Papenkaule crater The Papenkaule (also ''Papenkaul'' in the local dialect) is a dry

crater Crater may refer to: Landforms *Impact crater, a depression caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet *Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surfac ...

of a volcano that was active about 10,000 years ago. It lies north of

Gerolstein Gerolstein () is a town in the Vulkaneifel district of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Gerolstein is a local municipality of the ''Verbandsgemeinde Gerolstein''. It has been approved as a '' Luftkurort'' (spa town). History As early as the Ston ...

in the

Eifel The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...

mountains in Germany. The lava which was released as the result of an

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...

did not, however, flow out of the vent of the Papenkaule, but reached the surface to the west of it at the ''Hagelskaule'' and streamed southwards into the

Kyll The Kyll (), noted by the Roman poet Ausonius as ''Celbis'',Ausonius, ''Mosella'', v. 359 is a river in western Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate), left tributary of the Moselle. It rises in the Eifel mountains, near the b ...

valley. Because the bedrock below the Papenkaule is porous

dolomite Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...

, no crater lake was able to form.

Literature

* ''Eifel, Ahrtal.'' (o.A.), Grieben-Verlag, Munich, 1982, , p. 105

External links

The Hagelskaule near Gerolstein and the Sarresdorf lava flow

on the

German Volcano Road The German Volcano Route or, less commonly, German Volcano Road (german: Deutsche Vulkanstraße) is a 280-kilometre-long tourist route from the River Rhine to the mountains of the High Eifel. It links 39 sites within the Geopark Vulkanland Eifel ...

Eifel Holocene volcanoes Vulkaneifel {{Vulkaneifel-geo-stub