The Plackwald is a ridge of hills, up to , and part of the

Rhenish Massif The Rhenish Massif, Rhine Massif or Rhenish Uplands (german: Rheinisches Schiefergebirge, : 'Rhenish Slate Uplands') is a geologic massif in western Germany, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg and northeastern France. It is drained centrally, south to n ...

in the counties of Soest and

Hochsauerlandkreis Hochsauerlandkreis (meaning “High Sauerland District” in German) is a Kreis (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Soest, Paderborn, Höxter, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Olpe, Mär ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

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 the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Within the North Sauerland Highlands (Unit number 334) it forms the

natural region A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate. From the ecology, ecological point of view, the naturally occurring fl ...

sub-unit of ''Plackweghöhe (Plackwald)'' (334.5).

Geography

Location

The Plackwald lies in the

Arnsberg Forest Nature Park The Arnsberg Forest Nature Park (german: Naturpark Arnsberger Wald) is a nature park in the districts of Hochsauerlandkreis and Soest within the administrictive region of Arnsberg in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The park was est ...

between

Meschede Meschede () is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the district Hochsauerlandkreis. Education One of the five branches of South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences (also: Fachhoc ...

in the south and

Warstein Warstein () is a municipality with town status in the district of Soest, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located at the north end of Sauerland. Geography Warstein is located north of the Arnsberger Wald (forest) at a brook called Wäs ...

in the north. It runs from the northeast of the town of

Arnsberg Arnsberg (; wep, Arensperg) is a town in the Hochsauerland county, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the location of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg administration and one of the three local administration offices of the Hochs ...

in the west to the village of Esshoff in the borough of

Brilon Brilon (; Westphalian: ''Brailen'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, central Germany, that belongs to the Hochsauerlandkreis. Geography Brilon is situated on the Brilon Heights at an altitude of about 450 m on the upper reaches of the r ...

in the east. As part of the

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

between the

River Ruhr __NOTOC__ The Ruhr is a river in western Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia), a right tributary (east-side) of the Rhine. Description and history The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an el ...

in the south and its tributary, the

Möhne The Möhne () is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Ruhr. The Möhne passes the towns of Brilon, Rüthen and Warstein. There is a large artificial lake near the mouth of the river, the Möhne Reservoir, use ...

, in the north it consists of a chain of hills with the

Plackweghöhe The Plackweghöhe ("Plackweg Heights"), whose main summit has hitherto had no official name, is the highest point in the borough of Warstein, the hill ridge of the Plackwald, the North Sauerland Uplands, and the Arnsberg Forest Nature Park in the ...

(581.5 m) as its highest point, whose name is a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

for the hill ridge either side of the Plackweg, a long-distance path. Its main transport axis is the B 55 federal highway that divides the region roughly in the centre at the pass of Stimmstamm (541.1 m). Amongst the more notable sites of the Plackwald are the Meschede Transmission Tower and the

Lörmecke Lörmecke is a river of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It flows into the Glenne near Warstein-Suttrop. See also *List of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia A list of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany: A * Aa, left tributary of the M ...

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 ...

as well as the rivers of the

Heve Heve (in its upper course: ''Bache'' and ''Lottmannshardbach'') is a river of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Its source is in the Arnsberger Wald near Warstein and it discharges into the Möhnesee. See also *List of rivers of North Rhine-Westp ...

Langer Bach Langer Bach is a small river of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It flows into the Wester near Warstein. See also *List of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia A list of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany: A * Aa, left tributary of the ...

and Wideybach.

Natural regions

In Germany’s natural region classification system, the Plackwald forms the sub-unit of ''Plackweghöhe (Plackwald)'' (334.5). with the major unit group of the

Süder Uplands The Süder Uplands Arnsberg Forest The Arnsberg Forest Nature Park (german: Naturpark Arnsberger Wald) is a nature park in the districts of Hochsauerlandkreis and Soest within the administrictive region of Arnsberg in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The park was esta ...

(334.3) and Warstein Hills (334.4), to the east the Upper Möhne and Alme Forest (334.6), to the southwest and west the Oeventrop Ruhr Valley (334.1) and to the south the major unit of the Sauerland Basins (335).

Description

The Plackwald is a high, flat-topped ridge, roughly 500 to 550 m, that runs eastwards from the Großer Berg near the

village of Oeventrop over the Warsteiner Kopf and Nuttlarhöhe to the

Brilon Plateau The Brilon Plateau (german: Briloner Hochfläche) is a highland area in the county of Hochsauerlandkreis in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is surrounded by the Brilon Heights (''Briloner Höhen''), whose mountains reach a heig ...

. Geologically the hill ridge comprises folded rocks of the

Upper Carboniferous Upper may refer to: * Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot * Stimulant Stimulants (also often referred to as psychostimulants or colloquially as uppers) is an overarching term that covers many drugs including those ...

