Great Holy Sea
| Great Holy Sea | ||
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| Geographical location | Hopsten and Recke , Steinfurt district | |
| Tributaries | formerly Meerbecke | |
| Drain | periodically Meerbecke | |
| Location close to the shore | Hopsten , Obersteinbeck and Uffeln | |
| Data | ||
| Coordinates | 52 ° 21 '7 " N , 7 ° 38' 1" E | |
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| Altitude above sea level | 42.5 m | |
| surface | 6 ha | |
| length | 360 m | |
| width | 120-260 m | |
| Maximum depth | 10.7 m | |
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particularities |
Lake in the Heiliges Meer nature reserve - Heupen |
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The Great Holy Sea is the largest natural inland lake in North Rhine-Westphalia in the Tecklenburger Land . It is named for the Heiliges Meer - Heupen nature reserve in which it is located. It was created several hundred years ago by a sinkhole , a tragic legend explains the origin of a lewd monastery at this point.
location
The Great Sacred Sea is located in the Plantlünner sand plain , a Pleistocene sand landscape that is assigned to the North German Plain . A little south of the Holy Sea, the Lower Saxon mountainous region begins with the Schafberg .
The borders of the Gaue Venki , Threcwiti and Bursibant already met in the middle of the lake.
A few kilometers east of the lake is the village of Obersteinbeck in the municipality of Recke , to which half of the lake belongs. To the west of the lake is the town of Hopsten , to which the lake is usually counted because most of the protected area is on Hopstener Grund. The address of the biological station is Recke, as it is located on the grounds of the Recke community.
The sea basin flowed through the Holy Sea until 1968. Due to the eutrophication of the lake and the subsequent silting up of the lake, it was relocated 150 m east on the edge of the nature reserve.
To the east of the Great Sacred Sea is the Small Sacred Sea , which is privately owned but is also under nature protection. To the southwest are the Erdfallsee and the Heideweiher . The sinkhole lake was created on April 14, 1913 during the last major sinkhole in the reserve. The heather pond, on the other hand, may not have been created by sinkholes, but by wind blowing in the sandy landscape.
Around the Holy Sea there are numerous large and small depressions, which indicate the large-scale subsidence zone that extends to Lake Herthasee in Uffeln .
Naming
There are various legends about the origin of the name, the oldest written down comes from the book Münsterische Geschichte, Sagen und Legenden published in 1825 . In the place of the Holy Sea there was a monastery with vicious monks. As a punishment, the monastery, along with the ground on which it stood, sank into the ground. You can still see the monastery on the lake floor today.
Dolle tried to determine the true historical background. There is a monastery property " Thankulashuti " belonging to the Werden monastery, which has disappeared from all records from around 940 onwards. Accordingly, the Holy Sea was formed around the year 900. However, this connection is uncertain as there is no direct evidence for the disappearance.
In a certificate from Emperor Otto dated July 15, 965, the Great Holy Sea is named as the border between the three Gaue Venki , Threcwiti and Bursibant . The sea is called here as Drevanameri , which translates as 'Sea of Three Limits'.
The name Holy Sea was quickly adopted by the people. However, the root of the word does not come from “holy”, but either from the Low German “hel” or “hil” for “bad” or the Old Saxon “hola” for “break”, “hole”, “depth”. The name means "Bruchmeer" or "deep sea". The term sea has also undergone a change and meant "lake" in the Middle Ages.
Emergence
The creation of the Holy Sea many centuries ago is due to the "Holy Sea Zone", a 2 km wide and 5 km long geological subsidence zone northwest along the Schafberg . It extends from the Recker / Hopstener Aa behind the little Holy Sea to the Uffelner Moor. Individual, very small sinkholes are partly possible outside this strip and have occurred more often, such as November 1980 in Hörstel or on January 28, 1934 in Steinbeck .
The geology of this area was significantly influenced by the displacement of the Schafberg by the Bramscher Pluton . For some of the depressions, especially in the Uffeln area, rock salt casings that were washed out are responsible for subsidence. Others, such as on the Holy Sea itself, can be traced back to the karst rocks of the Mündener marl .
The Mündener marl is a series of layers of the Malm in which anhydrite and fiber gypsum seams are embedded. The water solubility of the anhydrite causes cavities that are not stable due to the overlying quaternary sand and collapse. This can happen slowly, as in some subsidence areas in the nature reserve, but also suddenly, as in the sinkhole lake .
The great Holy Sea probably had a predecessor lake, which was here before the actual subsidence event. The shallow reed zone on the northeastern bank is probably a remnant of this lake.
nature
plants
The great sacred sea is home to a multitude of endangered plant species. The progressive eutrophication by the sea basin could be delayed by the relocation of the flowing water. The crop is increasingly threatened by agriculture, which contributes to nutrient input by fertilizing the fields in the vicinity of the lake.
A quarry forest of alder stretches around the lake, enclosing almost the entire lake. Until the lake was placed under protection, there were hardly any trees or only small trees on the bank edge, the tree population is a product of nature conservation in that the development of the lake is largely left to itself. A small gap to the heathland should improve the water circulation by means of wind and adjust the oxygen content of the lake over its entire depth.
Animals
The great sacred sea is a magnet especially for water birds. So here floor - and teals , water rails , pond - and coots , grebes and many others. A special spectacle is offered in spring or autumn when several thousand starlings seek their sleeping quarters here in the reed beds.
The main fish in the great Holy Sea are eel , pike , perch, roach , tench, carp and rudd .
There are also a number of endangered beetles and amphibians in and around the lake.
See also
Web links
- Regional Association Westphalia-Lippe Information on the Holy Sea
- University of Hanover "Possibilities of ecological environmental education using the example of the Holy Sea" (PDF file)
- Plankton excursion
- Ecology of the Holy Sea (PDF file; 866 kB)
- Natural Science Association Osnabrück on the Holy Sea (PDF file; 1.24 MB)
- Felix Büscher: Aerial view of the Heilgen Meer. 2011, accessed December 5, 2012 .
literature
- Fritz Runge: The natural monuments, nature and landscape protection areas of the Steinfurt district (= series of publications of the Steinfurt district. Vol. 2, ZDB -ID 582701-2 ). District of Steinfurt, Steinfurt 1982.
- Elke Barth: Vegetation and nutrient development of a northwest German still water under the influence of landscape and settlement history. Paleoecological investigations on the sinkhole lake “Great Sacred Sea”. Treatises from the Westphalian Museum of Natural History, 64th year, issue 2/3. Westphalian Museum of Natural History of the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association, Münster 2002, 216 pp.