The term Albtrauf (Alp escarpment) refers to the northwest facing escarpment of the
Swabian Alps
Swabian or Schwabian, or ''variation'', may refer to:
* the German region of Swabia (German: "''Schwaben''")
* Swabian German, a dialect spoken in Baden-Württemberg in south-west Germany and adjoining areas (German:"''Schwäbisch''")
* Danube ...
, situated in
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
and
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
. It is the most distinctive
stepped slope within the alpine region of the
South German Scarplands
The South German Scarplands is a geological and geomorphological natural region or landscape in Switzerland and the south German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. The landscape is characterised by escarpments.
It is variously referred to ...
, leading roughly from the southwest to the northeast.
The Albtrauf has its geological extension in the northeast, in the stepped slopes of the
Franconian Jura and in the southwest and west among the
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...
-era stepped slopes of the
Baaralb,
Hegau
The Hegau is an extinct volcanic landscape in southern Germany extending around the industrial city of Singen (Hohentwiel), between Lake Constance in the east, the Rhine River in the south, the Danube River in the north and the Randen—as the so ...
alb,
Randen
Randen may refer to:
* Randen (mountain range), in Switzerland and Germany
* Randen, a tram line of the Keifuku Electric Railroad in Japan
See also
* Randens
{{Geodis ...
,
Klettgau,
Aargau
Aargau, more formally the Canton of Aargau (german: Kanton Aargau; rm, Chantun Argovia; french: Canton d'Argovie; it, Canton Argovia), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capita ...
as well as the
Table Jura stretches from the city of
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
to the
Ajoie
The Ajoie (german: Elsgau, Franc-Comtois: ''Aidjoue'') is an historic region roughly coinciding with Porrentruy District in the canton of Jura in northwestern Switzerland.
It is a part of the Jura plain, composed of six geographic areas:
* the ...
and the
French Scarplands.
In
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
and
geomorphology
Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or n ...
, however, the term “Trauf” merely describes the brink of the stepped slopes where various stepped surfaces meet (which is not developed in hipped steps).
Geography
Like the entirety of the Swabian Alps, the Albtrauf leads from the southwest to the northeast, approximately following the line of
Donaueschingen
Donaueschingen (; Low Alemannic: ''Eschinge'') is a German town in the Black Forest in the southwest of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar '' Kreis''. It stands near the confluence of the two sources of the river Da ...
–
Lemberg
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...
–
Balingen–
Reutlingen
Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818.
Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...
–
Kirchheim unter Teck–
Gingen an der Fils–Unterkochen. On a closer look it is markedly interrupted by many deeply
eroded valleys.
The protruding
inliers and outliers (German: ''Zeugenberge'') support famous castles, which are visible from a great distance, such as the
Hohenzollern Castle
Hohenzollern Castle (german: Burg Hohenzollern ) is the ancestral seat of the imperial House of Hohenzollern. The third of three hilltop castles built on the site, it is located atop Mount Hohenzollern, above and south of Hechingen, on the ed ...
, the
Hohenneuffen Castle
Hohenneuffen Castle is a large ruined castle in the northern foothills of the Swabian Alb, above the town of Neuffen in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg.
Location
The medieval castle is situated on a large late Jurassic rock on ...
and the
Teck Castle. Major traffic routes leading from the alpine foothills to the Albtrauf are known as the
Alb ascension (German: ''Albaufstieg''), the best known of them being the
Geislinger Steige The Geislinger Steige ("Geislingen climb") is an old trade route over the low mountain range of the Swabian Jura in southern Germany. It links Geislingen an der Steige with Amstetten and is one of the most famous ascents in the Jura. The name "Gei ...
.
Geology
The Albtrauf is made up of an upper rock layer of the
Brown Jurassic and lower and middle layers of the
White Jurassic
The White Jurassic or White Jura (german: Weißer Jura or ''Weißjura'') in earth history refers to the upper of the three lithostratigraphic units of the South German Jurassic, the latter being understood not as a geographical, but a geological t ...
