High Swabian Alb
The Hohe Schwabenalb is the natural area 093 of the Swabian Alb in the southwestern German stepland . The natural area is largely identical to the culturally defined Großer Heuberg .
It is a karstified plateau 900 to 1000 meters above sea level , which extends in its spatial extent around 40 kilometers from Spaichingen in the southwest to Burladingen in the northeast. Adjacent natural areas are the Western Alb foreland in the north, the Middle Kuppenalb in the northeast , Baaralb and Upper Danube Valley in the south and the Middle surface Alb .
The Hohe Schwabenalb slopes down to the east and south. In the north the undulating landscape is bounded by the Albtrauf and in the south by the Danube valley . The geological subsoil is formed by mass limestone of the White Jurassic. The appearance is dominated by typical karst forms such as shallow dry valleys , caves , block heaps and sinkholes . The soils on the knolls are mostly shallow to rocky, in the valleys, however, they are deeply covered with limestone rubble and are therefore fertile. The open land with grassland predominates on the mountain ranges and forest on the slopes.
There is a harsh, windy climate with a long winter.
The ecological value of the Hohe Schwabenalb is evident from the fact that 51.66 percent of the area is effectively designated as protected areas. Overlapping results in 24.75% FFH areas , 48.19% bird protection areas and 1.95% nature protection areas .
literature
- Friedrich Huttenlocher: Geographical land survey: The natural spatial units on sheet 178 Sigmaringen. Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1959. → Online map (PDF; 4.3 MB)