Wellheim dry valley
Coordinates: 48 ° 48 ' N , 11 ° 6' E
The Wellheimer Trockental is a side valley of the Altmühltal in the Altmühltal Nature Park . It is a natural area (082.25), the Altmühlalb, the southern Franconian Alb in the southwest German stepland . In the west, the Tagmersheim plateau (082.10) borders the Danube-side Frankenalb and the Obere Altmühlalb (082.22), in the north the Mittlere Altmühlalb , (082.24) in the west the Adelschlager plateau (82.12) and the Hainbergalb (082.13) and in the south the Rennertshofener Terrassenbucht (082.16).
description
As Wellheimer Arroyo to those designated section of the original Danube valley located between Rennertshofen in the south and Dollnstein the north by the Jura landscape of the Southern Frankenalb extends. The original Danube came from the south in the Pleistocene and flowed for more than two million years through what is now the lower Altmühltal; at the height of Dollnstein the Ur- Main flowed from the north . Large river shifts in recent geological history, the Riss Cold Age , meant that today only the Altmühl reaches the Wellheimer dry valley from the north, while the Danube has shifted its course further south twice, so that the Wellheimer valley has been almost completely dry since then lies. Today only the Schutter flows through part of the Wellheimer dry valley - but in the opposite direction compared to the original Schutter. The Urdonau formed the Galgenberg near Wellheim .
The original Danube shifts can be explained by the fact that the source regions of other rivers pushed further and further against the original Danube valley due to retrograde erosion and karstification . At the same time, the Alb table was raised in the course of the formation of the Alps . Eventually the original Schutter reached the Danube in what is now the Wellheimer Valley and tapped all of the Danube water. After a short geological period, the resulting "Schutter Danube" south of Rennertshofen was tapped again. Since then, the Danube has flowed through the Weltenburger Narrows .
The valley is biologically valuable due to its valley flank heaths interspersed with reef dolomites ( grasslands ) on the eastern and southern slopes. The limestone grasslands and rock corridors are among the areas with the most butterflies in Germany. The dry valley is named after the valley capital Wellheim with its castle ruins . The districts of Eichstätt and Neuburg-Schrobenhausen have a share in the valley . In the south the valley is much wider than in the rest of the course. Just inside the entrance to the valley of the village lies walls where the western side of the valley at a height of 20 meters above the valley floor from the Stone Age people committed vineyard caves lie.
Around Konstein and Aicha in the Wellheimer dry valley there is a popular free climbing area with the striking jackdaw rock . A Roman swamp bridge was archaeologically excavated near the field mill in the Wellheimer dry valley in the 1980s . A 25-kilometer cycle path leads through the entire valley, partly on the abandoned Dollnstein – Rennertshofen railway line .
The Tucherwald natural forest reserve is located between Hütting and Wellheim .
Geotopes
The entire Wellheimer dry valley has been designated as a geotope by the Bavarian State Office for the Environment and has been awarded the official seal of approval “ Bavaria's most beautiful geotopes ”.
The southern part is designated with the geotope number 185R001 and the northern part with the geotope number 176R001.
literature
- Heinz Mittel: Guide through the Wellheim Valley and its history. Hertel & Wilde, Ingolstadt 1981.
- The Wellheim dry valley. In: Staatl. Education office in the district of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen (Hrsg.): Local history material collection for the district of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen, 1 (1982), pp. 20f.
Web links
- Bavaria's most beautiful geotopes: Wellheimer dry valley. Bavarian State Office for the Environment, September 9, 2013.
- Kurt Scheuerer: Jägerlager in the Urdonautal - The vineyard caves near walls. Ingolstadt City Museum, July 26, 2018 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ralph Jätzold: Geographical land survey: The natural space units on sheet 172 Nördlingen. Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1962. → Online map (PDF; 3.9 MB)
- ^ Bavarian State Office for the Environment, Geotop Wellheimer Trockental (southern part) (accessed on October 22, 2017).
- ↑ Bavarian State Office for the Environment, Geotope Wellheimer Trockental (accessed on October 22, 2017).