Madersberg

Madersberg is a 540-metre hill in the western part of the Graz uplands in the Austrian province of Styria. It stands above the Thal gorge on the left bank of the Thalerbach stream, which also marks the boundary with the city of Graz. The hill is entirely covered by forest and its summit can only be reached by an unmarked footpath. It forms part of the Westliches Berg- und Hügelland von Graz landscape protection area. To the north the Winkelbach cuts through the ridge at the Fuchsloch gap, separating Madersberg from the Frauenkogel. The hill is built from middle-Devonian limestones and dolomites belonging to the Graz Palaeozoic sequence. These rocks produce distinctive rock faces, especially where weathered surfaces remain light in colour. An old quarry near the former Thal mill once yielded Chonetes shales embedded in the dolomite. The hill is cut by several faults running roughly east–west and north–east–south-west, dividing it into blocks, some of which have subsided. Geologists have noted graphitic layers in the Pentamerus beds beneath the crest. Visitors find a quiet forest summit reached only by a narrow, unmarked trail. The surrounding slopes slope gently down to the Thaler basin on the west and the Thalerbach valley on the south. The hill’s geological features are best appreciated from the lower paths, where rock faces and small quarries reveal the folded and veined dolomites and limestones. The contrast between the light-coloured limestones and the darker shales is especially clear on the southern side.