The Bavarian Forest is the rump of a Palaeozoic mountain chain, whose bedrock is classified as Late Proterozoic to Silurian. After several phases of deformation and metamorphosis the mostly sedimentary, but also plutonic and volcanic, source rocks were metamorphosed over millions of years into the present-day gneisses. These gneisses were intruded by mighty granite rock especially in the Carboniferous and Early Permian. The Kunisch Mountains in the north are formed of schist, whilst the gabbro-amphibolite massif around Eschlkam and Neukirchen beim Heiligen Blut with the Hoher Bogen form the southernmost foothills.