Nesse (Hörsel)
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The Nesse is a Flusslängen nac
Geopfaden
(kmz, 150 kB)
tributary of the
Hörsel The Hörsel () is a long river in Thuringia, Germany, right tributary of the Werra. It is formed by the confluence of two smaller rivers in Leinatal, at the northern edge of the Thuringian Forest. The Hörsel flows generally northwest through the ...
in the southern
Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
. Strictly speaking, it represents a second, right main branch of the Hörsel, which brings about as much water to join the Hörsel as the Hörsel itself and drains an even larger catchment area. The Nesse is a typical lowland river with an average bed gradient of only about 1.5 ‰. According to the Thuringia Water Act it has the status of a first order watercourse and is therefore under the maintenance obligation of the Free State of Thuringia.


Origin

The Nesse was formed at the end of the last ice age, geologists assume that a dammed lake with meltwater forced the breakthrough to the west. Neighbouring rivers belong to the Elbe river basin, the watershed of both rivers runs over Alacher Höhe and Bienstädter Höhe.Möller, Wolfgang (2004): The Nesse. Part 1 - From the source area to the Wilden Graben. In: Hörselbergbote, H. 56, p. 26-31.


Course


Source area and upper cours

The Nesse river is created by the confluence of several drainage and spring ditches at above about west of
Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...
in the district Alach, not far from
Erfurt Airport Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city in the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera (river), Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of ...
, and then flows in a westerly direction through the north of the district of Gotha. In Nottleben, the Mollbach, its first bigger tributary flows from the right, further right tributaries of the upper course flowing further below come from the Fahnersche Höhe.


Lower course

At the former railway station of Wangenheim the Wilder Graben (Nesse), which is fed in particular by the Leinakanal, flows into the Nesse from
Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the Gotha (district), district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine House of Wet ...
or coming from the left. Here ends the upper course of the Nesse, which up to now has been classified as a water body of 2nd class according to § 3 of the Thuringian Water Act. Up to the estuary the Nesse is a watercourse of the 1st class. About to the west of Wangenheim is the Talsperre Tüngeda/Wangenheim, which is fed by the from the direction Tüngeda and drains about southeast into the Nesse. The Wangenheimer See existed in its place until the 18th century. This is the first inflow from the
Hainich Hainich is a forested hill chain in the state of Thuringia in Germany, between the towns of Eisenach, Mühlhausen and Bad Langensalza. Hainich covers an area of around 160 km² (61,8 sq mi), of which, since 31 December 1997, half has be ...
. At
Sonneborn Sonneborn is a municipality in the district of Gotha, in Thuringia, 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 th ...
, further on, the Arzbach flows from the left, and another Hainich tributary flows another below at Friedrichswerth with the Bieberbach from the right. Directly at the district border of the district of Gotha with the
Wartburgkreis Wartburgkreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the west of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) the districts Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis, Gotha, Schmalkalden-Meiningen, and the districts Fulda, Hersfeld-Rotenburg and W ...
, the long Talbrücke Nessetal of the
Bundesautobahn 4 is an autobahn that crosses Germany in a west–east direction. The western segment has a length of , the part in the east is long. Works to continue the A 4 are in progress, but currently no plans exist to fill the gap completely. T ...
spans the water since 2009. On the left side the river approaches the Hörselberge, from which, however, only very short streams come. Hydrogeological investigations confirmed an underground connection with the Hörsel valley. From Ettenhausen an der Nesse to
Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groundb ...
the Hörsel water feeds a dozen strong karst springs. In the Wartburgkreis the Nesse flows through the community
Hörselberg-Hainich Hörselberg-Hainich is a municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany. It was formed on 1 December 2007 combining the former municipalities of Behringen and Hörselberg Hörselberg is a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis ...
, where in Großenlupnitz the Böber flows from the right and reaches the area of the town
Eisenach Eisenach () is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situat ...
at
Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groundb ...
. As the last tributary, the Trenkelbach flows into the Nesse at
Petersberg Petersberg may refer to: * The Hotel Petersberg near Bonn, the site of the ** Petersberg Agreement, 1949, regarding the international status of West Germany. ** Petersberg tasks, 1992 and 1997, regarding European security cooperation. Also known a ...
.


