Lake Neuchâtel

Lake Neuchâtel Lac de Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel near Vaumarcus
Geographical location	Western Switzerland , GEWISS no .: 3755
Tributaries	La Thielle , La Mentue , L'Areuse , Canal de la Broye
Drain	Counting channel
Places on the shore	Yverdon-les-Bains , Neuchâtel , Estavayer
Data
Coordinates	555 829  /  195 103 coordinates: 46 ° 54 '  N , 6 ° 52'  O ; CH1903:  555 829  /  195 103
Altitude above sea level	429.28  m above sea level M. (1983-2012)
surface	217.9 km²
length	38.3 km
width	8.2 km
volume	14.17 km³
scope	119.556 km
Maximum depth	153 m
Catchment area	2670 km²
particularities	largest lake in Switzerland

Map of Lake Neuchâtel

The Neuchâtel , French Lake Neuchatel is, with an area of 217.9 square kilometers the largest lake that lies entirely in Switzerland. It is located in the Swiss cantons of Neuchâtel , Friborg , Vaud and Bern .

geography

The main tributaries are the Areuse , the Zihl ( Thielle ) and the Broyekanal ( Canal de la Broye ) from the Murten lake ( Lac de Morat ). The outflow ( Zihlkanal / Canal de la Thielle ) flows into Lake Biel ( Lac de Bienne ). Together with Lake Murten, the lake serves as a compensation basin for the Aare flowing into Lake Biel . When the Bielersee is dammed, the Broyekanal and the Zihlkanal therefore flow backwards.

Lake Neuchâtel is 38.3 km long and a maximum of 8.2 km wide, its water content is around 14 km³ and its maximum depth is 152 m. The catchment area is 2670 km². The water level was the long-term mean (since 1983) at 429.28 m above sea level. M. only 2 cm below that of Lake Murten (429.30 m above sea level) and 3 cm above that of Lake Biel (429.25 m above sea level)

The eponymous city of Neuchâtel (Neuchâtel) lies on its northern bank , and the towns of Yverdon-les-Bains and Grandson at the western end . The medieval town of Estavayer-le-Lac and the Grande Cariçaie marsh and reed beds are on the south bank , and the Fanel nature reserve on the northeast bank . French is predominantly spoken around the lake . Only on the sparsely populated Ostend ( Grosses Moos ), with centers away from the lake, are the German-speaking towns of Gampelen and Ins .

In 2015, circular craters, so-called pockmarks , with a diameter of up to 160 m and a depth of 30 m, were discovered at the bottom of the lake,  presumably caused by water that rises from underground watercourses in the karstified area.

shipping

The Union was the first steamship to sail on Lake Neuchâtel in 1826; It also ran through the Zihl Canal on Lake Biel. The "Union" fell victim to a conflagration on the night of June 26-27, 1827.

After there were several competing companies for a while, the Société de Navigation sur les lacs de Neuchâtel et Morat SA was founded in 1872 , which still operates public shipping on the three lakes together with the Bielersee shipping company.

tourism

The Lake Neuchâtel region is particularly attractive to tourists because of the vineyards on the southern foot of the Jura . Be Planted Chasselas and Pinot Noir , and the Œil de Perdrix , a rose wine, is produced here. Hiking trails and bike trails lead through the vineyards and the small wine-growing villages or directly along the lake shore.

Lake Neuchâtel is rich in the remains of prehistoric pile dwellings. These were discovered around 1850 and are now part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps .

Sights (selection):

• Menhir alignment of Clendy (near Yverdon)
• Pfahlbauerdorf ( Gletterens )
• "La Sauge" nature reserve (near Cudrefin )
• Center Dürrenmatt (above Neuchâtel, built by Mario Botta )
• Musée de l'Areuse (in Boudry )
• Laténium at Hauterive
• Frog Museum in Estavayer

Also water sports such as windsurfing and kite surfing is touristy relevant to Lake Neuchatel, as the Bise , a wind in Switzerland from the northeastern and eastern directions, strengthened by the lake occurs.

Illustrations

• 

  Map of Lake Neuchâtel from 1626 with the city of Henripolis drawn in

• 

  Lake Neuchâtel (Lac de Neuchâtel)

• 

  Estuary of the Thielle (La Thiéle)

• 

  Fanel Islands

See also

• Transhelvetic Canal , an unrealized Swiss canal connection from the Upper Rhine via the Aare , Lake Neuchâtel and Lake Geneva to the Rhone
• Shipping canal projects in the Alps, via other unrealized canal projects in the Alps
• List of lakes in the canton of Bern
• List of lakes in the canton of Friborg
• List of lakes in the canton of Neuchâtel
• List of lakes in the canton of Vaud

Web links

Commons : Neuenburgersee  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Michel Egloff, Giliane Kern: Lake Neuchâtel. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Lake Neuchâtel lake route
• Grande Cariçaie Nature Reserve
• Lake Neuchâtel stilt houses on freizeit.ch

literature

• Erich Liechti, Jürg Meister, Josef Gwerder: The history of shipping on the Jura waters. Lake Neuchâtel - Lake Murten - Lake Biel - Aare. Meier, Schaffhausen 1982, ISBN 3-85801-035-9 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://hydrodaten.admin.ch/de/2149.html → Annual table 2012: annual mean 1983–2012
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Seen (Federal Office for the Environment FOEN). Retrieved January 18, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Anna Reusch, Markus Loher, Damien Bouffard, Jasper Moernaut, Franziska Hellmich, Flavio S. Anselmetti, Stefano M. Bernasconi, Michael Hilbe, Achim Kopf, Marvin D. Lilley, Gerrit Meinecke, Michael Strasser: Giant lacustrine pockmarks with subaqueous groundwater discharge and subsurface sediment mobilization. In: Geophysical Research Letters . 2015, doi: 10.1002 / 2015GL064179 .
4. ^ Hauterive Archeology Museum
5. ↑ Frog Museum
6. ^ Peter Müller: Bise in Yvonand, Neuchâtel. October 21, 2007, accessed October 10, 2018 .