Stone channel near Hechlingen
Coordinates: 48 ° 59 ′ 21 ″ N , 10 ° 44 ′ 6 ″ E
The Steinerne Rinne at Hechlingen is a Kalktuffrinne in Heidenheim in the Middle Franconian district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen in Bavaria .
location
The channel is north of Hechlingen am See and about 400 meters southeast of Scheckenmühle , a district of Heidenheim.
description
This stone channel is an approximately 15 meter long and up to 50 centimeter high moss-covered calcareous channel . The width at the top is up to 20 centimeters. The natural development of the channel was largely destroyed together with the spring niche by a water pipe. The length of the tufa dam used to be around 100 meters. The current source is only a derivative of the original source and has been enclosed. It rises above the source horizon ( Ornatenton ) in the lower White Jura . Today the water reaches the rest of the channel via a pipe, which lies on top of an old tuff embankment. The channel is partly artificially reinforced and at the end it runs into a small stream that flows into the Rohrach .
The area is designated as Geotope 577R005 by the Bavarian State Office for the Environment . See also the list of geotopes in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district .
See also the list of stone gutters in Bavaria .
Emergence
Lime tuffs come in various morphological forms as large tufa beds, sintered terraces, tuff cascades or, as here, as limestone turf channels. Such channels are always tied to springs whose water has a particularly high lime content. Small, but constantly flowing springs, under favorable circumstances, create such stone gullies.
The groundwater cannot seep deeper here due to the underlying water-retaining layer of the regal clay and is directed to the side of the spring outlet.
The water temperature at the source fluctuates around 8 degrees. At the source outlet the water experiences a pressure relief, a mixing with the air and at the same time a change in the ambient temperature. Some of the carbon dioxide dissolved in the water escapes, causing lime to precipitate out of the water, which, favored by mosses and other plant parts, settles on the bottom of the channel. Certain algae are able to precipitate the lime dissolved in the water. The branched mosses then catch the precipitated lime. Algae and moss cause the upward growth of the stone channel on the initially flat sintered surface. The mosses find their best habitat on the edge of the stream bed in a damp and calcareous environment. In order to always get enough sunlight for their growth, they must always grow upwards or to the side out of the encrustation caused by the lime precipitation. The algae, on the other hand, prefer to live on the bottom of the flow channel; the solid lime deposited by them seals the channel downwards and to the side. In this way they ensure that the watercourse is channeled. As long as the water supply between the spring and the stone channel is not interrupted, it grows higher and higher, by a few millimeters every year.
Access
The channel is freely accessible all year round. Following the Quellenwanderweg, the source is easily accessible on foot or by bike from Scheckenmühle. A paved path leads past the channel itself. There is an information board on site.
The sensitive, porous tuff limestone must not be stepped on or destroyed. Above all, the channel must not be dammed up and the edges must not be broken. The growth of the porous limestone tuff would be permanently changed, the running of the fine channel would be impaired and further natural growth would be severely disturbed. If the water leaves the channel at any point, it will fall dry as it continues, and it will take a very long time until a new one is created on the new path of the water.
photos
Composite derivation of the source
Artificial underpinning
Gutter, view from above
Outlet of the gutter
Information board
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Location of the stone channel in the BayernAtlas (accessed April 14, 2014).
- ↑ Information board on site
- ↑ Geotope: Stone channel north of Hechlingen (accessed April 14, 2014).
- ↑ OpenStreetMap: Quellenwanderweg ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Accessed April 3, 2014).
