The Domfelsen is a rock formation near Magdeburg Cathedral, part of which juts out into the River Elbe in Germany. The name means "Cathedral Rocks"
The Domfelsen is a rock formation near Magdeburg Cathedral, part of which juts out into the River Elbe in Germany. The name means "Cathedral Rocks"
The Domfelsen consists mainly of sandstone with a small proportion of siltstone. The rock is part of the rotliegendes formation and thus dates to the Lower Permian period. This outcrop of bedrock may be viewed as a continuation of the Flechtingen Hills that, in the urban area of Magdeburg, is mostly covered by a thin layer of Quaternary depositions.
The rocks are of particular significance for river navigation on the Elbe and also for the river's ecosystem. The rocks, which are clearly visible on the west bank below the cathedral when water levels are low, affect local current conditions. Even during high water, ships can only pass down the river by sailing close to the eastern bank. Commercial shipping is not allowed to cross at this point; traffic is regulated remotely by a light system. The speed of the current in the Elbe is considerably higher at this point due to the narrowing of the river. Low-powered, motorised barges can therefore only make their way upstream here with the aid of a tug.
Historically the rocks were important because it was likely that a ford had been created here by the Elbe which could eventually have resulted in the settlement that led to the city of Magdeburg growing up on its present site.
The Domfelsen were chosen as the site of the cathedral because they made a firmer foundation than the surrounding land. Because the rocks in the river are only exposed at low water levels, which are associated with drought and poor harvest, they were also nicknamed the Hungerfelsen by the local population. [1]
The Domfelsen is accessible on foot from the west bank at low water. A staircase built in summer 2007 improves access to the rocks considerably. [1] On the landward side the remains of the Southern Railway Fortress Gate (Südliches Eisenbahnfestungstor) rise over the Domfelsen.
The authorities responsible for river navigation repeatedly put forward proposals to remove the rocks from the river in order to improve navigation for shipping. A citizens' initiative, Pro Elbe, is opposed to such attempts. Apart from fears of the impact on water levels in the floodplains, especially upriver, opponents criticize the removal of the rock which is seen as the first step of the ecologically controversial and unapproved expansion of the River Saale.
Fears that work on Domfelsen could affect the stability of the Magdeburg Cathedral, have not been confirmed by recent work.
Magdeburg is the capital of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Saxony-Anhalt is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of 20,451.7 square kilometres (7,896.4 sq mi) and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the 8th-largest state in Germany by area and the 11th-largest by population. Its capital is Magdeburg and its largest city is Halle (Saale).
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia, then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 kilometres northwest of Hamburg. Its total length is 1,094 km (680 mi).
The Aller is a 215-kilometre-long (134 mi) river in the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony in Germany. It is a right-hand, and hence eastern, tributary of the Weser and is also its largest tributary. Its last 117 kilometres (73 mi) form the Lower Aller federal waterway. The Aller was extensively straightened, widened and, in places, dyked, during the 1960s to provide flood control of the river. In a 20-kilometre-long (12 mi) section near Gifhorn, the river meanders in its natural river bed.
The Havel is a river in northeastern Germany, flowing through the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. It is a right tributary of the Elbe and 325 kilometres (202 mi) long. However, the direct distance from its source to its mouth is only 94 kilometres (58 mi). For much of its length, the Havel is navigable; it provides an important link in the waterway connections between the east and west of Germany, as well as beyond.
In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It often refers to those submerged ridges, banks, or bars that rise near enough to the surface of a body of water as to constitute a danger to navigation. Shoals are also known as sandbanks, sandbars, or gravelbars. Two or more shoals that are either separated by shared troughs or interconnected by past or present sedimentary and hydrographic processes are referred to as a shoal complex.
A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of 4–64 mm (0.16–2.52 in) based on the Udden-Wentworth scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered larger than granules and smaller than cobbles. A rock made predominantly of pebbles is termed a conglomerate. Pebble tools are among the earliest known man-made artifacts, dating from the Palaeolithic period of human history.
