Mountains of the Dead

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Mountains of the Dead
Mountains of the Dead

The Totenberge are an inland dune in the forest area of Darmstadt in southern Hesse .

Geography and description

With a length of approx. 0.8 km and a maximum width of approx. 400 meters, the mountains of the dead belong to the genus of the longitudinal dunes and run in a west-east direction. The highest point of the dune is at the eastern end on the leeward side. The northern edge of the dune is accompanied by the Silz at a short distance. South of the Totenberge is a nature reserve and the Kranichstein marshalling yard .

geology

The sand dune was formed in the cold tundra climate by sand drifts from Pleistocene drifting sand at the end of the Vistula Ice Age. The west-east orientation resulted from the prevailing wind direction . The drifting sand dunes are part of an approx. 130 km long dune train that extends from Rastatt to Mainz .

flora

The mountains of the dead can be subdivided into different vegetation units:

  1. Mixed pine forest
  2. Pfriemengras - steppe lawn
  3. loose silver grass - dry grass
  4. Dry xerothermal awl grass lawn

Toponyms

  1. 1540: breeding uff den doden bergk
  2. undated: Am Totenberg
  3. today: Mountains of the Dead

etymology

Old High German and Middle High German tôt with the meaning "dead, died". Probably a synonym for "sterile, unproductive, without function".

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Darmstadt and surroundings , Falkplan, Falk Verlag, Ostfildern, ISBN 978-3-8279-2260-1 .
  2. ↑ Hans Ramge et al .: Südhessisches Flurnamenbuch , Hessische Historische Kommission Darmstadt, 2002, ISBN 3-88443-045-9 , pp. 924f.

Coordinates: 49 ° 55 ′ 10.2 ″  N , 8 ° 41 ′ 24 ″  E