ 



The dip of the beds is here a very steep one to the south and east, 

 but many variations will be found in the districts lying to the west. 

 In fact, the whole range is much contorted and the strata doubled 

 up in sharp folds, as has been shown by Koch, Kayser, and others. 



Leaving for future consideration the question of the presence of 

 other strata than the 'quartzite' in this Pala30zoic ridge, and 

 descending to the lower ground, one meets with a marked change 

 in the character of the rocks, though the wooded condition of the 

 ground and the accumulation of detritus and Post-Tertiary deposits 

 have to a great extent obliterated the abruptness of the transition. 



^ The suggestion of Gosselet (Anu. Soc. Gcol. Nord, xvii, p. 300) that the 

 base of the series is Archsean does not seem to be accepted by English or Continental 

 geologists. 



