Middle Rhine Basin

Last updated
Map Mayen Koblenz.jpg
Map

The Middle Rhine Basin (German : Mittelrheinische Becken) is the central landscape region of the Middle Rhine in Germany and, along with the Limburg Basin, forms one of the biggest intra-montane lowland regions within the Rhenish Massif. The basin is divided into the valley bottom of the Neuwied Basin, the Neuwied Basin Perimeter east of the Rhine and the Lower Moselle Valley west of the Rhine in the south, and the Maifeld-Pellenz Hills in the north.

Contents

The basin is bounded on the east of the Rhine in the northeast and east by the slopes of the Westerwald and, on the west of the Rhine, from north to southwest by the Eifel mountains, and in the southeast by the valley of the Moselle above Moselkern. Its mild winters and dry climate enable intensive agriculture, which is why the landscape has few woods.

Natural regions

The Handbook of Natural Region Divisions of Germany groups the Middle Rhine Basin within major unit group 29, the Middle Rhine Region, but classifies it as a major unit in its own right (no. 291) and subdivides it into the following sub-units: [1] [2] [3] [4]

Neuwied Basin

This lowland area, also called the Koblenz-Neuwied Basin, which lies between the towns of Koblenz and Neuwied runs for a distance of c. 22 river kilometres along the Rhine and separates the narrow valley of Upper Rhine from that of the Middle Rhine. Due to its fertile soils, the Neuwied Basin has been settled from the earliest times. The countryside is today characterised as much by intensive fruit growing as industrial sites. The urban area of the Neuwied Basin has a population of about 300,000.

Cities and towns

Maifeld

The Elzbach and Eltz Castle Burg Eltz 2005.jpg
The Elzbach and Eltz Castle

This southwestern part of the Middle Rhine Basin is particularly striking due to its gently rolling hills. It is bounded by the river valleys of the Moselle (southeast) and Elz (southwest), which cut deeply into the hill country; its northwest border is partly formed by the Nette. This regions is mainly utilised for agriculture. The soils are considered particularly fertile. Towns in the Maifeld are Polch (seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Maifeld in the county of Mayen-Koblenz, but strictly speaking in the Pellenz) and Münstermaifeld.

Pellenz

This hill country forms the northwestern part of the basin between Mayen and Andernach. It is characterized by agriculture and open-cast mining (pumice and lava sand) and the associated building materials industry. The river Nette flows through the hilly landscape which slopes gently from west to east towards the Rhine and separates it from the Maifeld.

Related Research Articles

Eifel Low mountain range in Germany

The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of Belgium.

Mayen-Koblenz is a district (Kreis) in the north of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Ahrweiler, Neuwied, Westerwaldkreis, district-free Koblenz, Rhein-Lahn, Rhein-Hunsrück, Cochem-Zell, and Vulkaneifel.

Mayen Place in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Mayen is a town in the Mayen-Koblenz District of the Rhineland-Palatinate Federal State of Germany, in the eastern part of the Volcanic Eifel Region. As well as the main town, additional settlements include Alzheim, Kürrenberg, Hausen-Betzing, Hausen and Nitztal. Mayen is the administrative centre of the Vordereifel ‘Collective Municipality’, although it is not part of the municipality.

Rhin-et-Moselle

Rhin-et-Moselle was a department of the First French Republic and First French Empire in present-day Germany. It was named after the rivers Rhine and Moselle. It was formed in 1798, when the left bank of the Rhine was annexed by France. Until the French occupation, its territory was divided between the Archbishopric of Cologne, the Archbishopric of Trier, and the Electorate of the Palatinate. Its territory is now part of the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia. Its capital was Koblenz.

Middle Rhine River in Germany

Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the river Rhine flows as the Middle Rhine through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river at about its original level, and the surrounding lands raised. This gorge is quite deep, about 130 metres (430 ft) from the top of the rocks down to the average water-line.

Leine Uplands

The Leine Uplands is a region in Germany's Central Uplands which forms a part of the Lower Saxon Hills and lies along the River Leine between Göttingen and Hanover. It borders on the Weser Uplands in the west, the Innerste Uplands in the northeast, the Harz in the east and Untereichsfeld in the southeast.

Külf Mountain ridge in Germany

The Külf is a ridge, up to 260 m above NN, in the Leine Uplands in the district of Hildesheim in the German state of Lower Saxony.

