Steinbach-Hallenberg
The long-standing collaboration between the UNESCO Global Geopark Thuringia Inselsberg - Drei Gleichen and the Institute of Geosciences at Friedrich Schiller University Jena has been revitalised with a new project. As part of a biogeoscientific field seminar, students from the University of Jena visited the Geopark during the week of 26-29 August 2024.
A practical course was held in the Donnershauk area in the town of Steinbach-Hallenberg. The field seminar uses an integrative approach to teach the application of various geoscientific and (micro)biological field methods to a specific scientific question. The extent to which the balance of the natural system is restored after human intervention is investigated. In the 1970s, the uranium ore deposits at Donnershauk were investigated by WISMUT AG using trenches, boreholes and a mine gallery.
The investigations carried out as part of the field seminar are intended to provide new information about the current state of the area. The students carried out geological and geophysical investigations using various analysis techniques and the natural radioactivity in the area was also mapped. In addition, the soil, vegetation and the symbiosis of fungi and plants (mycorrhizal symbiosis) around the Donnershauk and its natural mineralisation were investigated. Another aspect was the aquatic ecology in the immediate and wider surroundings.
The University of Jena's research was supported by the town of Steinbach-Hallenberg and the local forest district manager of Oberschönau-Bermbach (Fürstlich Castell'scher Forst). The results of the field seminar will also be incorporated into the first geotourism project in Steinbach-Hallenberg. This year will see the start of the development of the Oberschönauer Felsenwanderung into a new GeoRoute.
Steinbach-Hallenberg has been a Geopark member since 2023
The town of Steinbach-Hallenberg in the district of Schmalkalden-Meiningen is the newest member of the KAG Kommunalen Arbeitsgemeinschaft des Geoparks Thüringen Inselsberg - Drei Gleichen. The town's accession to the Geopark in 2023 will drive geotourism development forward. The first project to be developed as a GeoRoute is the Oberschönauer Felsenwanderung with the famous Hoher Stein and Hoher Möst. The Donnershauk is not far from the new GeoRoute.
Project duration: August to September 2024
Contact:
UNESCO Global Geopark Thüringen Inselsberg - Drei Gleichen (Nancy Schröter): nancy.schroeter@thueringer-geopark.de
Institut für Geowissenschaften der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena (Prof. Thorsten Schäfer): thorsten.schaefer@uni-jena.de