Narrow saddle

Relief map (above) and geological map (below) of the northern Harz foreland in the Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel-Helmstedt area, with the Dorm and the Asse as typical narrow saddles.

A narrow saddle is a geological saddle structure created by halokinesis , in which the cover layers are erected relatively steeply above a salt structure that reaches close to the earth's surface. The surface layers are therefore relatively steep, have narrow outcrops and are sometimes severely disturbed .

On the surface of the earth, a narrow saddle expresses itself as a rather narrow mountain range with relatively steep flanks. A change from erosion-resistant and erosion-prone layers results in several parallel, very narrow ridges ( layer ribs ), between which similarly narrow evacuation troughs extend. Narrow saddles can be found in Germany in large numbers in the northern Harz foreland , such as the Asse and Heeseberg , both of which have the same salt structure, the Dorm , the Harly and the Quedlinburg saddle , which has been cleared out in its core region, with the Hoppelberg and the counter mountains as stratified ribs on its flanks or in the transition to Halberstädter Mulde.

The counterpart to the narrow saddle is the broad saddle .

Individual evidence

1. ^ F. Schmidt-Döhl : Between Harz and Heide - Mountains, ridges and landscape . Wartberg Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8313-2319-7 .

Web links

• M. Schäfer, T. Szymaniak: Geological-tectonic mapping of the salt structure Asse in the Subhercynen Basin. Clausthal University of Technology, Institute for Geology and Paleontology, 2002.