. The harder layers of the Brown Jurassic act as the foundation of this bed and so form the highest, often weakly developed layer of the Alpine foothills. The Brown Jurassic differs regionally: ''Sandflaserschichten (Quenstedtsche Gliederung B β)'' in the eastern Alps, ''Blaukalke'' (B γ) in the mid Alps, o''olithische Kalkmergel'' (B δ) in the western Alps. The lower section of the stepped slope are made up of the
claystone
Mudrocks are a class of fine-grained siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. The varying types of mudrocks include siltstone, claystone, mudstone, slate, and shale. Most of the particles of which the stone is composed are less than and are too sm ...
layers of the Brown Jurassic, stretching to the
Ornatenton Formation which ends this section. The equally soft Kalkmergel (W α) follows as the first layer of the White Jurassic. Hard limestone acts as a layer-former in the W β, (as
reef limestone in the western Alps, and otherwise as the mural
Wohlgeschichtete Kalk Formation), as well as in the W δ (reef limestone is found across the whole region, but especially in the young layers). In between these is a
marl
Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae.
Marl makes up the lower part o ...
complex.
Geomorphology
The intermediate inclination of the Albtrauf amounts to roughly 35 degrees. In the
Erms valley region and near
Balingen the Albtrauf reaches an average height of nearly 400m. The edge of the slope is at approximately 1000
metres above sea level (German:
Normalhöhennull, English: standard elevation zero) in the southwest and at approximately 650
metres above sea level in the northeast.
In the Eastern Alps and in parts of the Mid Alps (up to
Bad Urach
Bad Urach () is a town in the Reutlingen (district), district of Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 14 km east of Reutlingen, at the foot of the Swabian Jura, Swabian ''Alb'' (or Swabian Alps in English), and is known for ...
) W ß does not appear as a layer-former, but as
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...
in the slope which climbs up to the W δ. W ß and W δ levels, the latter being about 100 m high, are distinctly pronounced from
Reutlingen
Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818.
Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...
to
Mössingen. Further to the west the W ß forms both the front of the Albtrauf and an adjoining
dip slope, which is several kilometres broad. Moreover, the W δ step, which includes inliers and outliers located on the outskirts such as
Kornbühl, is receding.
Retrogressive erosion
Headward erosion is erosion at the origin of a stream channel, which causes the origin to move back away from the direction of the stream flow, lengthening the stream channel.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak It can also refer to ...
has caused the Albtrauf to recede southeast by an average of few millimeters each year. This process is responsible for the deep dips and embayment along the Albtrauf.
Landslides
Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, ...
and
rockfalls also contribute to this process. The ensemble of relief features includes
cuestas,
front side valleys, rock
ledges,
spurs and
inliers. The most famous
inliers and outliers without a dip slope include, from northeast to southwest,
Ipf,
Hohenstaufen
The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...
,
Achalm
Achalm is a mountain in Reutlingen, Germany. On its top, the ruins of Achalm Castle can be found, ancestral seat of the counts of Achalm, a 13th-century Swabian noble family related to the counts of Urach.
The toponym is from the Old German wor ...
and
Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenb ...
(Zoller). Kaltes Feld,
Michelsberg,
Farrenberg
Farrenberg is a mountain of Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous me ...
, the plateau of
Burgfelden (Böllat-Heersberg) and
Plettenberg rank among the most impressive inliers and outliers with a
dip slope.
Miscellaneous
The
vegetation
Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic character ...
consists mainly of
beech wood forest.
Juniper
Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...
heathland, typical of the high plains of the Swabian Alps, can also be found in scattered locations, such as on
Jusi, and is generally under conservation. Slow-growing oaks grow on the rocky outcrops.
Spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...
and
fir
Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family (biology), family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North America, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The ...
forest can also be found in the
Hohen Schwabenalb (high Swabian Alps) as a result of forestry atypical for the area. White outcrops of reef limestone protruding out of the forest all around are also characteristic. The Albtrauf was poetically dubbed “Blue Wall” by
Eduard Mörike
Eduard Friedrich Mörike (8 September 18044 June 1875) was a German Lutheran pastor who was also a Romantic poet and writer of novellas and novels. Many of his poems were set to music and became established folk songs, while others were used by ...