. In the Nuttlar Bowl,

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

itic

argillaceous Clay minerals are hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates (e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4), sometimes with variable amounts of iron, magnesium, alkali metals, alkaline earths, and other cations found on or near some planetary surfaces. Clay minerals ...

and

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke (German ''grauwacke'', signifying a grey, earthy rock) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lit ...

slates of the Arnsberg Beds of the

Namurian The Namurian is a stage in the regional stratigraphy of northwest Europe with an age between roughly 326 and 313 Ma (million years ago). It is a subdivision of the Carboniferous system or period and the regional Silesian series. The Namurian is ...

stage form the subsoil. Frequently, the horizons of argillaceous slate have been obliterated. To the north the Plackwald descends comparatively gently to 450 m the Breitenbruch Forest (334.32) and Warstein Hills. To the south it drops steeply and suddenly into the

Ruhr valley The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

, around 250 metres below. The upper edge of the scarp of the

truncated upland A truncated upland, truncated highland or bevelled upland (german: Rumpfgebirge) is the heavily eroded remains of a fold mountain range, often from an early period in earth history.Murawski, H., Meyer, W. (2004): ''Geologisches Wörterbuch.'' Spekt ...

follows the Plackweghöhe, which runs along the southern edge of the Upper Arnsberg Forest, to the Inner Sauerland Basins (335). As a result the climate in the Plackwald is harsher and, with around 1,000 mm of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

annually, wetter that in other areas of the North Sauerland Uplands. The average temperature in May/July is roughly 12 to 13 °C. The

podsol In soil science, podzols are the typical soils of coniferous or boreal forests and also the typical soils of eucalypt forests and heathlands in southern Australia. In Western Europe, podzols develop on heathland, which is often a construct of huma ...

ic soils are poor in bases, sandy-loamy and of medium depth. In the spring hollows there is a tendency for

stagnant water Water stagnation occurs when water stops flowing. Stagnant water can be a major environmental hazard. Dangers Malaria and dengue are among the main dangers of stagnant water, which can become a breeding ground for the mosquitoes that transmi ...

and

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s to form.

Hills

The hills, eminences, spurs and other prominent high spots of the Plackwald include the following, sorted by height in

metre The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

s (m) above sea level (NHN) (unless otherwise stated ): *

(581.5 m), north-northeast of

Eversberg Eversberg is a town with about 2000 inhabitants in the county of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The history of the town goes back to the 11th century when Count Eberhard von Arnsberg founded the castle Eversberg. The castle today is a ruin. Th ...

(on the ''Plackweg''); with the

Lörmecke Tower Lörmecke is a river of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It flows into the Glenne near Warstein-Suttrop. See also *List of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia A list of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany: A * Aa, left tributary of the M ...

* Unnamed top (557.4 m), south-southeast of the Meschede Transmission Tower * ''Warsteiner Kopf'' (556.9 m), north-northeast of the Eversberg * ''Gemeinheitskopf'' (551.9 m), north-northwest of

Föckinghausen Föckinghausen is a locality in the municipality Schmallenberg in the district Hochsauerlandkreis in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The village has 9 inhabitantsWideybach * ''Wiemert'' (544.2 m), north of Föckinghausen * ''Ensterknick'' (543.2 m), hamlet and fields north of

-Galiläa (on the ''Plackweg'') * ''Nuttlarer Höhe'' (542.2 m), north of Nuttlar * Stimmstamm (541.1 m), Passhöhe an B 55, north of Meschede * ''Liverhagen'' (522.6 m{{GeoQuelle, DE, BFN-Karten), north of Eversberg * ''Moosberg'' (522.0 m), north of Meschede * ''Hornscheid'' (519.7 m), north of Eversberg * ''Brandenberg'' (509.3 m), north of the ''Meschede Transmission Tower'' * ''Neuer Berg'' (504.2 m), southwest of Hirschberg * ''Wennemer Höhe'' (503.3 m), north of

Wennemen Meschede () is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the district Hochsauerlandkreis. Education One of the five branches of South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences (also: Fachhoc ...

* ''Kopf'' (500,8 m), northeast of Eversberg * ''Blumenkopf'' (Südkopf, 500.7 m), southwest of Warstein, near the B 55 * ''Blumenkopf'' (Nordkopf, 498.9 m), southwest of Warstein, near the B 55 * ''Großer Berg'' (476.0 m), northeast of

Freienohl Meschede () is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the district Hochsauerlandkreis. Education One of the five branches of South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences (also: Fachhoc ...

* ''Meidenberg'' (466.7 m), southeast of Hirschberg

References

Martin Bürgener: ''Geographische Landesaufnahme: The natural region units on Sheet 110 Arnsberg.'' Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Bad Godesberg, 1969. →&nbs
Online map
(pdf; 6.1 MB), with the western half of the ''Plackweghöhe (Plackwald)'' sub-unit Martin Bürgener: ''Geographische Landesaufnahme: The natural region units on Sheet 111 Arolsen.'' Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Bad Godesberg, 1963. →&nbs
Online map
(pdf; 4.1 MB), with the eastern half of the ''Plackweghöhe (Plackwald)'' sub-unit Sauerland Natural regions of the Süder Uplands