South Harz Zechstein belt
The southern Harz Zechstein belt is a hilly landscape characterized by karst phenomena on the southern edge of the Harz in the districts of Göttingen , Nordhausen and Mansfeld-Südharz .
The landscape stands out from most of the neighboring landscapes due to the upcoming Zechstein and belongs to the southern Harz region.
Geographical location
The southern Harz Zechstein belt stretches as a narrow strip from one to seven kilometers wide and up to about 60 kilometers in length between Bad Lauterberg in the west, Nordhausen in the south and northern Sangerhausen in the east. Important localities are Bad Sachsa and Ellrich in the western part, Niedersachswerfen and Rottleberode in the middle part and Großleinungen in the eastern part.
The former inner-German border ran between Ellrich and Bad Sachsa and is now part of the Green Belt .
Natural classification
The southern Harz Zechstein belt, which has a total area of approx. 267 km², is subdivided within the natural spatial main unit group Thuringian Basin (with edge plates) as follows:
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(for 47/48 Thuringian basins (with edge plates) )
- 485 South Harz Zechstein Belt
- 485.0 Walkenried Zechstein hill country
- 485.1 Petersdorfer Zechsteinhügelland
- 485.2 Uftrunger Zechsteingürtel
- 485.3 Valley meadows of the southern Harz rivers
- 485 South Harz Zechstein Belt
Neighboring natural spaces and landscapes of the southern Harz Zechstein belt start clockwise in the north:
- the Harz with the Upper Harz ( Ravensberg : 659 m), Lower Harz ( Poppenberg : 601 m) and the eastern Harz roofing (Hoher Kopf: 457 m) in the north
- the Lower Unstrut mountain and hill country in the east and middle south
- the northern Thuringian hill country in the western south
- in the west, the south-western Harz foreland with the Bartolfelder and Scharzfelder Zechstein areas merges without a sharp border into the southern Harz zechstein belt
Classification according to TLUG
According to the purely inner- Thuringian division The natural spaces of Thuringia of the Thuringian State Institute for Environment and Geology in Jena (TLUG), the southern Harz zechstein belt is part of the 117 km² unit 7.1 Zechstein belt on the southern Harz within the large unit Zechstein belt on mountain edges .
In the BfN landscape profiles , which differ from the manual , the southern Harz zechstein belt of the same name is specified with an area of 215 km².
Geology and nature
The landscape is geologically shaped by the Zechstein , interspersed with limestone and in the middle section in particular also gypsum , the mining of which has strongly shaped the landscape. Stone gravel from the Harz Mountains can be found in the river valleys. Numerous karst springs , sinkholes and some caves ( Heimkehle ) are typical of the region .
The area, which slopes gently to the south, is strongly structured by the numerous southern Harz rivers. The Zechstein belt is used for agriculture, but there are also smaller and larger forest areas (e.g. Alter Stolberg). There are also many open karst areas, which are characterized by dry slopes and steppe heaths with their rare flora and fauna.
In addition to the Karstlandschaft Südharz biosphere reserve, there are numerous landscape and nature reserves.
mountains
In the highly indented hilly landscape the most important mountains are from west to east:
- Römerstein (345.0 m), south of Steina
- Langenberg (336.8 m), south of Ellrich
- Kohnstein (334.9 m), southwest of Niedersachswerfen
- Buchholzer Berg (350.1 m), near Rüdigsdorf ( Rüdigsdorfer Switzerland )
- Königskopf (357.7 m), west of Stempeda ( Alter Stolberg )
- High head (351.1 m), south of Breitungen
- Roter Kopf (339.8 m), east of Questenberg
- Pufferberg (373.3 m), northeast of Pölsdorf
Waters
Numerous small rivers and streams from the southern Harz Mountains cross the Zechstein belt in the direction of the Helme , u. a. ( Uffe , Wieda , Zorge , Bere , Sülze , Thyra , Nasse , Leine , Gonna ).
The area itself is shaped by the karst landscape. Part of the precipitation, but also smaller streams (such as the Glasebach , Dinsterbach and Ankenbach ) seep into the subsoil (stream shrinkage ) and reappear elsewhere (e.g. Salzaspring ). On the other hand, there are also numerous small lakes and ponds in various regions (Itelteich near Walkenried, crane oak near Bad Sachsa and Erdfallsee near Liebenrode).
Tourism
The southern Harz with its varied landscape and nature is an interesting hiking area, including the Karst hiking trail , which opens up the various characteristics of the landscape. Sights are:
- Heimkehle , a cave at Uftrungen
- Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp memorial near Nordhausen
- Walkenried Monastery
- Natural monument Kelle cave near Appenrode
Individual evidence
- ^ E. Meynen and J. Schmithüsen : 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)
- ↑ J. Spönemann: Geographical land survey: The natural spatial units on sheet 100 Halberstadt - Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1970 → online map
- ↑ The eastern parts of the Zechstein belt would have been on sheet 101 Dessau , which was no longer published and was therefore not described in more detail
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^ Walter Hiekel, Frank Fritzlar, Andreas Nöllert and Werner Westhus: The natural spaces of Thuringia . Ed .: Thuringian State Institute for Environment and Geology (TLUG), Thuringian Ministry for Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Environment . 2004, ISSN 0863-2448 . → Natural area map of Thuringia (TLUG) - PDF; 260 kB → Maps by district (TLUG)
