West Lusatian hills and mountains
The West Lusatian hills and mountains are a natural area in Saxony . It is divided into the West Lusatian foothills in the east and the Lusatian plate in the west and represents the westernmost branch of the Sudeten mountain range.
Location and limits
The West Lusatian foothills represent the northwestern roof of the Lusatian mountains . They extend between Saxon Switzerland in the south, the Oberlausitzer Bergland in the south east, the Oberlausitzer Gefilde in the north east, the Oberlausitzer Heide and pond area in the east north and the Königsbrück-Ruhlander Heiden in the north-west.
Immediately to the west and south of the Königsbrück-Ruhlander Heiden is the Lausitzer Platte . In the north-west it meets the Großenhainer Pflege , in a south-westerly and south-westerly direction the Dresden Elbe valley widening and in the extreme south-east it touches the Saxon Switzerland minimally.
places
The hills and mountains of West Lusatia not only include places that are generally included in Upper Lusatia , but also to the west and south of it, which are culturally and historically part of different landscapes , but geologically still on the Lusatian plate. Among other things, the following places belong to the West Lusatian hills and mountains:
- Kamenz on the northeastern edge in the border area to Oberlausitzer Gefilde and Oberlausitzer Heide- und Teichgebiet is the center of West Lusatia , which is not identical with the natural area.
- Elstra , a small town south of Kamenz, on whose territory the Schwarzenberg and the Hochstein are two prominent mountains of the Westlausitzer Bergland.
- Radeberg in the Radeberger Land is not counted as part of Upper Lusatia.
- Sebnitz does not belong to Upper Lusatia and, in the consciousness of the population, is usually placed in the natural area of Saxon Switzerland , which begins only a few kilometers south. From the perspective of natural space mapping, however, the urban area belongs to the West Lusatian hills and mountains due to its natural characteristics.
- Dresden's share of the West Lusatian hills and mountains is exclusively natural and scenic in the northeast and east of the urban area with the Dresden Heath and the Schönfeld Highlands , which are sub-areas of the Radeberger Land . The Dresden Elbe slopes mark the sharp transition to the Elbe valley south of the hills and mountains. At this point, the West Lusatian hills and mountains are the northern shoulder of a clod tectonic rift valley .
Geography and nature
The Upper Lusatian highlands to the east dissolve in this very heterogeneous natural area into various hill and crested areas.
Mountain ridges between 350 and 450 meters high only determine the landscape in a few places. These are standing individually or, more rarely, connected to one another in hilly areas with altitudes between 250 and 300 meters and embedded in bas-relief.
In the central and eastern area, granodiorite dominates as an underground rock, which was quarried as a stone in many places. Greywacke predominates in the north and syenodiorite in the west . Younger sediments partially cover this rock base. In the east loess derivatives to sand loess and in the west sands and quicksands predominate.
The precipitation varies between 650 millimeters on the western edge and up to 900 millimeters in the mountainous area. The annual mean temperatures drop from 8.5 ° C on the Westlausitzer Platte around Moritzburg to below 7.5 ° C on the ridge in the east.
The potential natural vegetation is predominantly the high colline and submontane grove - oak - beech forest .
Coordinates: 51 ° 14 ' N , 14 ° 16' E