Seegraben (Dresden)
In Dresden, a “ Seegraben” or “ Seegrabenrinne ” is a channel that marks an old course of the Elbe . In its upper layers it is filled with alluvial clay and in this way determines its extent and course. In the terrain, it forms a structure that can be perceived as a long and flat depression, which, coming from the eastern part of the city, leads to the southern edge of the city center . The Seegraben should not be confused with the moat of the same name in the Seewiesen on the city limits from Dresden to Radebeul .
location
The Seegraben begins west of Altdobritz between Altseidnitz and the racecourse . It continues in a westerly direction, crosses under Rennplatzstrasse and an adjoining allotment garden to Liebstädter Strasse . Afterwards, the ditch fed by the Koitzschgraben cuts this depression at a right angle without introducing its water here. The Seegrabensenke continues on Winterbergstraße to Pikardie at the eastern end of the main avenue in the Great Garden . There the Seegraben turns slightly to the south and touches the Carolasee on the northern edge , where it develops to its greatest width (about 250 m). Its depression can be seen very clearly in the large garden along Südallee and can lead to stagnant water there in rainy seasons.
At Querallee he takes up the Kaitzbach . With its full cross-section, the Seegraben extends under the entire zoological garden , further crossing Lennéstrasse into the area of the Bürgerwiese . Its size and shape match the dimensions of the sea trench depression. Its continuation to the west crosses under Georgplatz and the entire Dr.-Külz-Ring , where it follows the western edge of Antonsplatz to Postplatz in a northward direction at Dippoldiswalder Platz . There the Seegraben meets the gravel fan of the Weißeritz .
According to modern knowledge, a side branch leads away from the Seegraben on the northeastern edge of the zoological garden, which stretches under the Georg-Arnhold-Bad , the hygiene museum grazing under the Pirnaischer Platz to the Albertinum towards the banks of the Elbe. Another junction runs from Georgplatz to Gewandhaus and Neumarkt to the eastern end of the Fürstenzug . This branch was of particular importance for early urban development.
geology
The Seegraben is a water-bearing zone that plays an important role for the hydrological conditions in the area of Dresden's old town . This had and still has effects on the design of green spaces and buildings in the urban area.
According to its origin , the Seegraben forms part of the barely meandering oxbow gullies of the Elbe in the urban area. As a river bed with an occasional historical water flow, it has been filled with mineral suspension loads. Later organogenic substance input also formed humic upper layers, especially in the area of the former lakes on the south side of the old town (Dr.-Külz-Ring). These substances were introduced here with the water of the Kaitzbach.
The sea ditch is largely covered with a layer of alluvial clay from the Holocene , which is 0.5 m thick and consists of silt , fine sand with mica components. Underneath there is fine sand or fat clay , which is superimposed on the older Elbe and Lockwitz gravel on the lower terrace .
When during the time of the Vistula high glacial the climatic changes led to the melting of the ice and snow in the nearby low mountain range , many rivers experienced severe flood events. In depressions this led to a filling with fluvial sediments , which formed banks in the widening valleys, such as that of the Elbe in the Dresden area . This subsequently created Werder and Altwasser. The deposition processes in question here have occurred since the late subboreal .
The Seegraben is flanked on both sides by the older (diluvial) valley loam of the lower terrace, which consists of silty-sandy components. From the southern side in the districts of Reick and Strehlen to the Great Garden, the valley loam is missing and is accompanied and underlain by diluvial ( Vistula-high glacial ) Elbe gravel from the lower terrace. This was won in a gravel pit in the area between Winterbergstraße and Basteistraße . Pieces of sandstone , basalt and phonolite were found in their old quartz gravel . The outcrop is said to have shown alternating layers of gravel and sand . The lying of the clay lining in the Seegraben from about Querallee in the Great Garden to the old town center are younger gravel.
From the area on Querallee of the Great Garden, where the Kaitzbach enters the Seegrabensenke, it is identical to its other old river course. In the Middle Ages it flowed into a meadow-like landscape at the former Wilsdruffer Tor (today the Postplatz ) in a Weißeritz arm flowing there .
