The Bockberg is a hill, , near Königshütte in Harz district in the Harz mountains of central Germany

Central Germany (geography)

In geography, central Germany describes the areas surrounding the central point of modern-day Germany.The town of Niederdorla, in the state of Thuringia, claims to be the most central town in Germany...

. Since 1967 the hill and its surrounding area have been protected as a nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

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The Bockberg rises immediately north of a loop in the B 27 federal road at the village of Neue Hütte. On its southwestern slopes, part of a volcano, formed in the Devonian

Devonian

The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...

 sea, can be seen. Rubble from keratophyre lava in a white, potash matrix

Matrix (geology)

The matrix or groundmass of rock is the finer grained mass of material in which larger grains, crystals or clasts are embedded.The matrix of an igneous rock consists of finer grained, often microscopic, crystals in which larger crystals are embedded. This porphyritic texture is indicative of...

, has built a volcanic breccia

Breccia

Breccia is a rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock cemented together by a fine-grained matrix, that can be either similar to or different from the composition of the fragments....

 here, which contains veins of hematite

Hematite

Hematite, also spelled as haematite, is the mineral form of iron oxide , one of several iron oxides. Hematite crystallizes in the rhombohedral system, and it has the same crystal structure as ilmenite and corundum...

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The plateau of the Bockberg is extensively karst

KARST

Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...

ified. Many rare flowers thrive on the fields of yellow oat-grass

Trisetum

Trisetum is a genus of grass in the Poaceae family.-Species:* There are about 75 species, listed in List of Trisetum species.-External links:*...

 and semi-dry pasture, including the globe flower.