Ochsenfurt district

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The Ochsenfurt Gau is a flat, undulating, strongly agrarian landscape in the southeast of Lower Franconia . The name refers to the small town of Ochsenfurt in the adjacent Main Valley to the north , which is the economic center of the agricultural region. Together with the Middle Franconian Gollachgau in the south-east, which is very similar in landscape , it forms the main natural spatial unit of the Ochsenfurter Gau and Gollachgau within the Main Franconian Plates .

location

The Ochsenfurt Gau is the agrarian plateau between the Taubertal in the south and the Middle Main Valley (southern tip of the Main Triangle ) in the north. In the north-west the more mountainous and more wooded area borders the Marktheidenfelder Platte and in the south-east the Gollachgau with a similar natural environment.

Geology and morphology

Geologically, the plateau lies in the little folded and relatively soft Unterseuper . It consists mainly of claystone and marl with individual limestone banks and sandstone beds . In the surrounding valleys, the hard limestones of the Upper Muschelkalk below are cut. There the slopes are usually much steeper. The tributaries in the Main and Tauber divide the Ochsenfurt Gau, especially at the edge, where shell limestone is already being cut near the receiving water. In the west of the Ochsenfurt Gau, rock from the shell limestone occurs extensively and forms the more mountainous and wooded area ( Marktheidenfelder Platte ). In the Quaternary glacial periods was partly deposited on the plateau meter thick loess. As a result, the scarcely articulated relief was further balanced.

Soil and climate

In the Holocene , very fertile soils developed in the loess. However, due to intensive agricultural use, the topsoil areas of the potentially erosion-prone parabrown soils are often eroded. The climate is humid all year round with precipitation around 590–620 mm per year with annual average temperatures around 9.0 ° C. In summer, high evaporation rates can sometimes lead to a pronounced water deficit.

Anthropogenic use of space

The geology is noticeable in the building materials of the buildings and sculptures in the region. The easy-to-work sandstone of the Unterseuper and the hard limestone of the shell limestone were used according to their properties.

The good soils, the favorable climate and the low relief are the basis for the strong agricultural character of the area. Mainly cereals and sugar beets are grown. The village centers are characterized by Franconian three-sided farmsteads . The economic center of Ochsenfurt shows walls and town houses. The sugar beets from the Gau are processed in the local sugar factory of Südzucker AG , the third largest such plant in Germany. The last section of the Gaubahn was shut down in 1992, which is why transport has only been carried out by truck since then.

nature

Large parts of the Ochsenfurter Gau are part of the Ochsenfurter and Uffenheimer Gau bird sanctuary and the Gäulandschaft northeast of Würzburg (SPA 6426-471), whose protected areas include in particular the meadow harrier .

literature

  • Johannes Müller: Basic features of the natural geography of Lower Franconia (= Franconian landscape 1). Justus Perthes Verlag, Gotha 1996.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )
  2. ↑ a b Bavarian Geological State Office (ed.): Geological map of Bavaria 1: 500,000. 4. rework. Ed., Munich 1996.
  3. ↑ Johannes Müller: Basic features of the natural geography of Lower Franconia (= Franconian landscape 1). Justus Perthes Verlag, Gotha 1996. p. 77. Values ​​interpolated!
  4. ↑ Standard data sheet for SPA 6426-471 (PDF; 59 kB)

See also