Salzungen Werra Upland

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View of the Pless (rear) and Stoffelskuppe (left) Pless-Rhoen.jpg
View of the Pleß (rear) and Stoffelskuppe (left)

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

Contents

Location

The Salzungen Werra Upland lies on either side of the Werra near Bad Salzungen. It has a plateau-like character, lies at a height of between 350 and 645.4 m above  sea level (NN) and extends from the northwestern Thuringian Forest (to the east), to the Kuppen Rhön (to the west) and the forest of Seulingswald (to the northwest). It accompanies the River Werra on both sides from Walldorf to Vacha, continuing on its right bank only as far as Gerstungen.

Geology

The upland's main rock is bunter sandstone, from which emerge several, less volcanic kuppen like the Pleß and Stoffelskuppe, whose phenotype presages the Kuppen Rhön that lies to the west. Salt tectonics have resulted in hollows and sinkholes.

Natural regions

The Salzungen Werra Upland is a major natural region unit (no. 359) within the major unit group of the East Hesse Highlands (number 35 or D47). The valleys of the Werra and Suhl, which mainly run in a northwesterly direction, divide the upland into 3 orographic mountain regions, of which only the central Frauensee Hills (Frauenseer Hügelland) are independent. [1]

359 Salzungen Werra Upland (Salzunger Werrabergland)

Mountains and hills

Among the mountains and hills of the Salzungen Werra Upland are the following − with heights in metres above sea level (NN):

  • Pleß (645.4 m)
  • Stoffelskuppe (620 m)
  • Krücke (604 m)
  • Gotteskopf (576 m)
  • Schneckenberg (528 m)
  • Bornkopf (479 m)
  • Großer Krötenkopf (457 m)
  • Aschenberg (452 m)
  • Röhrberg (452 m)

Rivers and streams

Among the rivers and streams (all in the Werra catchment) of the Salzungen Werra Upland are the following (downstream from south to north, with lengths in kilometres and mouth locations):

Left tributaries of the Werra:

Right tributaries of the Werra:

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Pleß (mountain) mountain

The Pleß is a mountain, 645.4 m above sea level (NHN), in the county of Schmalkalden-Meiningen in the Salzungen Werra Highland in the German state of Thuringia.

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Seulingswald mountain range

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Söhre mountain range

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Middle Rhine Basin

The Middle Rhine Basin 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.

As well as being a low mountain range, the Westerwald is also a natural region in the system of natural regional division of Germany. Within that it is a major unit group with the number "32". According to this system the major unit group of the Westerwald belongs to the basement plate (Grundgebirgsschollenland), which describes the type of mountain-building process by which it was formed. The major unit group extends across the states of Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. It is roughly bounded by the valleys of the Lahn, Rhine and Sieg, whereby the hills immediately south of the Heller and Sieg are not considered to be part of it.

Rhön Cycleway

The Rhön Cycleway is a cycle path in Germany that runs for 180 kilometres from Bad Salzungen to Hammelburg. Its route takes it through 3 states: from Thuringia via Hesse to Bavaria.

References

  1. Map and legend of the natural regions in the East Hesse Highlands (35) with the Hessian parts of the Salzungen-Werra Upland (359) in the Umweltatlas Hessen by the Hessian State Office for the Environment and Geology - beware: the web links are not backtrackable!
  2. 1 2 Official name unknown – source required: W. Röll: Geographische Landesaufnahme: Die naturräumlichen Einheiten auf Blatt 126 Fulda – Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Bad Godesberg 1969
  3. Das Handbuch der naturräumlichen Gliederung Deutschlands (4. und 5. Lieferung – Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, E. Meynen und J. Schmithüsen, Remagen, 1957) speaks in his, earlier, coarser division of the Suhl Valley (Suhltal) and Basin of Mohra (Becken von Möhra).