The Bohemian Massif is in the geology of Central Europe a large massif stretching over central Czech Republic, eastern Germany, southern Poland and northern Austria. It is surrounded by four ranges: the Ore Mountains (Krušné hory, or Erzgebirge) in the northwest, the Sudetes (for example Krkonoše, Hrubý Jeseník) in the northeast, the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands (Českomoravská vrchovina) in the southeast, and the Bohemian Forest (Šumava) in the southwest.
The massif encompasses a number of mittelgebirges and consists of crystalline rocks, which are older than the Permian (more than 300 million years old) and therefore deformed during the Variscan Orogeny.
Parts of the Sudetes, Krkonoše in particular, stand out from the ordinary mittelgebirge pattern by having up to four distinct levels of altitudinal zonation, glacial cirques, small periglacial landforms and an elevation significantly above the timber line.
Geographical divisions
The Bohemian Massif in its broader sense can be subdivided as follows:
- Northern mountains (Ore Mountains and Sudetes, from west to east)
- Southwestern mountains (the Bohemian Forest in its wider sense)
- South and southeastern foothills:
- Gratzen Mountains
- Austrian Gneiss and Granite Highland, the high and deeply incised truncated highlands of the Austrian Mühlviertel and Waldviertel including the Weinsberg Forest and Bohemian Forest in other areas.
- Bohemian-Moravian Highlands between Budweis and Brünn
- Smaller strips are also found south of the Danube:
- Dunkelsteinerwald and Hiesberg in the Wachau
- Neustadtler Platte in the Strudengau
- Kürnberg Forest near Linz
- Sauwald between Eferding and Passau
- Neuburg Forest in Bavaria’s countryside around Passau
