Wendland and Altmark

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Wendland and Altmark
surface 4th 308.3  km²
Systematics according to Handbook of the natural spatial structure of Germany
Greater region 1st order North German Lowlands
Greater region 2nd order Central North German Lowland
Greater region 3rd order East German plateau and heathland
Main unit group 86 →
Wendland and Altmark
Natural space 86 →
Wendland and Altmark
Geographical location
Coordinates 52 ° 52 '48 "  N , 11 ° 25' 48"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 52 '48 "  N , 11 ° 25' 48"  E
The eastern part of the north German lowlands with Wendland and Altmark as main unit group 86
The eastern part of the north German lowlands with Wendland and Altmark as main unit group 86
state Lower Saxony
Country Germany

Wendland and Altmark , named after the Wendland and Altmark regions , denotes a natural spatial group of main units in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt , northern Germany . In the manual of the natural spatial structure of Germany it bears the code number 86, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation lists it within unchanged limits under the code number D29.

location

The natural area extends across the border in the central North German lowlands in the states of Lower Saxony (here only Lüchow-Dannenberg district ) and Saxony-Anhalt ( Altmarkkreis Salzwedel , district Stendal and district Börde ). It stretches from Dannenberg in the north via Lüchow and Salzwedel to the Breslau-Magdeburg-Bremer glacial valley (with the Ohre and Mittelland Canal ) north of Magdeburg in the south and from the Lower Saxony-Saxony-Anhalt border area northeast of Wolfsburg and the Drömling in the west to Stendal in the east . The area is thus essentially congruent with the cultural landscape regions Wendland and Altmark - but not in all areas. So the Drawehn , which socio-culturally largely belongs to the Hannoversche Wendland, is naturally included in the main unit D28 Lüneburg Heath . The Elbe floodplain also forms a separate natural area.

The main unit group Wendland and Altmark (86) is delimited and framed by the groups Lüneburger Heide (64) in the north-west, Weser-Aller-Flachland (62) in the south-west, Eastern Harz foreland and Börden (50) in the south and the Elbe valley lowlands (87) in the east and north.

As the only area of ​​the "old", western federal states - besides the Lower Saxon part of the Elbe valley - the Wendland, as well as the rest of the natural space unit, is included in the climatically already continental large region of the 3rd order of the central East German lowlands, while the neighboring Lüneburg Heath is still is attributed to the western geest landscapes.

Natural structure

The main unit group is divided into three-digit main units and finer units (decimal places) as follows:

climate

The area is located in the transition area between the Atlantic and continental major climatic zones of Central Europe and is largely classified as subcontinental . One can also speak of an inland lowland climate that is still influenced by the sea. In particular, in the lee ( rain shadow ) of larger terminal moraine ridges (see below), conditions with relatively little precipitation can be found. In the Lüchower Lowlands, the annual temperature fluctuation of 17.7 ° C is already one degree higher than in the subatlantic central Lüneburg Heath. With 28 summer days (maximum> 25 ° C) there are eight more and with 100 frost days (minimum <0 ° C) 20 more than in the central Lüneburg Heath. At 580 mm / a, the long-term mean precipitation is significantly lower than there (comparison value: 730 mm / a). Annual precipitation of 550 to 600 millimeters is also recorded in the Altmark. The average temperature in January is −1 to 0 ° C, in July 17 to 18 ° C.

Geology, soil science, water

The geomorphology of the Wendland and Altmark natural area was essentially shaped by the Saale Ice Age. Several prominent elevations from terminal moraine formations combined to form the so-called " southern land ridge " characterize the landscape. They are the result of the saale-glacial glacier advances and ice edge layers "Drenthe I" and "Drenthe II", but especially the latest "Warthe stage". The western boundary of the natural area is the Göhrde-Drawehn ridge (also: "Osthannoversche Endmoräne") and the Hellberge and the Colbitz-Letzlinger Heide in the southern part. This chain of terminal moraines is continued on the right bank of the Elbe in Fläming (on the map of natural space unit 85).

The highest elevation of the natural area is 160 meters above sea ​​level in the Hellberge north-west of Gardelegen ; the lowest point is barely 13 meters above sea level near Dannenberg on the edge of the Elbe valley.

The northern part, the Lüchower lowlands, is a weichselglazial overmolded lower terrace of fluvial and glaciofluvial sands. It is part of the Elbe glacial valley and is traversed by the lower course of the Jeetze (in Saxony-Anhalt) or Jeetzel (in Lower Saxony) and their tributaries - the largest flowing water within the natural space unit D29. Several saale-glacial Geestinseln , such as the “Öring”, the “Lemgow” and the “Langendorfer Geestinsel” as well as periglacial and Holocene blown drifting sand areas and dunes - especially the large “Gartower drifting sand hill” - interrupt the groundwater-like, partially boggy lowland character of the landscape . Towards the south there is an increasing number of loamy gley soils and finally in the Dumme-Landgraben-Grenzgraben-Niederung also Niedermoor peat .

This lowland, which historically was often a border area - also during the German division - extends as far as Salzwedel and also includes the Arendsee . With over five square kilometers of water, it is the largest natural lake in Saxony-Anhalt and 50 meters deep. The lowland is bounded in the south by the "Altmarkplatten", which are mainly located in deep loam and brown earth . These plates and "plateaus" of Pleistocene ground moraines and meltwater formations are structured by low terraces and channels with floodplain , bog and drifting sand areas, especially in their northern and eastern parts. The largest flowing water is the Jeetzel, which is called "Jeetze" in its upper course. Another noteworthy river is the Biese , which will be called Aland in the following . In the northwest, the ground moraines with the “Jeetzel-Dumme-Lehmplatte” in the “Swinmark” region (area around Bergen (Dumme) and Schnega ) also reach Lower Saxony.

