Upper Harz

Upper Harz
Clausthal plateau in winter
Highest point
Peak	Schalke
Elevation	762 m (2,500 ft)
Geography
Harz natural areas
State	Lower Saxony, Germany
Range coordinates	51°49′N 10°22′E / 51.817°N 10.367°E / 51.817; 10.367
Parent range	Harz
Geology
Age of rock	Paleozoic (Devonian, Carboniferous)

The Upper Harz (‹See Tfd›German: Oberharz, pronounced [ˈoːbɐhaːɐ̯ts]) is the northwestern and higher part of the Harz mountain range in Germany. The exact boundaries of this geographical region may be defined differently depending on the context. In its traditional sense, the term Upper Harz covers the area of the seven historical mining towns (Bergstädte) - Clausthal, Zellerfeld, Andreasberg, Altenau, Lautenthal, Wildemann and Grund - in the present-day German federal state of Lower Saxony.^[1] Orographically, it comprises the Harz catchment areas of the Söse, Innerste and Grane, Oker and Abzucht mountain streams, all part of the larger Weser watershed.

Much of the Upper Harz area is up to 700 metres (2,300 ft) above sea level. In a wider sense, it also comprises the adjacent High Harz (Hochharz) range in the east, climbing to over 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in the Brocken massif.