Westphalian Bay

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Westphalian Bay
Systematics according to Handbook of the natural spatial structure of Germany
Greater region 1st order North German Lowlands
Greater region 3rd order 54 →
Westphalian Bay
Geographical location
Coordinates 51 ° 57 '46.6 "  N , 7 ° 37' 43.3"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 57 '46.6 "  N , 7 ° 37' 43.3"  E
The southwest of the north German lowlands with the Westphalian Bay (54)
The southwest of the north German lowlands with the Westphalian Bay (54)
state North Rhine-Westphalia , Lower Saxony
Country Germany

The Westphalian Bight , also Münsterländer or Westphalian lowlands or flatlands , is a flat landscape that is mainly located in Westphalia and only to a very small extent in North Rhine (extreme south-west) and Lower Saxony (peripheral areas in the north). It is, after the Lower Rhine Bay and together with the Lower Rhine Lowland adjoining it to the west , the second-southernmost part of the North German Plain in western Germany.

The Westphalian Bight consists of the individual parts of the Münsterland , the Emscherland adjoining it in the western south and, even further south, the areas around the Hellweg flanking the Sauerland .

In terms of natural space , the Westphalian Bight represents a main unit group and is classified in the manual of the natural spatial structure of Germany with the code number 54 , in the BfN system with the same limits as D34 . Deviating from the natural spatial delimitation and structure, the bay can also be interpreted and delimited geomorphologically in various other ways, in particular by the ice margins of the cold ages .

Natural structure

The main unit group Westphalian Lowland divided natural area in the following main units (three digits):

Location and limits

The character of a bay in the Westphalian Bay lies in the fact that it is separated from the northeast to the east by parts of the Lower Saxon mountainous region and to the south by the north of the southern mountainous region directly by low mountain ranges that tower above the bay by several hundred meters.

The boundary line of the natural area runs clockwise, starting in the north, starting from Rheine to the southeast along the southern edge of the Teutoburg Forest from southwest Osnabrück via (just) southwest Bielefeld to the interface between the Teutoburg Forest and the Egge Mountains . From here, the border to the Paderborn plateau in front of the Egge runs to the south-southwest via Paderborn and Büren .

From the east of Rüthen , the border with the North Sauerland Oberland (including the Arnsberg Forest ) runs in a westerly direction, passes the Möhnesee immediately south of the Haarstranges and then runs south of the Hellweg at the interface with the Lower Sauerland to south of Dortmund , from where it continues to the west further north of the Ardey Mountains and subsequent parts of the Niederbergisch-Märkisches Hügelland over the south of Bochum and Essen on the Ruhr heights to a hill ( 164.7  m ) north of Kettwig and immediately before Mülheim .

From the east of Mülheim, the now northerly, inconspicuous border to the Lower Rhine lowlands runs through Bottrop , Dorsten , Borken and finally, along the border with the Netherlands , to Gronau .

In purely geomorphological terms, the south-western border to the flatter Rhine Plain runs a little further west:
The Lower Rhine sand plates (main unit 578) with Oberhausen , Hünxe and Bocholt adjoin the West Munsterland without noticeable elevation to the west and only fall to the Issel (576) and Middle Lower Rhine Plain (575 ) noticeably off to the west. Similarly, the Paderborn plateau (main unit 362) in the south east is geomorphologically up to a certain degree a natural part of the bay, which is only sharply delimited by the Eggekamm. The rocks on it are similar to those on the much narrower strand of hair that extends westward. On the other hand, the valleys of the plateau, which are formed by the river system of the Alme , are clearly deepened and noticeably different from the broad and less deep valleys of the Münsterland. Their transition to Obermöhne- and Almewald (334.6), Briloner plateau (334.7) and Fürstenberger Wald (334.8) as parts of the North Sauerland Oberland (main unit 334) runs without any notable elevation.

Cities

The largest cities in the Westphalian Bay in the southwest are the cities of the central and eastern Ruhr area north of the Ruhr and the cities of Münster in the center, Gütersloh and Paderborn on the eastern edge. In contrast, only a small part of the south of Bielefeld (Brackwede, Senne, Sennestadt) lies in the north of the bay, while the core city is separated by the ridge of the Teutoburg Forest.

