PANGAEA Exploring the Supercontinent In the middle of Thuringia www.thueringer-geopark.de Table of Contents Seite 3 TRACKERS Seite 4 – 5 A Lower Permian Love Story / The Saurian Discovery Trail Seite 6 – 7 The Badlands of Gleichen / The Castle Trail saurian from Bromacker 4 Seite 8 – 9 Flying high over the volcano / The Tabarz Volcano Trail Seite 10 – 11 When the Thuringian Forest was still a sea / Hike across the tropical Ruhla Island Seite 12 – 13 Inside the mountains / The Friedrichroda Mining Trail Seite 14 – 15 The envy of the saurians / Geo- and Pleasure Trail “From Beer to Bratwurst“ Seite 16 – 17 Earth secrets – georoutes for schools / The Brotterode Children’s Tour • The Kleinschmalkalden Volcano Trail Seite 18 – 19 The Thuringian Castle Country Drei Gleichen / The Panorama Route • The Seeberg Route Seite 20 Discover the geopark on bike / The Apfelstädt Jacobsweg Tour Seite 21 Following the rivers on bike and foot / Leina River Tour • Apfelstädt River Tour (Cycle Route) Seite 22 – 23 The stories rocks can tell / Long Haderholz Route • Thuringian Raw Materials Trail • Trusetal Mining Trail • Nature Discovery Trail Bad Liebenstein Seite 24 – 30 Attractions in the GeoPark Seite 29 GeoInfocentres • Tourist Information • GeoInfopoints Seite 30 – 31 Overview map National GeoPark Thuringia Inselsberg Drei Gleichen T IMETABLE 18 of the geological development of the GeoPark ComeCome andand discoverdiscover thesethese saurianssaurians fromfrom thethe followingfollowowing epochsepochs on the SaurianSauririan DiscoveryDiscovery Trail:Trail: age in Mio. years nary 1 todaytoday Quaternary Quater 2 Mühlburg castle Alpine OrogenyOrogeny VegetarianVegetarita an ininan a scalyscaly coatcoat ic EmauEmausaurusmausaurrus eernstirnstnsti up up 1901990 Lias Jurass ak- Badlands ak- bre bre 2002000 6 Impress 2102210 editor: 220220 FranFrankoniankonian ddragonragorag n Keuper National GeoPark Thuringia Inselsberg Drei Gleichen PlatPlateosauruseosaurus engengelhardtielhardti ic GeoPark-Management: e.t.a. Sachverständigenbüro Reyer 230230 Triass Haarbergstrasse 37 · 99097 Erfurt · Tel.: +49361 4229000 · Fax: +49361 4229005 alk Upper Mid [email protected] · www.geopark-thueringen.de 2402440 Lower Muschelkalk Muschelk nt nt nt UpperUppepp Long necneckedked saursaurianian H.H. stein TanyTanystropheusstropheus sp. ine ine Tourismusverband Thuringian Forest/Gothaer Land e. V. Mid V.V. 250250 Lower FalsFalsee lilizardzard ont ont Buntsandstein Buntsand n NothNothosaurusosaurus gigagiganteusnteus Reuterstrasse 2 · 99867 Gotha · Tel.: 03621 363111 · Fax: 03621 363113 rc erc chste [email protected] · www.tourismus-thueringer-wald.de Zechstein Zechstei Z Copper shale shale 260260 Neuenhof-Fm.NeuenhofNeu -Fm.Fm. (boundary(boundary conglomerate)conglomerate) sup sup Hand beabeastst a a a ChirChirotheriumotherium barthiibarthii Editing and text: Dr. Bettina Aschenbrenner, Tourismusverband Thüringer n gae gae 270270 Eisenach-FormationEisenachEisen -Formati-Format on n Wald/Gothaer Land e.V. PermianPermia P Triassic Jurassic Pan g gend TambaTambach-Formationambaachh-Forma-FFormaation lie l SmalSSmalll flfflyingying dradragonragong n Design: Franziska Hänel, Druckmedienzentrum Gotha GmbH tl 280282 0 Rotliegend Rot RotterodRotterode-Formationottero e-FormatFo ation Expert advisors: Dipl.-Geogr. Nancy Schröter, Dipl.-Geol. Kerstin Fohlert, PermPermianr iann lizalizardzardd Oberhof-Oberhof-FormationFormatioor a n Dipl.-Geol. Stephan Brauner, Dipl.-Geol. Sylvia Reyer-Rohde 290290 GoldlautGoldlauter-Formationer-Formaer-Form tionon of of Translator: Mike Walker (geotrans) s ManebachManebach-Formation-Formation erou Ilmenau-Ilmenau-Formationm FormatioFo n fe iferou ion io Deadline: december 2019 ion ? Georgenthal-Georgententhal-hal- u. u Möhrenbach-Fm.Möhrenbach-Fm. Carboniferous Carbon 300300 tetrapodstetrapods fromfrom the ma Edition: 1. edition 2019, 10.000 copies mat r VariscanVarisarisca Orogenyogeny BroBromackermacker for f f f Photos: Ronald Bellstedt, Stephan Brauner, Lutz Ebhardt, Kerstin Fohlert, Jürgen break-up supercontinent Pangaea of formation minin tetrapods:tettee rapoap dds: n an a Schneider, Nancy Schröter, Sebastian Spelda, Dieter Usbeck, Manfred Windus GeorGeorgenthaliaeorgentg halialil a clcclavinasica,avinasicsica, 4004400 up Gro G as well as photos made available to the publishers by the towns and facilities Devonian Devoni Devon D TamTambachiambachb ia t trogallas,rogallasl , ein- Gro 420420 t an a EudEEudibamusibamibaib uss cursoris,cursooris,risri u Liebenst L mentioned in this catalogue Liebenstein- Group 4404440 Siluri Silur S Silurian ±2000±200±2 0 m CasCaCCaseaeae ssp.,p., AreoscelisAreoA scelcele is ssp.p.p Maps: engineering office for maps Müller & Richert GbR, Gotha >300>300030000 m? ? 