Schopflocher peat bog

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3 remains of a volcanic vent in May: Schopflocher high moor and behind: Randecker Maar and Limburg
Schopflocher peat bog
Schopflocher peat bog in the evening
Nature reserve

The Schopfloch peat bog is the only larger raised bog in the Swabian Alb and is located north of Schopfloch , a district of the municipality of Lenningen on the Alb plateau.

It was created by the weathering of basalt tuff from a volcanic vent of the Swabian volcano , which led to the formation of a water-impermeable layer of clay - a rarity in this area. The maar lake that formed over this layer of clay has silted up over time.

The peat extraction began towards the end of the 18th century. In 1942 the moor was declared a nature reserve after the Swabian Alb Association had already bought up the remains of the moor, which had been almost ruined by peat extraction and drainage measures in 1931 . Although this nature reserve was later expanded, the fauna and flora typical of the moor continue to develop backwards, as a lot of water continues to run off and the remaining peat is heavily mineralized.

A circular path from the Otto-Hoffmeister-Haus, which partly leads over a threshold path, and an information center are intended to show visitors the last remains of this raised bog.

The use and exploration of the moor

Heinrich Schickardt wrote in 1626 that he had [...] found eight shoes of wonderful peat everywhere in the swamp there. Due to the unfavorable circumstances of the time - the Thirty Years War had started eight years before this discovery - the peat was not mined for the time being. Considerations for private peat extraction in Schopflocher Moor are attested for 1752, and in 1766 Duke Carl Eugen von Württemberg had all moor areas reported to the regional authorities. Until 1844 peat was mined under the administration of the authorities, sometimes convicts were also used. But attempts were also made in private initiative to use the moor. In 1783, the merchant Christian Ludwig Glöckler from Kirchheim / Teck asked for the most gracious ducal permission to mine peat and received it. A year later he began draining the Schopflocher peat bog by ditching a ditch to the sinkhole . However, an expense of 5400 guilders was offset by a profit of 770 guilders, and Glöckler, who had received the title of commercial council due to his efforts , gave up the management of the moor again in 1790. Other entrepreneurs continued to use the peat bog until around 1900.

Gustav Schwab carried out investigations into the nature of the area in the 19th century . He published his results in 1823 in The Neckar Side of the Swabian Alb. In addition to explaining how the bog was formed, an initial analysis of the subsoil can also be found here: Whitish clay, according to Schwab, forms the impermeable soil on which the peat bog has formed.

Karl Gußmann, on the other hand, was less interested in the geological conditions than in the legends surrounding the moor. He reported on it in 1925 in Der Sonntag, the illustrated supplement of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Among other things, a huge key was found while digging the moor, which must be considered the gate key to the sunken city of Oberkirchheim.

After the peat mining was finished, two residual peat mounds remained. Apparently the danger of fire in the abandoned area was great; there were always fires that often smoldered for weeks. Such occurrences are attested in particular for 1913 and 1929. The fire of 1929 can probably be considered the trigger for the initiative of the Swabian Alb Association and the State Office for Monument Preservation, which led to the first acquisition of land (five parcels with a total of around 0.5 hectares) in the Schopfloch peat bog for nature conservation purposes in 1931.

Nature reserve

With the ordinance of the Stuttgart regional council of July 21, 1983, the entire raised bog with a total area of ​​50.4 hectares was designated as a nature reserve (NSG number 1.013). It replaced an old ordinance of February 26, 1942, with which 43.1 hectares were then placed under protection. The Schopflocher Moor is the oldest nature reserve in the Esslingen district. The preservation of the most important high moor in the Swabian Alb with its diverse fauna and flora was protected.

See also

List of nature reserves in the Esslingen district

literature

  • Heinz Dangel u. a .: Schopfocher Torfmoor - Little guide through the nature reserve. Kirchheim unter Teck 1994
  • Reinhard Wolf , Ulrike Kreh (Hrsg.): The nature reserves in the Stuttgart administrative region . Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2007, ISBN 978-3-7995-5176-2 , pp. 487-490
  • Schwenkel, Hans : Description and appreciation. Publ. Württ. Landesstelle Naturschutz Landschaftspflege 18: 90-99. Stuttgart 1949 (PDF download, 48 MB)

Web links

Commons : Schopflocher Moor nature reserve (peat pit)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 33 ′ 45 ″  N , 9 ° 31 ′ 13 ″  E