, owing to the pale blue shimmer that appears when it is viewed from a distance.
Th
Schwäbische-Alb-Nordrand-Weg(Hauptwanderweg 1, HW 1), a hiking trail maintained by the
Schwäbischen Albverein (Swabian Jura Association), provides access to the Albtrauf and leads from
Donauwörth to
Tuttlingen
Tuttlingen (Alemannic: ''Duttlinga'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, capital of the district Tuttlingen. Nendingen, ''Möhringen'' and ''Eßlingen'' are three former municipalities that belong to Tuttlingen. Tuttlingen is located in Swabia eas ...
.
Sport
* trail
mountainbike
A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling. Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, which ...
Tieringen
Tieringen is a district of the town of Meßstetten in the Zollernalbkreis district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2010 Tieringen had a population of 1069.
Tieringen is a capital of textile production. Urtica dioica L. convar. fibra is gr ...
Albtrauf to
Balingen-Weilstetten
Lochenpass 4,7 km car road, bike trail 1,9 km downhill.
Trail_mybike
/ref>
Images
File:Albtrauf Hossinger Leiter.jpg, Albtrauf at '' Hossinger Leiter''
File:Gespaltener Fels Schwaebische Alb.jpg, ''Split rock'' (split rock) at Schafberg
File:Gäulandschaft, Albtrauf.jpg, View of the Albtrauf from ''Hochmark'' near Frommenhausen
Frommenhausen is a suburban district of Rottenburg am Neckar in the administrative district of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg (Germany).
Geography
Frommenhausen is located 9 km (5.59 mi) southwestern from Rottenburg am Neckar on th ...
.
File:Herrschaft Schalksburg Panorama.jpg, View of the Albtrauf. From left to right: Farrenberg
Farrenberg is a mountain of Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous me ...
, Hohenzollern Castle
Hohenzollern Castle (german: Burg Hohenzollern ) is the ancestral seat of the imperial House of Hohenzollern. The third of three hilltop castles built on the site, it is located atop Mount Hohenzollern, above and south of Hechingen, on the ed ...
and Plettenberg.
File:Wackerstein Pano 090729.jpg, View from ''Wackerstein'' (825.9m) south of Reutlingen
Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818.
Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...
with inliers and outliers; left: Scheibenbergle, middle: Gaisbühl and Georgenberg (Reutlingen)
The Georgenberg is a mountain in the middle of the German state of Baden-Württemberg.
The slopes of the Georgenberg were originally used by the inhabitants of Reutlingen and Pfullingen
Pfullingen (Swabian: ''Pfullenga'') is a town in the d ...
, right: Pfullingen to the north, and Reutlingen
Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818.
Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...
with Scheibengipfel Hill and Achalm
Achalm is a mountain in Reutlingen, Germany. On its top, the ruins of Achalm Castle can be found, ancestral seat of the counts of Achalm, a 13th-century Swabian noble family related to the counts of Urach.
The toponym is from the Old German wor ...
.
File:Panorama vom Böllat.jpg, View of the Albtrauf from Böllat (922.3 m), southeast of Balingen.
Literature
* Reiner Enkelmann, Dieter Ruoff, Wolfgang Wohnhas: ''Der Albtrauf. Natur und Kultur zwischen Ries und Randen''. Silberburg-Verlag, Tübingen und Lahr/Schwarzwald 2010.
* Otto F. Geyer und Manfred P. Gwinner: ''Einführung in die Geologie von Baden-Württemberg''. Stuttgart 1964, S. 60 ff. und S. 148 ff.
* Klaus Eberhard Bleich: ''Das Alter des Albtraufs''. In: ''Jahreshefte des Vereins für vaterländische Naturkunde in Württemberg 115'', Stuttgart, 1. November 1960, S. 39–92
References
{{Authority control
Geomorphology
Geography
Geology