460464 0 cian TambTambachach LoveLoversoverssa a andndn Graphics: graphics timescale: Antje Rassloff; graphics stone man:Leon; graphics ov Group rdovi rd 480480 Ordovician Ordovi Ordov a SailSaiSailback-saurian:backbaa -saurianria : Group Grou - ±±100±10000 m l- Pele: Yvonne Kasch Ruhla- Ruh 500500 SeymSeymouriaeymouriuuriasaa sasanjuanensisnjuanensen iss undnnd an us u rou Production: Druckmedienzentrum Gotha GmbH Trusetal- Truseta Trus Tr T DimDimeDDimetrodonmetrodonnt tteutoniseutoe onisis m 520520 de-Group de-G Cambrian Cambri Cambr C tt LargLarge-footede-foe otedoteeed tettetetrapod:ettrapodd:: ottero ot 540545 0 rott Brotterode-Group Brottero an DiadDiDiadectesectetees absitusaba situsits s undnd The publishers are grateful to the county rian brian br b 56056560 OrobOroOrobatesbatesate pabpappabstiabstistit ecam recam Gotha as well as the country Thuringia (TMUEN) Precambrian Precam Preca Prec for their friendly support. G - post-orogenicpost-oooss rogenrogeogog icc granitesgrgraniteanitnitenit s (e.g.e.g.g. RuhlRuhRuhlauhlaaa and TTrusTrusetalrurususetaletat GraniGranGraGGranites)n tes)) THGHGG - TThurThThuringianhuru ingiaingngiagiag n MaiMaMaininnG GraniteGraGraaniten e 340 – 200 MILLION YEARS BC GEOPARK PANGAEA - EXPLORING THE SUPERCONT INENT TRACKERS Around 300 million years ago, the Old-Red-Continent (Nor- Thanks to the curiosity and thirst for knowledge of geolo- thern Continent) collided with Gondwana (Southern Conti- gists, archaeologists, paleontologists and many other scienti- nent). A gigantic continent was formed surrounded by ocean. fically interested persons, their explorations have yielded In 1920, the German scientist Alfred Wegener named this many spectacular finds in the past 200 years. These people continent Pangaea (“entire land”). This was the most recent have shared their findings and work with us. As a result of supercontinent to have existed on Earth and the origin of all this, we were able to create 17 thematic excellently marked present day continents. For millions of years, Pangaea was a GeoRoutes that allow us to dive deep into the various stages dynamic continent. Mountains were formed, volcanoes erup- of Earth history. The multitude of information and overview ted and tore great fissures into the land, lakes and oceans panels along the trails provide answers to the following exci- grew and dissapeared again. Aquatic life began to adapt to ting questions amongst others: life on land and to evolve. What do all the fossils and rock formations tell us about the origins of life and the development of our The National GeoPark Thuringia Inselsberg Earth as we know it today? Drei Gleichen covers an area of around 700 km² and unites two very different What was the climate like in Pangaea, what landscapes existed on this supercontinent and which landscapes: the Thuringian Forest and the plants grew here? Thuringian Castle Country Drei Gleichen. When and how did life evolve in water and on land? Thus the Geopark is quite moderate in size and lies at the heart of Thuringia and the middle of Germany. At the same time it represents just a minute-sized section of the former TIP Most of the GeoRoutes are walking trails. supercontinent Pangaea. The Thuringian Geopark virtually However, some have also been designed for cyclists who lies on the junction where the ancient continents collided. are also encouraged to take worthwhile side trips to The enormous diversity of rocks and fossils found in the explore the surrounding area. For all who want to delve landscape of the low mountain range Thuringian Forest, es- deeper into the geology of the area we recommend a gui- pecially in the Inselsberg Region, as well as in the more level ded tour with one of our GeoPark-guides on the instructi- Drei Gleichen area, are an impressive legacy of the formation ve and enjoyable tours. and break-up of Pangaea. PangaeaPanPaPaanngaegaeea / InIn thethth middlemimiddldd eeo ofoffT TThuringiahurhuh inginnngiaia 3 GeoRoutes A LOWER PERMIAN LOVE STORY The Saurian Discovery Trail Thirteen different species of saurians have been excavated in When compared to their successors, the mostly gigantic the area Tambach-Dietharz and Georgenthal between 1978 dinosaurs, the saurians were much smaller, often no longer and 2010. One sensational finding was the discovery of the than one meter. By the way: the German popular name “Tambach Lovers”: two small saurians united in death. These “Ursaurier” for these saurians was essentially coined by the and all the other fossils found in the Bromacker were terre- international excavation team led by the palaeontologist Dr. strial vertebrates that populated the supercontinent Pangaea Thomas Martens from Gotha. around 300 million years ago. Many of these skeletons have been completely preserved.