Confluence

The river mouth you can see today, was created in the Middle Ages by the construction of the . This originally served to regulate the water level of the Hörsel. The is located between the () and . After about , the river meets a weir. Here the branches off from the Hörsel and diverts about half of its water volume into the medieval mill area on the northern and western edge of Eisenach's old town. The original mouth of the Nesse can still be recognised on historical maps from the 18th century: it was located to the west of Eichhölzchen on what is now Tiefenbacher Allee. The site has been reshaped since the construction of the car factory.


Tributaries

The catchment area of the Nesse River, with , comprises 54.4 % of the total catchment area of the
Hörsel The Hörsel () is a long river in Thuringia, Germany, right tributary of the Werra. It is formed by the confluence of two smaller rivers in Leinatal, at the northern edge of the Thuringian Forest. The Hörsel flows generally northwest through the ...
() and 139.5 % of the Hörse catchment area above the Nesse estuary () Thus, the Nesse brings about the same amount of water () to unite with the Hörsel as the Hörsel itself (). All Nesse tributaries come from the
Thuringian Basin The Thuringian Basin (german: Thüringer Becken) is a depression in the central and northwest part of Thuringia in Germany which is crossed by several rivers, the longest of which is the Unstrut. It stretches about from north to south and around ...
and its marginal plates, while its receiving water Hörsel is largely fed by the montane
Thuringian Forest The Thuringian Forest (''Thüringer Wald'' in German), is a mountain range in the southern parts of the German state of Thuringia, running northwest to southeast. Skirting from its southerly source in foothills to a gorge on its north-west side i ...
. Most of the tributaries of the Nesse are typical lowland streams with low gradient. Today, their courses are largely straightened and integrated into a system of drainage ditches. The stream lengths given below each refer approximately to the permanently water-bearing part. Since most of the courses are canalized and integrated into the drainage system up to the corresponding watershed, they temporarily carry water over a much longer length during high precipitation or snowmelt, but in dry seasons they are de facto sometimes much shorter than indicated. The Leina Channel forms a connection from the Hörsel headwaters ''—''and the (upper) Apfelstädt from the system
Gera Gera is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of cit ...
/
Unstrut The Unstrut () is a river in Germany and a left tributary of the Saale. The Unstrut originates in northern Thuringia near Dingelstädt (west of Kefferhausen in the Eichsfeld area) and its catchment area is the whole of the Thuringian Basin. ...
/
Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale) and Thuringian Saale (german: Thüringische Saale), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saale ...
/
Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...
—to the subsystem of the Nesse. It was already built in the Middle Ages to supply the town
Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the Gotha (district), district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine House of Wet ...
with water from the Thuringian Forest, and to which the Nesse flows via the Wilder Graben. The catchment area of the Wilder Graben is with barely smaller than that of the Nesse above (), in addition there is the proportionate catchment area of Leina (estimated by TLUG Jena to be ) and Apfelstädt. In purely mathematical terms, the length of the Nesse River over the upper Leina, Leinakanal and Wilden Graben is .


Ecology and energy production

Especially in the 1980s, the Nesse was affected by heavy pollution from the confluence of the Wilden Graben. Via the Wilden Graben, insufficiently treated wastewater from the catchment area of the Gotha sewage treatment plant was fed into the river. With the construction of a state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant in Gotha by 1993, the water quality could be decisively improved.Thüringer Landesanstalt für Umwelt: ''The Nesse - Development of a watercourse'', Jena 1993 Active hydropower plants are located on the River Nesse in the districts of Ettenhausen, Wenigenlupnitz and Großenlupnitz in the municipality of Hörselberg-Hainich and in Eisenach.


See also

* List of rivers of Thuringia


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nesse (Horsel) Rivers of Thuringia Rivers of Germany