The most populous cities in the Westphalian Bight are (in brackets the population in thousands, as of December 31, 2017):

Rivers

Important river systems in the Münsterland are the Lippe river system , the upper reaches of the IJssel system with Issel , Bocholter Aa , Schlinge , Berkel and Ahauser Aa , the Dinkel system and that of the upper reaches of its Vechte river , the system of the upper Ems and, in the Emscherland , that of the eponymous Emscher .

Right tributaries of the Möhne and the Ruhr Unterlauf play a rather minor role in the extreme south, on Hellweg .

Ridges and island mountains

In the Münsterland there are some larger mountain ranges and various island mountains. On the southern edge, however, lies the Haarstrang in the east and a few remote offshoots of the Rhenish Slate Mountains and loess and gravel heights in the west. In the following, a few mountain ranges that are not yet in the natural area are listed, as has been declared. The mountain ranges are arranged according to their height above sea level, the respective natural area is indicated after a dash; all the elevations listed are also shown on the relief map:

Interpretation of terms

The term Münsterland Bay , which is occasionally used synonymously for the Westphalian Bay, characterizes that a large part of the low-lying plains area is taken up by the central and eastern Münsterland , so it is to be understood as “ pars pro toto ”.

The use of the term “bay” refers to the geological formation of this landscape, which is half enclosed by low mountain ranges, it once formed a sea bay of the chalk sea , the shape of which can still be read in the topography today.

Residents

The majority of the inhabitants of the Westphalian Bight live in the southern peripheral zone, in the area of ​​the historic Westphalian Hellweg , especially in the northern Ruhr area .

paleontology

At various places in the Westphalian Bight, giant ammonites have been found in the Cretaceous layers of the subsurface , for example during the construction of the subway in Dortmund . These cephalopods with a shell diameter of more than two meters are the largest known invertebrates .

The Westphalian Bay in the narrower and broader sense

Relief of the Westphalian Bay; in black the natural area boundaries (including Lower Rhine sand plates , 578), in brown the western boundary of the main unit group 54 (in green the boundary from the Upper Cretaceous to the Lower Cretaceous), in red the boundaries of the bay in the narrower sense and in blue the boundaries of the bay in the broadest or glacial Senses

From a German point of view, it makes sense to define the Westphalian Bight in such a way that it roughly corresponds to the northern part of Westphalia , and to let it end to the northwest at the Dutch border. From a natural point of view, it also makes sense to separate the Paderborn plateau from the Lower Saxon mountainous region . However, other boundaries can also be interpreted. In any case, the fixed and sharp outer borders of the bay are the ridge of the Teutoburg Forest in the northeast and the Haarstrang , Ardey Mountains and Ruhr heights in the south.

The greater natural region of Westphalian Bay

The western boundary of the greater natural region 54 largely corresponds to the genetic western boundary of the Upper Cretaceous or, in the north, that of the Lower Cretaceous to rocks of the Oligocene . Upper chalk can be found in almost the entire bay and on the Paderborn plateau. In map 1: 1,000,000 of the Handbook of the Natural Spatial Structure of Germany from 1960, this limit is also indicated in the Netherlands or returns to Germany north-west of Ahaus for a short time. In the refinement 1: 200,000 on sheet 83/84 Osnabrück / Bentheim by the same author who was also responsible for the group in the manual (Sofie Meisel), which appeared in 1961, it ends at the Dutch border west of Bad Bentheim and returns to Sheet area not back. In the southern connection sheet, sheet 95/96 Kleve / Wesel (Wilhelm von Kürten 1977), it is also not shown on the Dutch side and begins on the German side between Winterswijk and Borken .

The Kernmünsterland (main unit 541) extends from the tree mountains and the Schöppinger back and the Altenberger back extending from Burgsteinfurt after Munster draws, to the southeast to the Lipper heights and the Beckum Hills besides eastern slope and takes nominally also the valley of the lip of between Olfen and Datteln upriver to Benninghausen in the west of the urban area of Lippstadt . To the northeast and east of it lies the Ostmünsterland (540) on the Ems and the Upper Lippe, northwest to west of it the Westmünsterland (544), which contains the mountain ranges of the Haltern Mountains in the southeast and the valley of the Lippe to the west of Dorsten in the south .

