The term Luch (plural: Luche) is German and refers to an area of originally expansive, marshy or boggy lowland in northeast Germany, especially in the state of Brandenburg. Luche are found mainly in Young Drift regions; but they also occur on Old Drift landscapes. According to Leser the term should not be translated. [1]
Luche mainly formed in the main urstromtal valleys or their side valleys. After the end of the Ice Age, the water table rose during the postglacial period resulting in the formation of bogs. The peat thickness is not particularly great; in most cases it is less than 2 metres thick. Before the installation of artificial drainage networks excess water often accumulated in the Luche in ponds. In contrast with lowlands with natural watercourses, they were give a different name from the neighbouring Bruche (carrs), such as the Oderbruch to the east and the Hohennauen Bruch on the Havel to the west.
Most of the Luche in Brandenburg have since been drained by man and have become cultural landscapes. After land improvement, they were commonly used as grassland. Archaeologists like Klaus Goldmann believe that some of this reclamation began during the Slavic period, but that this was reversed by a worsening of the drainage conditions as a result of the construction of mill dams on the Havel.
There are many Luche in Brandenburg; the largest are however beyond its state borders. Even several placenames are derived from the term Luch. Examples are Luckenwalde and Doberlug.
If the generic term Luch is used, it usually refers to the regions of the Havelland Luch or Rhinluch.
– Most of these Luche are parts of larger Luche as shown in the list –
A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over a very long period of time. Some valleys are formed through erosion by glacial ice. These glaciers may remain present in valleys in high mountain or polar areas. At lower latitudes and altitudes, these glacially formed valleys may have been created or enlarged during ice ages but now are ice-free and occupied by streams or rivers. In desert areas, valleys may be entirely dry or carry a watercourse only rarely. In areas of limestone bedrock, dry valleys may also result from drainage taking place underground rather than at the surface. Rift valleys arise principally from earth movements, rather than erosion. Many different types of valley are described by geographers, using terms that may be global in use or else applied only locally.
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.
Havelland is a district or county in Brandenburg, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Ostprignitz-Ruppin and Oberhavel, the city-state of Berlin, the district of Potsdam-Mittelmark, the city of Brandenburg and the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
The Elbe Sandstone Mountains, also called the Elbe Sandstone Highlands is 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.
Nauen is a small town in the Havelland district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is chiefly known for Nauen Transmitter Station, the world's oldest preserved radio transmitting installation.
In topography, a drainage divide, water divide, divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a single range of hills or mountains, known as a dividing range. On flat terrain, especially where the ground is marshy, the divide may be harder to discern.
Werder (Havel) is a town in the state of Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Havel river in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, west of the state's capital Potsdam.
The Margraviate of Brandenburg was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe.
Schönwalde-Glien is a municipality in the Havelland district, in Brandenburg, Germany.
The North German Plain or Northern Lowland is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the north, Germany's Central Uplands to the south, by the Netherlands to the west and Poland to the east.
This division of Germany into major natural regions takes account primarily of geomorphological, geological, hydrological, and pedological criteria in order to divide the country into large, physical units with a common geographical basis. Political boundaries play no part in this, apart from defining the national border.
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".
The Barnim Plateau is a plateau which is occupied by the northeastern parts of Berlin and the surrounding federal state of Brandenburg in Germany.
The Saxon-Lower Lusatian Heathland is a natural region in the German state of Saxony. The current natural region division of the Free State of Saxony groups landscape units of the upper geochore or sub-regional level into three "Saxon natural regions" to produce a large-scale classification. These are part of higher order (cross-border) natural regions, whereas the landscape units previously used described areas that were largely confined within the borders of Saxony.
The Rhinluch is a fen landscape in the German state of Brandenburg, bisected by the river Rhin to which it owes its name. This wetland region lies north of Fehrbellin in the county of Ostprignitz-Ruppin. The upper Rhinluch covers an area of about 23,000 hectares. The suffix luch is used to describe several wet areas in the state of Brandenburg, in which, prior to the advent of modern drainage systems, water remained largely stagnant rather than flowing.
The Havelland Luch is a lowland area inside a bend of the River Havel west of Berlin, and forms the heart of the Havelland region.
A Ländchen is the German name given to several Ice Age plateaux in the Havelland region, which climb to over 70 metres above the formerly marshy urstromtal levels of the Havelland Luch and the Rhinluch. The difference between these Ländchen and the surrounding countryside is even more marked because of the different land uses to which they are put. Extensive pastures in the lowlands contrast with the arable fields and woods on the low hills. Geologically they are largely complete formations of ground moraine from the Saale and Weichselian glaciations that, in places, are covered by gently rolling end moraines.
Geographically, the Havelland is the region around which the River Havel flows in a U-shape between Oranienburg to the northeast and Rhinow to the northwest. The northern boundary of the Havelland is formed by the River Rhin and the Rhin Canal. In the history of Brandenburg, the Havelland represents a historic region.
The Nauen Plateau is a low plateau in the German states of Brandenburg and Berlin. It rises above the surrounding countryside by an average of 15 metres (49 ft) and is a largely contiguous upland area that was formed during the Saale and Weichselian glaciations. It consists predominantly of ground moraine deposits, partly overlain by gently rolling end moraine formations. Whilst the neighbouring regions of Zauche to the south, the Teltow to the southeast and the Barnim to the northeast have the same name as their geological formation, the cultural landscape on the Nauen Plateau bears the historical and regional name of Havelland. That said, the river country of the Havelland extends beyond the plateau to include the Havel valley and other lowland areas.
The Central Brandenburg Plateaux and Lowlands form a natural region in the German state of Brandenburg and in parts of southwest Berlin and the east of Saxony-Anhalt. They are major unit group 81 in the system of natural regions of Germany and part of the East German Plateaux and Heathlands. The Brandenburg portion of the Central Brandenburg Plateaux and Lowlands is largely coincident with the natural region designated as the Central March in the structural atlas of the state of Brandenburg.