The Frankenwald is a plateau, located between Fichtelgebirge and Thüringer Schiefergebirge, west of Hof. Most of it belongs to Frankonia, but a small part belongs to Thuringia, which means it was part of the German Democratic Republic. The plateau is segmented by numerous V shaped valleys.
The rocks of the Frankenwald are greywackes and slates of the lower Carbon. The slate is the character of the landscape, most houses are roofed with this rock. A geologic specialty is the Stockheimer Becken at the western border of the area. Here older Permian rocks can be found, vocanic and lacustrine sediments from the Rotliegend. Volcanites, slates, red sandstones and different conglomerates also contain some coal seams. The coal was mined at Stockheim and Neuhaus-Schierschnitz until the 1960s.
The rocks are not soluble and so there is no karstification and no caves. But there are numerous mining remains and a single show mine.