Traunsee

Traunsee
View from the Kleiner Sonnstein
Geographical location	Salzkammergut , Austria
Tributaries	Traun , Alte Traun, Rindbach, Karbach, Lainaubach
Drain	Traun
Places on the shore	Gmunden , Ebensee , Altmünster , Traunkirchen
Data
Coordinates	47 ° 52 '0 "  N , 13 ° 48' 0"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 52 '0 "  N , 13 ° 48' 0"  E
Altitude above sea level	423  m above sea level A.
surface	24.4 km²
length	11.9
width	2.9
volume	2.188 km³
Maximum depth	191 m
Middle deep	90 m
PH value	8.26
Catchment area	1422 km²
particularities	deepest lake in Austria

The Traunsee is a lake in the Upper Austrian Salzkammergut on the northern edge of the northern Limestone Alps at an altitude of 423  m above sea level. A. . The Traun flows through it lengthways from Ebensee am Traunsee in the south to Gmunden in the north. The Traunsee is with 24.35 km² the second largest Austrian alpine lake and with 191 m the deepest lake in Austria. With a catchment area of ​​1,417 km², it has the largest of all Austrian lakes.

geography

The Traunsee is twelve kilometers long, three kilometers wide and covers an area of ​​around 24.4 km². Important places on the bank are Gmunden in the north, Traunkirchen and Altmünster in the west and Ebensee am Traunsee on the south bank. The Traunsee lies in the area of ​​these four communities. The lake is accessed via the Salzkammergutstrasse , which runs along the west bank. The Salzkammergutbahn runs largely parallel to Salzkammergutstrasse.

The landscape of the Traunsee area is extremely diverse: moraine walls and hills of the flysch zone , such as the Gmundnerberg , surround the northern part of the lake and extend on the west bank to Traunkirchen. Between Traunkirchen and Ebensee, the bank is steeper and is bordered by the limestone cliffs of Kleines and Großer Sonnstein . The wide, flat delta of the Traun is located in Ebensee. The eastern shore is very steep from Ebensee and is dominated by the Erlakogel ( 1575  m above sea level ) in the south . Further to the north, the Traunstein ( 1691  m above sea level ) dominates the east bank with its cliff walls that partially drop vertically into the lake. The flysch zone continues on the east bank with the Grünberg near Gmunden.

geology

The lake basin of the Traunsee lies along the Traun Valley Fault , which runs from the Ischler area in a north-easterly direction, roughly along the Traun to the north-east end of the Traunsee. With the first major glaciation of the Günz glacial period , the Traungletscher excavated the lake basin of the Traunsee as an over-deep tongue basin, which then received its present-day expansion and shape in the subsequent ice ages. After the lake basin became free of ice, the Traun began to fill in the fjord-like southern part of the lake, which reached around Langwies, creating the delta level up to Ebensee, which is still being built today. The current load of bed load of the Traun would mean, under constant climatic conditions and corresponding debris supply, that this process would completely fill the Traunsee with sediment in around 40,000 years and make it disappear.

The Traunsee is located on the border of three large tectonic units. In the north is the flysch zone . On the east bank, in the Gschliefgraben, the ultra-helvetic is exposed and separates the flysch from the northern edge of the limestone Alps . The northern edge of the limestone Alps is offset about 3 km along the fault of the Traun sinistrally to the north on the east bank and continues on the west bank at the Kleiner Sonnstein.

Limnology

The Traunsee is oligotrophic (low in nutrients) and therefore has clear water. Photosynthetic activity of the Kryptophyceae Rhodomonas lacustris can still be detected at a depth of 60 m . The lowest water layer ( hypolimnion ) is salty ( sodium and calcium chloride ) due to industrial discharges and is denser than the upper layers. Assumptions about the Traunsee could therefore develop a chemically caused meromixis , have not been confirmed. The water quality is endangered by nutrient inputs from three sewage treatment plants (Ebensee, Wolfgangsee / Ischl and Hallstätter See ) and, to a lesser extent, from agriculture via inflowing streams.

The mean discharge (MQ) is 69.4 m³ / s, the (theoretical) water renewal time 1.04 years.

fauna

The fish found include: perch , minnow , pike , European eel , arctic char and coregon . A subspecies of the Coregones, the Riedling , occurs only in the Traunsee.

But there are also many water birds living on the Traunsee: The most famous are probably the swans  - they are a symbol of Gmunden .

Freezing over in winter

In winter, the Traunsee rarely freezes over completely. This has been handed down from the years 1477, 1624, 1684, 1740, 1797, 1830, six times between 1879 and 1901, 1928/29 and most recently in 1963.

history

It was called Lacus Felix (the happy lake) by the Romans .

