The Pulvermaar is a water-filled

maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...

that lies southeast of

Daun Daun is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the district seat and also the seat of the ' of Daun. Geography Location The town lies in the , a part of the Eifel known for its volcanic history, geogra ...

in 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 ...

. Together with the

Holzmaar The Holzmaar lies in the Volcanic Eifel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate almost halfway between Gillenfeld (2.5 km away to the southwest) and Eckfeld. The maar has an area of about , a diameter of and a depth of and lies withi ...

it is one of the

Gillenfeld Gillenfeld is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Daun, whose se ...

maars.

Description

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

site in the bog formations of the neighbouring

Strohner Maar The Strohner Maarchen (also Strohner Märchen) is a dry maar near the village of Strohn in the Volcanic Eifel region of Germany. Its bowl forms an elongated oval and has a diameter of about 210 x 140 metres. Its name ("maarchen" means "little maa ...

is ascribed to the Pulvermaar and is therefore older than the Pulvermaar. Early

pollen analyses Palynology is the "study of dust" (from grc-gre, παλύνω, palynō, "strew, sprinkle" and ''-logy'') or of "particles that are strewn". A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposits ...

of the bogs gave an age for the tuff site – and thus the Pulvermaar – of about 10,050 years. More recent studies show, however, underwater terraces at greater depth as well as

ice wedge An ice wedge is a crack in the ground formed by a narrow or thin piece of ice that measures up to 3–4 meters in length at ground level and extends downwards into the ground up to several meters. During the winter months, the water in the gr ...

s inside the tephra deposits, both of which suggest that the maar was formed during the last ice age, 20,000 to 30,000 years ago. Vulcanologists from the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

estimate the last eruption of the Strohner Maar and Pulvermaar in 8,300 BC. The almost circular maar has steep funnel-shaped sides. The maar lake lies at a height of and, with a maximum depth of , is the deepest in the

Volcanic Eifel The Volcanic Eifel or Vulkan Eifel (german: Vulkaneifel) is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of this volcanic field are its typical explosion crater la ...

. It has a diameter of about and surface area of and is thus also the largest waterbody of the Eifel maars, even if the volcanic structure as a whole, which measures 900 * 950 m is exceeded by other maars in the Eifel. Pulvermaar im Winter

After

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...

and the lakes of the Pre-Alps (the

Königssee The Königssee is a natural lake in the extreme southeast Berchtesgadener Land district of the German state of Bavaria, near the Austrian border. Most of the lake is within the Berchtesgaden National Park. Description Situated within the Berchte ...

Walchensee Walchensee or Lake Walchen is one of the deepest and largest alpine lakes in Germany, with a maximum depth of and an area of . The lake is south of Munich in the middle of the Bavarian Alps. The entire lake, including the island of Sassau, ...

Lake Starnberg Lake Starnberg, or ''Starnberger See'' ) — called Lake Würm, or ''Würmsee'' , until 1962 — is Germany's second-largest body of fresh water, having great depth, and fifth-largest lake by area. It and its surroundings lie in three different Ba ...

Ammersee Ammersee (English: Lake Ammer) is a Zungenbecken lake in Upper Bavaria, Germany, southwest of Munich between the towns of Herrsching and Dießen am Ammersee. With a surface area of approximately , it is the sixth largest lake in Germany. The lake ...

Chiemsee Chiemsee () is a freshwater lake in Bavaria, Germany, near Rosenheim. It is often called "the Bavarian Sea". The rivers Tiroler Achen and Prien flow into the lake from the south, and the river Alz flows out towards the north. The Alz flows in ...

Tegernsee Tegernsee is a town in the Miesbach district of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the shore of Lake Tegernsee, which is 747 m (2,451 ft) above sea level. A spa town, it is surrounded by an alpine landscape of Upper Bavaria, and has an e ...

) the Pulvermaar is the deepest natural lake in Germany. It is likely that the Pulvermaar was originally even deeper, perhaps as deep as 200 metres. Its rim would have had a height of 50 metres. The maar is surrounded by woods on the rim of the crater, through which a footpath runs around the lake. There is a bathing place on the eastern shore. Naturbad2 1024

References

Literature

* Werner D´hein: ''Natur- und Kulturführer Vulkanlandeifel. Mit 26 Stationen der „Deutschen Vulkanstraße“.'' Gaasterland-Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2006,

External links

Information about the Pulvermaar

Geology of the Pulvermaar
{{Authority control Maars of the Eifel Nature reserves in Rhineland-Palatinate Vulkaneifel Lakes of Rhineland-Palatinate

Description

See also

References

Literature

External links