Cathedral rock

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Panorama of the exposed cathedral rock at low tide seen from the stairs
Exposed cathedral rock in the Elbe, view downstream to the north
View of the area of ​​the flooded cathedral rock - the boat trip passes the cathedral rock to the east
Area of ​​the cathedral rock 1954

The Domfelsen is a rock formation near Magdeburg Cathedral , which partially protrudes into the course of the Elbe at river kilometer 325.8 . It forms one of three bottlenecks in the river in the Magdeburg urban area.

geology

The cathedral rock consists mainly of sandstone , to a lesser extent also of siltstone . The rock comes from the Rotliegend and thus from the Lower Permian . The solid rock occurrence can be seen as a continuation of the Flechtinger ridge and as part of the Flechtingen-Roßlauer Scholle , which in the Magdeburg urban area is mostly covered by thin Quaternary deposits.

vegetation

The cathedral rock is for the most part a habitat that is only sporadically colonized by plants when it dries out, and episodes of primary colonization by ruderal plants occasionally recur. Woods and perennial herbaceous plants have settled near the shore. The vegetation can establish itself primarily in hollows and depressions in the sandstone slab. Upstream there are reeds. Short -lived two - tooth bank corridors and flood turf are typical . The occurrence of feral crops is attributed to the input of seeds from sewage and waste, the occurrence of woody seedlings is largely determined by the composition of the bank vegetation.

meaning

The rock is of particular importance for river navigation on the Elbe and probably also for the river's ecosystem. Its becoming visible indicates low water and bad conditions for shipping, so that it was historically referred to as the Hunger Rock .

Shortening the course of the river since the 17th century has increased the bed slope and the flow speed of the Elbe, and as a result, the regressive erosion has made the rocky areas in the Magdeburg urban area more obstructive for shipping. The rock clearly protruding from the water on the west bank below the cathedral at low tide influences the local flow conditions. The flow speed of the Elbe is significantly increased here due to the narrowing. The width of the fairway is only 35 m instead of the otherwise required 50 m. Ships can only pass close to the eastern bank, even at higher water levels. For commercial shipping the encounter is not allowed at this point, the traffic control is effected by the water-Neubauamt Magdeburg controlled from Wahrschau , located upstream to the left side at the star bridge and downstream on the Magdeburg Werder at the entrance to inch same is located. In this area, low-powered cargo ships are assisted by tugs when driving upstream .

The rock is historically significant because it is assumed that a ford through the Elbe had formed in its vicinity , which could ultimately have been the cause of the settlement of the city of Magdeburg at its current location. The rocky subsoil at this point favored the construction of a Carolingian border fort . The assumption that the Magdeburg Cathedral was also built on the rock has not been confirmed.

The cathedral rock is accessible from the west bank at low tide. A wide staircase built in the summer of 2007 improves the accessibility to the rock considerably. On the land side, the remains of the southern railway fortress gate rise above the cathedral rock.

Elimination plans

On the part of the authorities responsible for shipping, there have been repeated attempts to remove the rock from the river or to reduce it in size in order to improve the conditions for shipping. A citizens' initiative Pro Elbe is opposed to such efforts, which had been abandoned for the time being after the floods in 2002. In addition to the feared influences on the water levels in the Elbe meadows, especially upstream, the opponents of removing the rock criticize this as an introduction to the ecologically controversial and so far not yet decided expansion of the Saale .

Fears that work on the cathedral rock could impair the stability of Magdeburg Cathedral have not been confirmed in previous work.

Web links

Commons : Domfelsen  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Sport boat license Magdeburg . Archived from the original on March 2, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  2. ↑ Olaf Hartmann: The cathedral rock - rock of the Rotliegend and shipping difficulty . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  3. ^ D. Neumann, G. Schönberg, G. Strobel: 3D modeling of ground conditions for the engineering geology map of the city of Magdeburg . In: The Geological Society of London (Ed.): Proceedings of the 10th IAEG International Congress . 2006.
  4. ↑ A rocky greeting from Flechtingen. Volksstimme from February 15, 2015, accessed on December 17, 2015
  5. ↑ Ulrich Saucke, Jochen Rommel, Josef Brauns: The geology of the Elbe . In: Written contributions to the conference "Morphodynamics of the Elbe" (conference proceedings) . 1999, p. 50. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  6. ↑ Dietmar Brandes: Flora and vegetation of the cathedral rock in Magdeburg . TU Braunschweig, 2003.
  7. ^ A b Dietmar Brandes: The pioneering flora of the Magdeburg cathedral rock in 2008 . TU Braunschweig, 2008 ,.
  8. ↑ Richard Deiss: The Magdeburg Cathedral and the Hunger Rock . In: As far as the rivers carry 2011.
  9. ↑ Manfred Simon: Investigations into anthropogenic impairment of the water levels at the Magdeburg-Strombrücke gauge . In: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (Ed.): PIK Report . No. 118, 2010, ISSN  1436-0179 , p. 22.
  10. ↑ WasserKulturLandschaft Elbe. Traces and evidence of the water . Saxon State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Geology, p. 53.
  11. ^ Ulrich Petschow: Inland navigation on the Elbe and Saale: Electricity construction measures in discussion . Institute for Ecological Management, 2009, p. 8.
  12. ^ State capital Magdeburg, City Planning Office Magdeburg Magdeburger Verkehrsanlagen In: Expert opinion of the City Planning Office No. 82, 2001, pp. 18–21.
  13. ↑ Welcome to the Romanesque Road (Magdeburg) . Romanesque Road. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  14. ^ Günter Schönberg: Is the Magdeburg Cathedral on the cathedral rock? . In: Hallesches Jahrbuch für Geoswissenschaften . 38, 2016, pp. 15-28.
  15. ↑ Expansion of the Middle Elbe . Hamburg for the Elbe. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  16. ^ Julia Thies: Regional river management: the Elbe catchment area . Geographical Institute of the University of Kiel, p. 3.
  17. ↑ a b Horst Wolfgang Nienke: Port lock Magdeburg . Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  18. ↑ ProElbe . Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  19. ↑ T. Grischek, A. Foley, D. Schoen Heinz, B. Gutt: Effects of Interaction between Surface Water and Ground Water on Groundwater Flow and Quality Beneath Urban Areas . In: Ken WF Howard, Rauf G. Israfilov (Ed.): Current Problems of Hydrogeology in Urban Areas, Urban Agglomerates and Industrial Centers . Springer, 2002, ISBN 978-1-4020-0601-2 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 7 ′ 21.5 ″  N , 11 ° 38 ′ 12 ″  E