Děvín (german: Mayden Berg) is a double peak mountain in the Pavlov municipality in the

South Moravian Region The South Moravian Region ( cs, Jihomoravský kraj; , ; sk, Juhomoravský kraj) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia (an exception is Jobova Lhota which trad ...

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. With an elevation of , it is the highest mountain of the Pavlov Hills within the Mikulov Highlands, and of the Pálava Protected Landscape Area. It is located right on trace where runs line of drainage divide of Upper

Thaya The Thaya ( cs, Dyje ) is a river in Central Europe, the longest tributary to the river Morava. Its drainage basin is . It is ( with its longest source river German Thaya) long and meanders from west to east in the border area between Lower Au ...

drainage Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess of water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils is good enough to prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic condition ...

and Thaya/Morava mesodrainage.

History

The summit of Děvín has the remains of a huge Iron Age hill fort, while the ancient Amber Route runs neighbors of the mountains base, and all archaic roads in landscape, originally created by animals and later overtaken by humans. The area around base of the mountain is permanently settled longer than last 30,000 years. Since Cromagnos hunters, ower Celtic tribes settlement, Roman fortress,

Great Moravia Great Moravia ( la, Regnum Marahensium; el, Μεγάλη Μοραβία, ''Meghálī Moravía''; cz, Velká Morava ; sk, Veľká Morava ; pl, Wielkie Morawy), or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavic to ...

hillfort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

s ( Strachotín and Děvín).

Geology

The entire Děvín massif consists mainly by

Jurassic limestone The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and 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 Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

, i.e. series of rocks generated during

sedimentation Sedimentation is the deposition of sediments. It takes place when particles in suspension settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to the ...

. The body of the Děvín is strongly modulated, with outcrops and cliffs (klippe/crag) of pure, hard and white limestone of Later Jurassic origin, called Ernstbrunn limestone. Sedimentation of Ernstbrunn limestone was preceded by the sedimentation of grey calcareous Děvín-Kotel massif. Děvín claystone and clay limestone, called Klentnice layers. All the Pavlov Hills are situated at the margin of the flysch zone of the

Northern Limestone Alps The Northern Limestone Alps (german: Nördliche Kalkalpen), also called the Northern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps north of the Central Eastern Alps located in Austria and the adjacent Bavarian lands of southeastern Germa ...

and

Western Carpathians The Western Carpathians are a mountain range and geomorphological province that forms the western part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountain belt stretches from the Low Beskids range of the Eastern Carpathians along the border of Poland wit ...

(South moravian carpathians). The flysch beds consist of strongly folded Lower Tertiary claystone,

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

and conglomerate. During the periods of orogenetic activity in the

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

, large blocks of

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and 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 Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

and Early Cretaceous

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

s were torn from their Jurassic base (now situated more lower - up to 2 km below the surface), and re-deposited over the younger flysch beds. In the Lower Badenian period (Upper Tertiary), the Pavlov Hills were surrounded by a warm sea. Pieces of Jurassic rock present in the littoral gravel from that period indicate that limestone may have been already denuded at that time. At 15 Ma BP (before present) a strong subsidence formed the

Vienna Basin The Vienna Basin (german: Wiener Becken, cz, Vídeňská pánev, sk, Viedenská kotlina, Hungarian: ''Bécsi-medence'') is a geologically young tectonic burial basin and sedimentary basin in the seam area between the Alps, the Carpathians and t ...

. During the following 9 Ma, up to 3 km thick layers of maritime and lacustrine

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sa ...

s were deposited on its bottom.

Flora

Děvín as a whole eastern part of the Mikulov Highlands lies in the northwest promontory of the Panonian plain.Pavlov Hills Botanical excursion guide
/ref> It is the warmest and almost the most

arid area A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ...

in the Czech Republic, and therefore vines are cultivated here. Because of this climate some plant species that do not occur anywhere else in the country grow here. The colourful mosaic of arid rock grass,

fringe tree ''Chionanthus'' , common name: fringetrees, is a genus of about 150 species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae. The genus has a wide distribution primarily in the tropics and subtropics, but with three species extending north into te ...

communities, thermophilous

bushes A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

and thermophilous

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

woods on the Děvín slopes, which originated partly due to the influence of grazing, is called karst forest steppe. The Děvín forest plateaus are dominated by sparse loess oakwoods together with a species-rich

herbaceous layer Stratification in the field of ecology refers to the vertical layering of a habitat; the arrangement of vegetation in layers. It classifies the layers (sing. ''stratum'', pl. ''strata'') of vegetation largely according to the different heights to w ...

, while Panonian oak- hornbean dominates the north-facing slopes and valleys.

Riparian forest A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered chann ...

s with

pedunculate oak ''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus. It is widel ...

s and narrow-leaved ashes and quite small areas of alluvial meadows have been preserved in the Dyje

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

in the vicinity of Křivé lake. Remains of halophytic vegetation, which occurred quite commonly on the salinated grazing land in South

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The m ...

, still survive on the western bank of Nesyt pond near Sedlec. Summit is covered by steppe

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

wood and rock.

Top

A radio and

TV transmitter A television transmitter is a transmitter that is used for terrestrial (over-the-air) television broadcasting. It is an electronic device that radiates radio waves that carry a video signal representing moving images, along with a synchronized au ...

is situated on the top. The lower platform is used as an

observation tower An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, an ...

. It was built in 1979–1980.

Gallery

Palava.od.SZ.JPG, View from

Dolní Kounice Dolní Kounice (; german: Kanitz) is a town in Brno-Country District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,500 inhabitants. Geography Dolní Kounice is situated about south of Brno in the valley of the Jihlava River. ...

Pálava-Kotel-a-Děvín.JPG, Vineyeards under Kotel and Děvín hills PalavaDub.jpg, Old oak beaten and formed by wind Pálava - u Soutěsky.jpg, Old route in the rock Pavlov.jpg, Outlook from Děvín summit to Pavlov village Klentnice - pohled 2009.jpg, Klentnice as viewed from Děvín

References

External links

Small-scale hikersmapPálava Protected Landscape Area
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devin Mountains and hills of the Czech Republic Mountain ranges of the Western Carpathians