The Elbe Sandstone Mountains, also called the Elbe Sandstone Highlands, are a mountain range straddling the border between the state of Saxony in southeastern Germany and the North Bohemian region of the Czech Republic, with about three-quarters of the area lying on the German side. In both countries, core parts of the mountain range have been declared a national park. The name derives from the sandstone which was carved by erosion. The river Elbe breaks through the mountain range in a steep and narrow valley.
Magdeburg Cathedral, officially called the Cathedral of Saints Maurice and Catherine, is a Protestant cathedral in Germany and the oldest Gothic cathedral in the country. It is the proto-cathedral of the former Prince-Archbishopric of Magdeburg. Today it is the principal church of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany. The south steeple is 99.25 m tall, the north tower 100.98 m, making it one of the tallest cathedrals in eastern Germany. The cathedral is likewise the landmark of Magdeburg, the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, and is also home to the grave of Emperor Otto I the Great and his first wife Edith.
Navigable aqueducts are bridge structures that carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railways or roads. They are primarily distinguished by their size, carrying a larger cross-section of water than most water-supply aqueducts. Roman aqueducts were used to transport water and were created in Ancient Rome. The 662-metre (2,172 ft) long steel Briare aqueduct carrying the Canal latéral à la Loire over the River Loire was built in 1896. It was ranked as the longest navigable aqueduct in the world for more than a century, until the Magdeburg Water Bridge in Germany took the title in the early 21st century.
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater stream, flowing on the surface or inside caves towards another waterbody at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, sea, bay, lake, wetland, or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground or becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of water. Small rivers can be referred to using names such as creek, brook, and rivulet. There are no official definitions for the generic term river as applied to geographic features, although in some countries or communities, a stream is defined by its size. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; examples are "run" in some parts of the United States, "burn" in Scotland and Northeast England, and "beck" in Northern England. Sometimes a river is defined as being larger than a creek, but not always: the language is vague.
The Manych Ship Canal is a canal between the Black Sea lagoon the Sea of Azov and the Caspian Sea.
The Magdeburg Börde is the central landscape unit of the state of Saxony-Anhalt and lies to the west and south of the eponymous state capital Magdeburg. Part of a loess belt stretching along the southeastern rim of the North German Plain, it is noted for its very fertile Chernozem soils.
Chain-boat navigation or chain-ship navigation is a little-known chapter in the history of shipping on European rivers. From around the middle of the 19th century, vessels called chain boats were used to haul strings of barges upstream by using a fixed chain lying on the bed of a river. The chain was raised from the riverbed to pass over the deck of the steamer, being hauled by a heavy winch powered by a steam engine. A variety of companies operated chain boat services on rivers such as the Elbe, Rhine, Neckar, Main, Saale, Havel, Spree and Saône as well as other rivers in Belgium and the Netherlands. Chain boats were also used in the United States.
The Flechtingen Hills are a wooded, hilly upland area up to 179 m high in the northwestern part of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, named after the town of Flechtingen.
An urstromtal is a type of broad glacial valley, for example, in northern Central Europe, that appeared during the ice ages, or individual glacial periods of an ice age, at the edge of the Scandinavian ice sheet and was formed by meltwaters that flowed more or less parallel to the ice margin. Urstromtäler are an element of the glacial series. The term is German and means "ancient stream valley". Although often translated as "glacial valley", it should not be confused with a valley carved out by a glacier. More accurately some sources call them "meltwater valleys" or "ice-marginal valleys".
Extreme flooding in Central Europe began after several days of heavy rain in late May and early June 2013. Flooding and damages primarily affected south and east German states, western regions of the Czech Republic (Bohemia), and Austria. In addition, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary were affected to a lesser extent. The flood crest progressed down the Elbe and Danube drainage basins and tributaries, leading to high water and flooding along their banks.
A chain boat, chain tug or chain-ship was a type of river craft, used in the second half of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century on many European rivers, that made use of a steel chain laid along the riverbed for its propulsion. The chain was engaged using a steam engine mounted on board and enabled the boat to tow a string of barges. In Germany, such a boat was variously referred to as a Kettenschleppschiff, Kettenschlepper, Kettendampfer or Kettenschiff and in France as a toueur.