Leipzig water junction
Coordinates: 51 ° 20 ′ 25 ″ N , 12 ° 20 ′ 59 ″ E
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Leipzig water node (also water node Leipzig or water node Leipzig ) is the name for the confluence of the Weißer Elster , Pleiße and Parthe . Its main feature is the division of the rivers into several arms and the networking of these in the respective estuary area ( anastomosing river ). The reasons for this are the low gradient and the fine sediment load of the rivers.
Based on the strongly branched end of a river (end of the downhill section), the Leipzig water junction is often referred to as the inland delta , which continues to the west in the Elster-Luppe-Aue and the Saale-Elster-Aue .
Emergence
Paleogene and Neogene
In the Eocene (middle Paleogene ) the area of today's Leipzig lowland bay began to sink as a compensation for the uplift of the Erzgebirge and Vogtland.
The resulting white elster basin filled alternately with river sediment (e.g. gravel, sand) and biomass (e.g. wood, peat) in layers five to ten meters thick on average. Due to the increasing pressure of the overlying sediments, the coalification of the biomass started and lignite began to form.
Since hardly any water was bound in glaciers at that time, the oceans had a much higher water level than they do today. The sea repeatedly penetrated the area and deposited marine sediments up to twenty meters thick.
At the end of the Oligocene , the subsidence of the Leipzig lowland bay stagnated and no further peat bogs (and thus coal layers) developed.
In the Neogene the flowing waters cut deeper into the sediments and gravel them up again. The so-called Thierbacher River even eroded the coal seams.
quaternary
With the beginning of the glaciation of the northern hemisphere in the Quaternary , today's river systems slowly developed. Glaciers transported large amounts of sediment to the south and left terminal moraines , wall-like deposits of rock material. Up until the end of the Saale Glacial Age, these natural obstacles were repeatedly reshaped by the rivers Saale, Weisse Elster and Mulde flowing northwards, as well as recent ice advances, but they did influence the formation of the Leipzig water node.
In the Old Pleistocene , the Saale near Lützen, coming from Naumburg, divided into the Schkeuditz-Lützener and the Leipziger Saalearm, into which the White Elster flowed near Zwenkau. The latter united north of Leipzig with the Mulde , which flowed further north to the Elbe.
Even at the beginning of the Elster Glaciation in the Middle Pleistocene , the Saale no longer reached the Leipzig area. Instead, the White Elster now flowed to Leipzig and there flowed into the Mulde coming from the east. This had cut into the porphyry rocks near Grimma, between Großbothen and Großbardau, and eroded the Quaternary and Tertiary deposits downstream.
As the drainage decreased, the Mulde filled the gullies of the late Elster Cold Age - the Markkleeberger Muldelauf the Espenhainer Gully and the Leipzig Muldelauf the Naunhofer Gully. At the end of the Saale glaciation, the Mulde no longer reached the Leipzig area and now flowed towards Eilenburg. The Parthe has flowed through her bed since then (Naunhofer Rinne).
Above all, the Leipzig phase of the Saale glacial period (Drenthe Stadium), which left the region's last terminal moraine north of Leipzig ( Taucha terminal moraine ), is mainly responsible for the turning of the White Elster westwards towards the Saale near Halle. The development of the Leipzig water junction thus largely reached its current level.
During the Vistula Glacial Period in the Young Pleistocene, the ice masses no longer influenced the Leipzig lowland bay. As in the subsequent Holocene (current warm period), the river systems only changed on a small scale due to fluctuations in runoff and sediment load or loess swellings.
Human interventions
Beginnings
The area of the Leipzig water junction was populated as early as the Saale glaciation. However, the effects of this time on the river system are negligible.
Around 7000 years ago, ribbon ceramists settled along the Leipzig rivers up to the low mountain range and started farming in the region for the first time. The increased land use resulted in clearing and consequently soil erosion (especially in the upper reaches). Since then, the eroded sediments have been deposited as clay, especially in the lowlands, which today has an average thickness of four meters.
The floodplains in the Leipzig water junction with their regular floods were not used at that time. The floodplain forest , which has become rare today , could still be found everywhere in the several kilometers wide lowland valleys. In the areas close to the river, which were often flooded, the softwood floodplain was widespread, in the areas flooded twice a year the hardwood floodplain , which today makes up the majority of the Leipzig floodplain forest .
The still unregulated rivers were characterized by countless tributaries, oxbow lakes and rivulets that flow into each other, then divided again, often changed their course after floods and thus formed an extensive river network. Relics of this are for example the Batschke , the Paußnitz , the Kleine Luppe , the Alte Luppe or the Hundewasser .