To the south, the Altmark plates merge into the aforementioned terminal moraine landscapes, which are also summarized as "Altmarkheiden". As floors undulating flat relief of the dominate the Hellberge and Colbitz-Letzlinger Heide particular sand loess -Braunerde, Pale earth and sand-brown podsol . This landscape is comparatively poor in water.

Today's potential natural vegetation (PNV) and land use

If humans stopped cultivating the landscape and left it to natural succession , forests would be largely closed in the Central European lowlands - apart from extremely wet or dry locations and excluding the action of large herds of grazing animals (so-called megaherbivores ).

On the ground moraine and valley sand plates of the natural area "Wendland and Altmark", after passing through various succession societies, the large-scale development of beech forests in locations with poor bases would finally be expected as a climax stage . Depending on the site conditions, different associations would prevail from the wiry beech forest to the flutter grass beech forest. In the valley floodplains of the rivers, pedunculate oak and alluvial forest complexes would spread in locations with a poor base , and oak, hornbeam forests (mixed hardwood forests) and mixed ash forests in locations rich in bases . The formation of birch- oak forest (poorer, drier) and roller sedge - alder - broken forest complexes (richer, more humid) would be expected on fen soils . In dry-sandy areas that are poor in bases and nutrients, pine and birch-oak-beech forests would dominate the landscape.

In fact, these vegetation formations only exist today in small fragments and stages of degeneration, due to the practically extensive forest and agricultural reshaping of the landscape and surface drainage. Forests are found mainly on agriculturally inferior soils and generally consist of forest- specific tree species. Relatively high proportions of forest within the natural area exist in the Altmarkheiden in the south (approx. 40%; mainly pine forest ) and on the Geest hills and heights of drifting sand in the Wendland (for example " Gartower Tannen "; this is also pine forest). Otherwise there are mostly only smaller forest areas, for example in the damp to wet lowlands. A larger, moist forest complex in a base-poor, slightly acidic location is the so-called "Lucie" (more precisely: Wald-Lucie) in the Lüchower lowlands. In the Dumme-Landgraben-Grenzgraben-Niederung there are also extensive wet alder forests.

In the Colbitz-Letzlinger Heide in the south of the natural area there is the huge military training area "Battle Center Altmark", which has led to a specific development of the landscape with large heather - and grasslands - as well as sandy raw soil areas. Among the forests there is not only pine forest but also what is probably the largest contiguous linden forest in Europe.

Most of the landscape is shaped by agricultural land. The use of grassland is generally limited to floodplain and fen areas as well as dry hills. In contrast, arable farming dominates in many parts. The intensive cultivation of grain and maize on large fields leads to a sometimes monotonous appearance, especially on the more productive soils of the Altmark plates . In the Wendland, which is more dominated by small farmers, a more fragmented, more varied landscape has been preserved. Various regional land consolidation processes , especially in the 1960s to 1980s, together with the ubiquitous surface drainage of the lowlands, however, also led to a significant environmental impoverishment compared to the situation in the first half of the 20th century.

Flora and fauna

Due to its climatic and biogeographical transitional location as well as the relatively thin human settlement, a comparatively rich flora and fauna could be preserved in the natural space unit "Wendland and Altmark". Species with oceanic distribution often have their last inland outposts here, while, conversely, continentally distributed species just barely penetrate to the west. The landscape is still structured in very small parts in some areas and therefore offers a more favorable network for plant and animal populations in the sense of the biotope network than in some other landscapes in northern Germany. The floodplain of the Elbe, which borders the area to the east and north, also plays an outstanding role in this context .

In relation to the state of Lower Saxony, the Hannoversche Wendland holds various superlatives with regard to the abundance of species despite some negative landscape changes that can also be observed here. This applies to the occurrence of flowering plants as well as to the presence of breeding bird species . The diversity and population sizes of amphibians in the area with plenty of water are also outstanding - for example with what is probably the most significant contiguous occurrence of the tree frog within the “old” federal states of Germany after the neighboring Elbe valley lowlands .

This above-average biological richness continues, at least in part, into the northern Altmark. After the somewhat more monotonous areas of the central Altmark plates, the diversity of the living world in the southern terminal moraine areas is increasing again - this applies in particular to the Colbitz-Letzlinger Heide Nature Park , which is largely free of settlement and hardly cut by roads, with sand and gorse heaths and the occurrence of many birds, Insects and reptiles . Uniform secondary afforestation from Scots pines in former heather and grassland areas, however, also in parts of the southern part of the natural area creates monotonous landscapes.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j E. Meynen and J. Schmithüsen : Handbook of the natural spatial structure of Germany , Federal Institute for Regional Studies, 8th delivery, Bad Godesberg 1961 (a total of 9 deliveries in 8 books, updated map 1: 1,000. 000 with main units 1960)
  2. ^ Wolfgang Meibeyer : Geographical land survey: The natural spatial units on sheet 58 Lüneburg. Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1980. → Online map (PDF; 4.8 MB)
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Meibeyer : Geographical Land Survey: The natural spatial units on sheet 74 Salzwedel. Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1970. → Online map (PDF; 4.7 MB)
  4. ^ H. Claus: Geographische Landesaufnahme: The natural space units on sheet 75 Stendal. Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1964. → Online map (PDF; 4.1 MB)