Schwarza-Sormitz area

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The Schwarza-Sormitz area is a landscape in the Thuringian Slate Mountains-Obere Saale Nature Park and a natural sub-unit of the Thuringian Slate Mountains .

landscape

Chrysoprase weir in the Schwarza , Bad Blankenburg
Mean values ​​of the precipitation amounts 1961–1990 for Steinsdorf (Leutenberg) ( 557  m above sea level )

This landscape combines two river landscapes, the deeply cut valley floodplain of the Schwarza , an orographically left tributary of the Saale , and the area around the Sormitz , a right tributary of the Loquitz , which falls two kilometers behind the confluence of the Sormitz into the Saale from the left. The Schwarza rises not far from the Rennsteig in the northern Hohe Schiefergebirge and on its way northeast to the Saale passes the old cultural landscapes of its northeastern roof, the Raanz , which goes back to the Olitätenhandel , the Schwarzburg hunting domain in the middle Schwarzatal and just a short distance away the foothills of the Saalfelder Höhe . The sources of the Loquitz and Sormitz are also not far from the Rennsteig. The Loquitz rises at the transition from the Franconian Forest to the eastern foothills of the Thuringian Slate Mountains near Lehesten and flows through the southern Orlagau , namely the Thünaic estates around Lauenstein Castle in what is now Bavarian territory and the Thuringian forests around the former Probstzella provost and the lords of Graefenthal , Lichtentanne and Eichicht . The Sormitz is formed a little further to the east in Wurzbach from two source streams and passes the western edge of the more flat, undulating East Thuringian plateau , in which its bed has meandered in a north-westerly direction towards the Saale. The landscape lies almost entirely in the south of the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district , where it is bordered in the north by the Paulinzella red sandstone woodland . The upper reaches of the Schwarza in the southwest of the region, which is assigned to the Northern High Slate Mountains , lies in the Sonneberg district and includes slopes in the Hildburghausen district and in the Ilm district , in the east part of the catchment area of ​​the Sormitz in the Saale-Orla district .

Both valley landscapes offer a much milder climate than the surrounding plateaus, and they are the habitat of rare plants and animals, some of which are threatened with extinction, such as the gentian and kingfisher . The still near-natural habitat has numerous steep slope sections and has retained its torrent character. The strudel pots are a geological feature of the lower Schwarza . The rare dipper still finds suitable habitat in the clean streams of this region . A threatened population of the capercaillie has found a refuge in a side valley near the Schwarza.

Slate mining has shaped the area. Many slate quarries and heaps have become attractive parts of the landscape and habitats for rare animals and plants. Lichen is the only living creature able to develop bare rock and does pioneering work for subsequent higher plants in colonizing the slate heaps. Old slate tunnels form a special habitat for many animals and plants. Meadows and pastures in romantic stream valleys and wooded slopes are characteristic of this natural area.

The entire area was settled relatively late in connection with the search for ore deposits. Villages in the valley of the Schwarza and Loquitz go back to mills, stamp mills, iron and tin hammers, the narrow valley of the Sormitz has no settlement apart from a few mills. There are numerous small villages scattered on the slopes towards the plateaus, which owe their origin to the abundance of wood that was exploited by the Grafschaft Schwarzburg and the Benedictine Abbey of Saalfeld . Coal piles and glassworks are still detectable in the area. Urban structures with more densely populated areas exist only in the northern edge of the region with the Schwarzburg foundations Leutenberg an der lower Sormitz and Bad Blankenburg an der lower Schwarza and the cities of Saalfeld / Saale and Rudolstadt an der Saale.

Natural classification

Roughly to the north, the Schwarza-Sormitz area adjoins the rugged plateau of the main ridge of the Thuringian Slate Mountains and its domed, domed northeast roofing with dynamic relief, whereby the transition is geologically inconspicuous. In the manual of the natural spatial structure of Germany or in subsequent subdivisions by the BfN , the catchment area of ​​the Sormitz west of the Saale is assigned to a different main unit group than the catchment area of ​​the Schwarza. The purely inner- Thuringian structure The natural areas of Thuringia of the TLUG in turn summarize all of the above-mentioned landscapes to form the Thuringian Mountains . In the main subdivisions, however, both subdivisions roughly match.

The parts of the Thuringian Slate Mountains are naturally allocated as follows:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hydrogeological map of Thuringia from the Thuringian State Institute for Environment and Geology (PDF; 4.37 MB) ( Even finer maps are available for each district .)
  2. ^ Walter Hiekel, Frank Fritzlar, Andreas Nöllert and Werner Westhus: The natural spaces of Thuringia . Ed .: Thuringian State Institute for Environment and Geology (TLUG), Thuringian Ministry for Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Environment . 2004, ISSN  0863-2448 . → Natural area map of Thuringia (TLUG) - PDF; 260 kB → Maps for each district (TLUG) - TLUG does not use any code numbers!

  3. ^ E. Meynen and J. Schmithüsen : Handbook of the natural spatial structure of Germany - Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Remagen / Bad Godesberg 1953–1962 (9 deliveries in 8 books, updated map 1: 1,000,000 with main units 1960)
  4. ↑ Various authors: Geographical Land Survey: The natural spatial units in single sheets (per map 1: 200,000 and paperback; → maps ) - Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1959–1987; Registration by single sheets due to non-appearance of the sheets Plauen (north) , Plauen (south) and Bayreuth very incomplete!
    • Sheet 141: Coburg (H. Späth 1987)
  5. ^ Name from sheet Coburg; in the manual itself still referred to as "Thuringian Slate Mountains"
  6. ↑ The division into the Hohes Thuringian Slate Mountains and the Schwarza-Sormitz area is more recent and roughly corresponds to the structure in The Natural Spaces of Thuringia , whereby the Schwarza-Sormitz area does not include the parts mapped on the individual sheets.

Web links

Coordinates: 50 ° 39 ′ 0 ″  N , 11 ° 20 ′ 0 ″  E