Leininger Sporn

The Leininger Sporn is a highly prominent ridge in the northeast of the Palatinate Forest in western Germany, mainly composed of the rock formations of the Middle and Upper Bunter. It forms the western edge of Upper Rhine Plain between Grünstadt in the north and Leistadt, a village in the county of Bad Durkheim, in the southeast. In the natural region system of the German Central Uplands it is considered one of the four sub-units of the Middle Palatinate Forest.

Hochberg (Haardt)

The Hochberg is a 635.3-metre-high mountain in the central Haardt in the Palatine Forest in Germany. It lies on the territory of the municipality of Sankt Martin (Palatinate) in the county of Südliche Weinstraße in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. After the Kalmit, the Kesselberg and the Roßberg it is the fourth highest peak in the Palatine Forest.

Lower Moselle

The Lower Moselle is the name given to the lower reaches of the Moselle river - just under 100 kilometres long - in Germany between Pünderich and the Moselle's confluence with the Rhine at Koblenz. The Lower Moselle landscape differs from that of the Middle and Upper Moselle, much of it forming a narrower valley with high and steep sides in places. On the cut banks of the river that are oriented towards the south and west, vineyards are managed, often on the tiniest, terraced strips of land on steep hillslopes.

Moselle Eifel

The Moselle Eifel forms the southeastern strip of the East Eifel to the left of the Moselle from the city of Trier downstream as far as Moselkern; in the southeast it does not reach as far as the Moselle Valley. It lies exclusively within the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and is a truncated highland, roughly half of which is forested.

Hochstein (Eifel)

The Hochstein is a volcanic cone, 563 m above sea level (NHN), in the Eifel near Obermendig in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and county of Mayen-Koblenz.

Salzungen Werra Upland

The Salzungen Werra Upland is a natural region in Germany that forms part of the East Hesse Highlands in the German states of Hesse and Thuringia.

Maifeld

The Maifeld is a landscape of the Middle Rhine Basin on its western perimeter with the Eifel mountains, southwest of the city of Koblenz. It is known for its gently rolling hills.

Pellenz Region in Germany

The Pellenz is a hill country in the northwestern part of the Middle Rhine Basin in Germany between Mayen in the southwest and Andernach in the northeast. In addition Pellenz is the name of a Verbandsgemeinde in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, which covers the north of the landscape of Pellenz and has had its seat since May 2017 in the village of Plaidt.

Alarmstange

The Alarmstange, at 545.2 m above sea level (NHN), is the highest point in the Montabaur Heights, a hill ride on the southwestern edge of the Westerwald. It lies near Horressen in the county of Westerwaldkreis in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Together with the Köppel and the Lippersberg, the Alarmstange forms the centre of the ridge, on which is the largest contiguous woodland area in the Westerwald.

Köppel (Westerwald)

The Köppel, at 540.2 m above sea level (NHN), is the second highest point in the Montabaur Heights, an elongated hill ridge in the Lower Westerwald in Germany. It is second only to the nearby Alarmstange (545.2 m) and lies on the boundary between Montabaur and Dernbach in the county of Westerwaldkreis in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. At the summit is the Köppel viewing tower.

Ettringer Bellerberg

The Ettringer Bellerberg, also called the Ettringer Bellberg, is a hill, 427.5 m above sea level (NHN), forming the western flank of the Bellerberg Volcano, a volcano system that was active about 200,000 years ago.

The Falkensteiner Vorwald is the gently rolling westernmost part of the Bavarian Forest in northern Lower Bavaria and southern Upper Palatinate in the German state of Bavaria.

References

  1. Heinz Fischer, Richard Graafen: Geographische Landesaufnahme: Die naturräumlichen Einheiten auf Blatt 136/137 Cochem. Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Bad Godesberg 1974. →  Online-Karte (PDF; 5,6 MB)
  2. Heinrich Müller-Miny, Martin Bürgener: Geographische Landesaufnahme: Die naturräumlichen Einheiten auf Blatt 138 Koblenz. Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Bad Godesberg 1971. →  Online-Karte (PDF; 5,7 MB)
  3. Map service of the Landscape Information System of the Rhineland-Palatinate Nature Conservation Office (Naturschutzverwaltung Rheinland-Pfalz)
  4. Landscape fact file (major landscape) of the Landscape Information System of the Rhineland-Palatinate Nature Conservation Office (Naturschutzverwaltung Rheinland-Pfalz)
  5. Sheet 138 Koblenz mentions in the test only 291.201 and 291.202 and annotates with the number 291.20 the unit less 291.201 and 291.202
  6. Sheet 138 Koblenz uses on the map the number 291.3 for the Lower Moselle Valley omitting the subunit 291.30.

General sources

Literature