In the loess-rich south of the bay, the Hellwegbörden (542) extend from Paderborn in the east to the west of Dortmund in the west and in the Witten-Hörder Mulde to Witten and directly in front of the Ruhr valley . To the west of this, the south of the bay is divided into two main units, namely the Emscherland (543) with the Vestic ridge and the Emscher valley from Dortmund to Oberhausen in the north and the less gently undulating natural area Westenhellweg (545) immediately north of the Ruhr valley between Witten and Mülheim , in which the cities of Bochum and Essen are also located.

The Westphalian Bay in the narrowest sense

Between the north-western end of the ridge of the Teutoburg Forest and the western end of the Rhenish Slate Mountains, the bay is cordoned off by various mountain ranges, between which, however, there are flat, undulating edges with river courses and which join in a zigzag:

The Westphalian Bay in the broadest or glacial sense

Schematic representation of the maximum glacier advances of the three last glaciers in the north German lowlands:
  • Ice edge of the Vistula glaciation
  • Ice edge of the Saale Glaciation
  • Ice edge of the Elster Glaciation
  • During the Elster glaciation , the oldest of the glaciers, the North German lowlands were glaciated, but the Westphalian Bight was not. The glaciers did not reach the entire bay until the Saale glacial period , but in its Drenthe stage it remained unglaciated. In this, the Ankumer Höhe (up to 142 m) , which adjoins the Wiehengebirge to the northwest, together with the Dammer Mountains (up to 146 m) opposite it in the east and the Lingener Höhe (up to 91 m) extending to the west, formed an ice edge layer ( terminal moraine ). In the long-term stable, almost maximum extent of the Saale glaciation, however, the ice spread into the entire bay and west of it to the terminal moraines of the Veluwe (up to 110 m) west of Apeldoorn in the west and the Lower Rhine ridge between Nijmegen and Krefeld in the southwest. The difference between the two ice edge layers defines a Westphalian Bay in the broader sense , about one third of its area in the Netherlands .

    While in the delimitation of the bay in the narrowest sense of the word, the locking line runs perpendicular to the sharp edge ridges, ridges that extend the Wiehengebirge, which is parallel to the Teutoburg Forest to the north-west and then to the west, define a significantly larger, but much more blurred bay towards the north-west . To the north-east of Rheine, there is initially a flat, undulating landscape that is only blocked by the Ankumer Höhe, followed by further mountain ranges to the west:

    The extended Westphalian Bay is only partially blocked to the west to the north, to the north to the west by the Veluwe but without any noteworthy interruptions, to the south-west on the Lower Rhine heights with slight gaps.

    See also

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ E. Meynen and J. Schmithüsen : Handbook of the natural spatial structure of Germany - Federal Institute for Regional Studies, 6th delivery Remagen 1959 (9 deliveries in 8 books 1953–1962, updated map 1: 1,000,000 with main units 1960)
    2. Federal Agency for Nature Conservation: Main natural areas of Germany  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF online, 1.22 MB)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bfn.de  
    3. Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information ) - Map service "Protected areas" shows the boundaries of the main unit group ("Natural areas") and the main units, the somewhat coarser map service "Landscapes" divides the natural areas a little more finely.
    4. ^ Emil Meynen , Josef Schmithüsen (Ed.): Handbook of the natural spatial structure of Germany . Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Remagen / Bad Godesberg 1953–1962 (9 deliveries in 8 books, updated map 1: 1,000,000 with main units 1960).
    5. ^ Sofie Meisel: Geographical Land Survey: The natural space units on sheet 83/84 Osnabrück / Bentheim. Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1961. →  Online map (PDF; 6.4 MB)
    6. ^ Wilhelm von Kürten: Geographical land survey: The natural space units on sheet 95/96 Kleve / Wesel. Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1977. →  Online map (PDF; 6.9 MB)

    Web links

    Commons : Westphalian Bay  - Collection of images, videos and audio files