![Pfaelzerwaldkarte Flussgebiete Hauptwasserscheiden](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Pfaelzerwaldkarte_Flussgebiete_Hauptwasserscheiden.png)
The Palatine Watershed (german: Pfälzische Hauptwasserscheide) forms the main
drainage divide in the
Palatinate between the
Upper Rhine
The Upper Rhine (german: Oberrhein ; french: Rhin Supérieur) is the section of the Rhine between Basel in Switzerland and Bingen in Germany, surrounded by the Upper Rhine Plain. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometres 170 to 529 (the ...
and the
Middle Rhine
Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the river Rhine flows as the Middle Rhine (german: Mittelrhein) through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river a ...
, the two successive sections of the river
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
that flow through the German state of
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
.
In the southern and central
Palatine Forest the effect of the Palatine Watershed is especially clear. There it separates the
catchment area
In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...
s of its four major drainage systems into an eastern and a western region: The
Lauter, referred to in its upper reaches as the ''Wieslauter'', the
Queich and the
Speyerbach
The Speyerbach is a left tributary of the Rhine in the Palatinate part of Rhineland-Palatinate. In Speyer, the river split into ''Gießhübelbach'' and ''Woogbach''. The Woogbach changes its name to ''Nonnenbach'', then flows into Gießhübe ...
flow eastwards, directly into the Upper Rhine; the
Schwarzbach collects the water from the western Palatine Forest and sends it via the
Blies
The Blies () is a right tributary of the Saar in southwestern Germany (Saarland) and northeastern France (Moselle). The Blies flows from three springs in the Hunsrück near Selbach, Germany. It is roughly 100 km long, ending in the French c ...
,
Saar
Saar or SAAR has several meanings:
People Given name
*Saar Boubacar (born 1951), Senegalese professional football player
* Saar Ganor, Israeli archaeologist
*Saar Klein (born 1967), American film editor
Surname
* Ain Saar (born 1968), Est ...
and
Moselle rivers to the Middle Rhine.
[1:25,000 topographic map]
Course
South and central area
![SteinkreuzeUndRitterstein](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/SteinkreuzeUndRitterstein.JPG)
In the southern Palatine Forest, the German part of the
Wasgau, the Palatine Watershed begins on the
French border in the area of the Erlenkopf hill (473 m above
NHN), where it is a continuation of the watershed in the northern
Vosges
The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...
. Always generally running from southwest to northeast it initially heads eastwards past
Eppenbrunn and
Pirmasens
Pirmasens (; pfl, Bärmesens (also ''Bermesens'' or ''Bärmasens'')) is an independent town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the border with France. It was famous for the manufacture of shoes. The surrounding rural district was called ''Lan ...
over the Großer Schiffelskopf (457 m) and reaches the region of
Gräfenstein Land. From there it runs up the
Hortenkopf (606 m) in the central
Frankenweide. Several kilometres it passes through the hamlet of
Johanniskreuz (470 m), one of the highest settlements in the Palatine Forest. The watershed then reaches the area west of
Waldleiningen
Waldleiningen is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous countr ...
in the Lower Frankenweide.
Northern area
There are two options for the northern course of the Palatine Watershed, depending on whether the confluence of the
Nahe at
Bingen is counted as part of the Upper Rhine or is seen as belonging to the Middle Rhine. If the former is assumed, it runs south of the catchment area of the Nahe; if the latter, it runs to the east of it.
![Hohenecken2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Hohenecken2011.jpg)
In the first, more usually accepted case, the watershed is identical with that of the Schwarzbach and its headstreams (especially the
Moosalb,
Rodalb
The Rodalb, also called the Rodalbe, is a stream, just under long, in West Palatinate in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is an orographically left tributary of the Schwarzbach.
Course
The Rodalb rises in the southwestern Palatin ...
,
Wallhalb and
Hornbach) with the Nahe tributary of the
Glan. The drainage divide runs from the Lower Frankenweide westwards through the Imperial Forest (the ''Reichswald'') past the
Großer Humberg (430 m) in the area of the Großer Hausberg (471 m) between
Kaiserslautern and
Landstuhl
Landstuhl () is a town in the Kaiserslautern district of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. It is the seat of ''Verbandsgemeinde Landstuhl'', a kind of "collective municipality." Landstuhl is situated on the north-west edge of the Palatinate F ...
. On the
Sickingen Heights it runs close to its northern edge to the
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
border at
Homburg.
![Selz-Quelle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Selz-Quelle.JPG)
In the more rarely postulated second case, the watershed runs from the Lower Frankenweide onwards in a northeasterly, later more northerly direction. In doing so, it separates the catchment area of the Nahe in the west, to which the
Lauter (locally ''Waldlauter''),
Alsenz and
Appelbach
Appelbach is a river of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
The Appelbach springs north of Falkenstein. It discharges at Bretzenheim from the right into the Nahe.
See also
*List of rivers of Rhineland-Palatinate
A list of rivers of Rhineland-Pal ...
belong, from the sources of the smaller, west Upper Rhine tributaries, namely the
Isenach,
Eckbach,
Eisbach and
Pfrimm. From the forest of
Stumpfwald in the northern Palatine Forest the watershed enters the
North Palatine Uplands
The North Palatine Uplands (german: Nordpfälzer Bergland), sometimes shortened to Palatine Uplands (''Pfälzer Bergland''), is a low mountain range and landscape unit in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and belongs mainly to the Palat ...
, passing immediately west of the summit of the highest point in the Uplands, the
Donnersberg
The Donnersberg ("thunder mountain") is the highest peak of the Palatinate (german: Pfalz) region of Germany. The mountain lies between the towns of Rockenhausen and Kirchheimbolanden, in the Donnersbergkreis district, which is named after the ...
(686.5 m).
North of
Kirchheimbolanden
Kirchheimbolanden (), the capital of Donnersbergkreis, is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, south-western Germany. It is situated approximately 25 km west of Worms, and 30 km north-east of Kaiserslautern. The first part of the name, ''Ki ...
, near
Orbis (327 m), it leaves the Palatinate between the source of the
Selz
The Selz is a river in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and a left hand tributary of the Rhine. It flows through the largest German wine region, Rheinhessen (Rhenish Hesse).
It rises near the village of Orbis in the county of Donnersbergkrei ...
, which flows into the Upper Rhine, and the upper reaches of the Nahe tributary, the
Wiesbach, and heads into the region of
Rheinhessen
Rhenish Hesse or Rhine HesseDickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 542. . (german: Rheinhessen) is a region and a former government district () in the German state of Rhineland- ...
.
Elevations
In the south the Palatine Watershed lies below 500 m, its highest point being in the central Palatine Forest northwest of the Hortenkopf at 591 m and in the vicinity of
Eschkopf and
Mosisberg, in both cases reaching 596m above NHN. The two branches further north vary considerably in height: the western branch lies well under 500 m. The northern branch reaches more than 600 m at the Donnersberg, from where its elevation reduces on the last 8 kilometres to the Rheinhessian border still at an elevation of 300 m.
-->
References
Geography of the Palatinate (region)