The current name Traunsee was first mentioned in a document in 909 as Trunseo .

On July 31, 1910, a boat accident occurred during the crossing from Hoisen to Traunkirchen due to a severe storm, in which 15 mostly young people drowned. In August 1911 a marble memorial stone was placed over a mass grave at the rear of the parish church choir in the local cemetery in Traunkirchen.

On May 8, 1945, the last day of the war, a P-47 Thunderbolt crashed into Lake Traunsee. It was arguably the last aircraft the US Air Force lost in Europe during World War II . The machine was considered lost for more than 60 years, was only found again in 2005 and recovered in 2006 from a depth of around 70 m. Spiegel TV first broadcast a documentary about this on January 27, 2006 with the title The Secret of the P47 in the Traunsee . The machine, named Dottie Mae , underwent an extensive restoration in Idaho , United States , and took off for the first time since the restoration on June 22, 2017.

Economy and tourism

Traunkirchen and on the right the paddle steamer Gisela

Traunsee and Höllengebirge . Left the Traunstein, right the west bank, view in southwest direction.

Outflow of the Traun from the Traunsee in Gmunden, view in the direction of flow north (2015)

The communities around the Traunsee are located in the Traunsee-Almtal tourist office in the Salzkammergut . The Traunsee region is mainly characterized by summer tourism . The Traunsee is an alpine swimming lake with excellent water quality. The average water temperature in August is 19 degrees. Many water sports can be practiced: sailing , surfing , kite surfing , diving and water skiing .

The annual Traunsee marathon is also remarkable . Here you have to go around the Traunsee completely and cover 4300 meters of altitude and 70 kilometers.

In summer, ships run on the Traunsee in regular service; The paddle steamer Gisela is proud of the fleet . The first paddle steamer was the Sophie , which entered service on May 15, 1839.

In Gmunden at the Gmunden Seebahnhof station there was a direct transfer option from the Traunseebahn to a liner of the Traunseeschifffahrt .

Culture and sights

Ort Castle is located on a small island in Gmunden .

Between 1996 and 2004 the Traunsee region was the setting for the television series Schlosshotel Orth (144 episodes of 45 minutes each).

literature

• Office of Upper Austria. Provincial government, nature conservation department (ed.): Nature and landscape / models for Upper Austria. Volume 31: Salzkammergut Talungen room unit . Linz September 2007 ( land-oberoesterreich.gv.at [PDF; 3.6 MB ; accessed on August 9, 2020]).
• Hans Egger: Explanations to sheet 66 Gmunden . Federal Geological Institute, Vienna 2007 PDF Online

Web links

Commons : Traunsee  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: Traunsee  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Tourist info Traunsee
• Entry on Traunsee in the Austria Forum  (in the Heimatlexikon)
• Traunsee marathon
• Traunsee shipping

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Egger, Hans: Explanations on sheet 66 Gmunden . Pp. 10-13.
2. ↑ Egger, Hans: Explanations on sheet 66 Gmunden . Pp. 5-8.
3. ^ Ingo Findeegg : The plankton production in the oligotrophic and eutrophic lake . In: International review of the entire hydrobiology and hydrography . tape 40 , no. 1-2 , 1940, pp. 197-207 , doi : 10.1002 / iroh.19400400105 ( abstract [accessed January 18, 2012]).
4. ^ Office of Upper Austria. Provincial government (Ed.): Water protection report 20/1998: The lakes of Upper Austria - Status report 1994 and long-term development since 1980, partly updated up to and including 1997. ( PDF; 13.6 MB )
5. ^ Province of Upper Austria: Securing or, if necessary, developing the water quality of all bodies of water in the spatial unit
6. ↑ Federal Office for Water Management (Hrsg.): Atlas of the natural lakes of Austria with an area ≥ 50 ha. Morphometry - Typing - Trophy. As of 2005. Series of publications by the Federal Office for Water Management, Volume 29, Vienna 2008 ( PDF )
7. ↑ krone.at from January 20, 2017: Frosty temperatures leave large lakes cold ; accessed on September 17, 2017
8. ^ Franz Rosenauer: Special natural events in the Gau area. The ice formation on the lakes in Upper Danube in the winters of 1939/40 and 1941/42. In: Yearbook of the Upper Austrian Museum Association. Volume 90, Linz 1942, pp. 311–314 ( PDF (436 kB) on ZOBODAT )
9. ↑ Unveiling of the memorial stone. In:  Volksfreund , August 5, 1911, p. 3 (online at ANNO ).
10. ↑ Documentation about the rescue of the aircraft Spiegel-TV
11. ↑ First flight and documentation about the restoration. Retrieved June 26, 2017 .