Historical references
The Seegraben was the cause of all the former lake areas on the southern edge of the medieval city center of Dresden. The Jüdenteich , Alte Teich (Oberer See) and Neue Teich (Unterer See) , which together gave the Seestrasse , the former Seetor and subsequently the Seethorvorstadt district or later Seevorstadt , were located in the area of this depression. These pond areas disappeared with the progress of suburban development up to the beginning of the 19th century. They were in front of the fortifications with their own moat. Its water flow was mainly determined by the Kaitzbach tributary . Today's streets Am See and Seestraße refer by name to this earlier lake landscape.
The Jewish pond was the last remaining pond area. It disappeared at the beginning of the 19th century due to the structural development in the area around the then Kreuzschule .
A branch of the Seegraben branching out from the former Jewish pond, with its crossing under Neumarkt, formed the natural basis for the eastern fortress moat of medieval Dresden. At that time, the old Frauenkirche was therefore still in front of the city gate.
In the course of the 18th century, many bourgeois gardens were created in the Seervorstadt. The constantly moist peatland in the former lake area offered favorable conditions for this. In a description from 1804, the affected, but already built-up cityscape is described as follows:
“From the Seethore left, then right, between new buildings, half the Eulengasse leads us [...] to one of the most beautiful, free spaces in the city, the so-called Jüdenteich. This quarter begins with the orphanage and the orphanage and prison, a sizable building in the Pirna'schen suburb , with a 19-window front, and goes along the Bürgerwiese, which belongs to the magistrate and is bordered with a high stone wall is, up to Dohna'schen blow. Here are Prof. Tittmann's house and garden, Richter's public garden, […] the farm building from the former Moczinska'schen garden, etc. All these gardens and garden houses, the nice buildings in the friendly alleys and the beautiful fronts on the large lawn are a delightful sight . You see the residence gradually transform into a cheerful country town. Around them spreads the beautiful carpet of a large field corridor, which the sense of nature of our wealthy cultivators has framed with pleasant country estates. This smooth transition from art to nature is few cities as peculiar as the capital of Saxony. "
literature
- Wolfgang Alexowsky et al .: Geological map of the Free State of Saxony 1:25 000. Explanations for sheet 4948 Dresden . Freiberg 2001.
- Wolfgang Alexowsky: Geological map of the Free State of Saxony 1:25 000. Sheet 4948 Dresden . Freiberg 2001, call numbers 4–23.
- H. Ebert, R. Grahmann, K. Pietzsch : Explanations of the geological map of Saxony on a scale of 1:25 000. No. 66 sheet Dresden . III. Edition, Leipzig 1934.
- Friedrich Christian August Hasse : Dresden and the surrounding area to Elsterwerda, Bautzen, Herrnhut, Rumburg, Aussig, Töplitz, Freyberg and Hubertusburg. A presentation for nature and art lovers, first part. 2 . increased edition, Arnoldische Buch- und Kunsthandlung, Dresden 1804.
- F. Kossmat et al .: Geological map of Saxony on a scale of 1:25 000. No. 66 sheet Dresden . III. Edition, Leipzig 1934.
- Wilhelm Robert Nessig : Geological excursions in the area around Dresden . Dresden 1898 ( digitized ).
- W. Pälchen (Ed.) / H. Walter (Ed.): Geology of Saxony. Geological structure and history of development . Schweizerbart'sche Verlagbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 2008. ISBN 978-3-510-65239-6
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ebert, Grahmann, Pietzsch: Explanations , pp. 128–129.
- ↑ a b c Alexowsky: sheet 4948 Dresden .
- ↑ Alexowsky: Explanations 2001, p. 95.
- ↑ Pälchen, Walter: Geology . Pp. 452, 459.
- ↑ William Robert Nessig : excursions . Pp. 89-90 ( digitized version ).
- ↑ Alexowsky: Explanations 2001, pp. 84, 91-92.
- ^ Hasse: Dresden und die… , 1804. pp. 221–222.