The classification of natural regions of Saxony shown here was produced between 1994 and 2001 by a working group called "Ecosystem and Regional Character" (''Naturhaushalt und Gebietscharakter'') at the Saxonian Academy of Sciences in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
as part of the research and development project "Natural Regions and Natural Region Potential of the Free State of Saxony" (''Naturräume und Naturraumpotentiale des Freistaates'') at a scale of 1:50,000 as the basis for the rural development and regional planning. This was also supported by the Saxon State Ministry of the Environment and Agriculture and the Saxon Ministry of the Interior.
The basis of the structure was a comprehensive, statewide compilation of the smallest physical geographic landscape units (
physiotope Physiotope is the total abiotic matrix of habitat present within any certain ecotope. The physiotope is the landform, the rocks and the soils, the climate and the hydrology, and the geologic processes which marshalled all these resources together in ...
s). These were aggregated into larger units ( nano-geochores and micro-geochores) in an orderly way using the method of "natural region categories". For each of the micro-geochores that resulted from this, a 9-page document was produced. This was followed by mapping the regions in a series of 55 map sheets to a scale of 1:50,000 (the "Natural region map of Saxony") . In further stages, approximately 1,445 micro-geochores were aggregated into meso-geochores and these were eventually combined into 28 macro-geochores (see the list of natural regions in Saxony) . At the level of micro-geochore upwards, each natural area was given an individual designation, with any newly created names following certain conventions. The classification of macro-geochores into natural regions of a higher level was achieved using the so-called "Saxon natural regions", although they were also given their own proper names, but which largely followed political boundaries and practical subdivisions of more extensive landscape units.
North German Plain
The North German Plain or Northern Lowland (german: Norddeutsches Tiefland) 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 Balt ...
Ore Mountain Basin The Ore Mountain BasinCentral Saxon Loess Hill Country (''Mittelsächsisches Lösshügelland'')
** Mulde Loess Hill Country (''Mulde-Lösshügelland'')
**
Dresden Basin
The Dresden BasinDickinson (1964). pp. 624-625. (german: (Dresdner) Elbtalkessel or ''Dresdner Elbtalweitung'') is a roughly 45 km long and 10 km wide area of the Elbe Valley between the towns of Pirna and Meißen.Elkins (1972), pp. 293- ...
West Lusatian Hill Country and Uplands
The West Lusatian Hill Country and Uplands (german: Westlausitzer Hügel- und Bergland), sometimes just the West Lusatian Hills,
Central Uplands
The Central UplandsDickinson (1964), p.18 ff. (german: die MittelgebirgeN.B. In German die ''Mittelgebirge'' (plural) refers to the Central Uplands; das ''Mittelgebirge'' refers to a low mountain range or upland region (''Mittel'' = "medium" and ...
**
Western Ore Mountains
The Western Ore Mountains (german: Westerzgebirge) is a natural region that forms the westernmost part of the Ore Mountains in the German state of Saxony. It is also part of the major landscape unit known as the Saxon Highlands and Uplands. It ex ...
(''Westerzgebirge'')
**
Central Ore Mountains
The Central or Middle Ore Mountains (german: Mittlere Erzgebirge or ''Mittelerzgebirge'') is a natural region that forms the central-western part of the Ore Mountains in the German federal state of Saxony. It is part of the overarching unit, the ...
(''Mittleres Erzgebirge'')
**
Eastern Ore Mountains
The Eastern Ore Mountains (german: Osterzgebirge) form a natural region of Saxony that covers the eastern part (in area almost the eastern half) of the Saxon Ore Mountains range. Together with the Western and Central Ore Mountains, it is part o ...
(''Osterzgebirge'')
**
Vogtland
Vogtland (; cz, Fojtsko) is a region spanning the German states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and north-western Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It overlaps with and is largely contained within Euregio Egrensis. The name alludes to the former ...
**
Elster Mountains
The Elster Mountains (german: Elstergebirge, cs, Halštrovské hory) is a small range of mountains, in Saxony and the Czech Republic, to the west of the Ore Mountains. They lie in a region known as Vogtland, and take their name from the River E ...
(''Elstergebirge'')
**
Saxon Switzerland
Saxon Switzerland (german: Sächsische Schweiz) is a hilly climbing area and national park around the Elbe valley south-east of Dresden in Saxony, Germany. Together with the Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic it forms the Elbe Sand ...
(''Sächsische Schweiz'')
**
Upper Lusatian Highlands
The Lusatian Highlands''Upper Lusatia'' at www.silvaportal.info. Accessed on 10 July 20 ...
(''Oberlausitzer Bergland'')
**
Zittau Mountains
The Zittau Mountains (german: Zittauer Gebirge, cs, Žitavské hory), formerly also called the Lusatian Ridge (''Lausitzer Kamm''), refer to the German part of the Lusatian Mountains that straddle the Saxon-Bohemian border in the extreme sout ...
(''Zittauer Gebirge'')
See also
*
Natural regions of Germany
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. Polit ...
References
Sources
* Mannsfeld, K.; Bastian, O.; Kaminski, A.; Katzschner, W.; Röder, M.; Syrbe, R.-U.; Winkler, B. (2005): Landschaftsgliederungen in Sachsen. Mitteilungen des Landesvereins Sächsischer Heimatschutz e.V., special edition, no ISBN.
* Mannsfeld, K. und Syrbe, R.-U. (ed.): ''Naturräume in Sachsen'' mit Kartenbeilage „Naturräumliche Gliederung Sachsens“, in: Forschungen zur deutschen Landeskunde (Vol. 257), Deutsche Akademie für Landeskunde, Selbstverlag, Leipzig, 2008,
* Mannsfeld, K.; Bastian, O.; Bieler, J.; Gerber, S.; König, A.; Lütz, M.; Schulze, S.; Syrbe, R.-U.: ''Abschlussbericht Arbeitsstelle "Naturhaushalt und Gebietscharakter" 1965-2007''
Classification of Germany by Meynen and the
BfN
The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (german: Bundesamt für Naturschutz, ''BfN'') is the German government's scientific authority with responsibility for national and international nature conservation. BfN is one of the government' ...
, www.geographie.giersbeck.de, retrieved on 8 June 2011
Literature
* Haase, G.; Mannsfeld, K. (Hrsg.)(2003): Naturraumeinheiten, Landschaftsfunktionen und Leitbilder am Beispiel von Sachsen. Forschungen zur Deutschen Landeskunde, Vol. 250 (with CD ROM), {{ISBN, 3-88143-071-7