Middle Ages and Modern Times
Thuringians and Slavs began to settle more densely in the Middle Ages . Farms and villages were built on the higher banks. At the beginning of the 10th century, Franks built the first Lipsk Castle in what is now the city. Starting with the smallest river in Leipzig, the Parthe, the floodplain was increasingly used for forestry and agriculture and partly built on. Mill ditches and later also raft ditches were dug, which was the first time that the water network was directly interfered with.
With the onset of industrialization, the larger rivers were also changed. Straightening ensured that the floods drained off more quickly. Dikes, flood beds and weir systems were added later. Many rivulets and tributaries silted up or were filled in, for example the Alte Elster , the Alte Pleiße , the Rödel , or the Kuhburger Wasser . The Elsteraue was also built on and the Leipzig floodplain forest was thus finally divided.
The most dramatic human interventions in the Leipzig water junction were caused by the mining of lignite . Large areas of the floodplains were dredged, the rivers relocated, partly also concreted, and the remaining tributaries were separated from the main course. In addition, the water table sank , which made it possible for species that are atypical for the floodplain to settle and spread.
With the reunification of Germany, the continuous renaturation of the Leipzig waters and the remaining forests began. Side arms are now reconnected (e.g. Paußnitz) or newly created (e.g. Burgauenbach ), alluvial forest is flooded and the groundwater level rises again. The LMBV , which is responsible for post-mining landscapes , the city of Leipzig and the Naturschutzbund Deutschland work closely together to further promote water tourism use and renaturation in accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive .
See also
literature
- Bernd Sikora (text) and Peter Franke (photos): Leipziger Wasser- und Parklandschaften , Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 2009 ISBN 978-3-361-00647-8
- The Quaternary d. Leipziger Tieflandsbucht u. adjacent areas around Saale u. Elbe. Model e. Landscape development on the edge d. europ. Continental freezing. Text and Taf.-Tl., Lothar Eißmann, Berlin, Akad.-Vlg. 1975. M. 17 plates, 58 figs. 23 Tab. 228 S. In 2 OBr. (Publication no. For geological science 2)
- The old u. early Pleistocene gravel terraces d. Leipziger Tieflandsbucht and adjacent area., Lothar Eißmann, Berlin, Akad.-Vlg. 1964. M. 3 plates, 11 tab. U. 26 Fig. 93 p. (Geology Supplement. 46)
Web links
- Waters in Leipzig On: leipzig.de
- Miles & measuring table sheets & equidistant map of Saxony (1780–1942) On: deutschefotothek.de
- historical and contemporary Leipzig waters On: leipzig-lexikon.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Redesign of the Leipzig waterway node in the sense of ecological and morphological continuity ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ECOSYSTEMS SAXONIA and TU Dresden, 2005 (pdf)
- ↑ Water protection: Leipziger Gewässer ( Memento of the original from July 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. From: leipzig.de, accessed on June 3, 2013.
- ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Daniel Barnel: Laboratory tests for the investigation of hydraulic and hydrochemical processes in open pit lignite quarries 1999, subsection 1.1.2 Geological overview (pdf)
- ↑ Annual meeting of the German Soil Science Society ( Memento of the original from July 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Part 1 and 2, September 2, 2007 (pdf)
- ↑ a b Lothar Eißmann : The Quaternary of the Leipzig lowland bay and adjacent areas around the Saale and Elbe . Model of a landscape development at the edge of the European continental glaciation. In: Board of the Society for Geological Sciences of the GDR (Hrsg.): Series of publications for geological sciences . Issue 2. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1975.
- ↑ Dietrich Sames, Birgit Carl: KliWEP - assessment of the impact of the climate changes forecast for Saxony on the water and material balance in the Parthe catchment area . Part 2: Update of the existing surface water / groundwater model for the catchment area of the Parthe (PCGEOFIM) and dynamic coupling of PCGEOFIM to a soil water balance model. Subsection 2.2.2 Geological overview. Ingenieurbüro für Grundwasser GmbH, Leipzig October 2004 ( PDF; 1.13 MB [accessed November 30, 2015]).
- ↑ Terra Preahistorica ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Dieter Schäfer, 2007 (pdf)
- ^ A b Judith Gläser: Historical development of alluvial forests in the Leipzig floodplain forest. Dissertation TU Dresden 2002 ( PDF file ( Memento of the original from December 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. )
- ↑ Master plan of the water tourism usage concept for the Leipzig region ( memento of the original from September 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: gewaesserverbund.de, 2008 (pdf; 2.5 MB)
