Little Thuringian Forest  The Little Thuringian Forest () is a region of mountains and hills that lies southwest of Suhl and northwest of Schleusingen, and extends as far as an imaginary line from Schmeheim via Bischofrod and Gethles to Rappelsdorf. Its length is about , its width varies between and . Its name is not to be understood in an orographic or geographic sense, but is due to the marked similarity of its bedrock to that of the Thuringian Forest to the north of it. The region extends northwest from Schleusingen, beginning near Rappelsdorf, via Gethles, Ahlstädt, Bischofrod, Keulrod, Eichenberg to north of the "Sandberg" near Grub, in the northwest of Hildburghausen district, parallel to the Thuringian Forest range. The Little Thuringian Forest is surrounded on all sides by forested mountains formed of Buntsandstein and Muschelkalk, some of which rise over 200 metres above it. Geologically, the Little Thuringian Forest is a horst that consists of a band-like island of paleozoic materials similar to those in the bedrock of the Thuringian Forest that surfaces in the southwestern foothills of the latter mountains. Like the latter, it is part of the Variscan mountains, but the stratigraphic throws are lower and have occurred on a smaller scale. It is tectonically isolated from the Thuringian Forest and the Thuringian Highlands, and is situated outside their border fault. Its highest summit is Schneeberg near Bischofrod at 692 m a.s.l., rising from a "Buntsandstein" layer. While geologically a separate mountain range, it does not appear as such to the casual observer, but as a hilly area with an average height of 460 m a.s.l. embedded between eroded deposits of the Triassic period. Towards the southwest it is limited by a marked border fault. Even the Muschelkalk hills beyond the latter are to higher. Several valleys of the foothills of the Thuringian Forest transect the area, showing evidence of a weak folding process. The Little Thuringian Forest is surrounded by Zechstein formations everywhere except along its border fault west of Gethles and Bischofrod. Its northern border is Gruber Berg with an outcrop of Zechstein rock. The area is characterised by farmed fields, since the condition of the soils allows for agricultural productivity, in contrast to the forested Buntsandstein heights.