The Schönbuch is an almost completely wooded area south west of Stuttgart and part of the Southern German Escarpment Landscape (German: "südwestdeutsches Schichtstufenland"). In 1972 the centre zone of the Schönbuch became the first nature park in Baden-Württemberg. A geological trail is located in the natural park Schönbuch at Kirnberg and was created in 1977 to the 500th anniversary of the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. Several panels explain the sediments of the Keuper highland (shale, marl and sandstone) and the development of the Kirnbach valley.