Brocken (Harz)

The Brocken is with its 1141 m above sea level the highest mountain in northern Germany and the low mountain range Harz, it is located in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt in the Harz National Park. The Brocken massif is built mainly from plutonic rocks of granite which originated in the late Variscan orogeny in the Upper Carboniferous. The recent intrusions are only 293 million years before present (bottom Perm). The intrusions occurred in two phases. First there were basic and intermediate magmas, which solidified in the sediments to gabbro and diorite. In the following period there were acidic granitic magmas crystallized at a depth of 3 km to 5 km. The Brocken pluton has finally been exposed by erosion.