Schönebecker Aue is a ''

geest Geest is a type of landform, slightly raised above the surrounding countryside, that occurs on the plains of Northern Germany, the Northern Netherlands and Denmark. It is a landscape of sandy and gravelly soils formed as a glacial outwash plai ...

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

and

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

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 ...

. The Schönebecker Aue's source is on the Lange Heide plateau near (in

Osterholz-Scharmbeck Osterholz-Scharmbeck (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Oosterholt-Scharmbeek'') is a town and the capital of the district of Osterholz, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Osterholz-Scharmbeck is situated in between the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven. Geography ...

, district Osterholz) in Lower Saxony. Its mouth is in

Bremen-Vegesack Vegesack is a northern district of the city of Bremen. Geography ''Vegesack'' is located about north from the centre of Bremen-city at the mouth of the river Lesum, beside the river Weser (). Abutting the district of Vegesack to the northwest is ...

in the river

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports of Bre ...

Course

The Schönebecker Aue's total length is , of which the last are in the city of

. The stream's source is on the Lange Heide, a ''geest'' plateau north of Bremen in Osterholz-Scharmbeck, which is also the source of several other ''geest'' streams (e.g.: the

Drepte Drepte is a river of Lower Saxony, Germany. It flows into the Weser north of Brake. See also *List of rivers of Lower Saxony All rivers in the German state of Lower Saxony flow directly or indirectly into the North Sea. A–Z A B D E F ...

, Giehler Bach,

Scharmbecker Bach Scharmbecker Bach is a river of Lower Saxony, Germany. It flows into the Hamme south of Osterholz-Scharmbeck. See also *List of rivers of Lower Saxony All rivers in the German state of Lower Saxony flow directly or indirectly into the North ...

and

Wienbeck Wienbeck is a small river in Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Lower Saxony, Germany. It flows into the Scharmbecker Bach. See also *List of rivers of Lower Saxony All rivers in the German state of Lower Saxony flow directly or indirectly into the North ...

). From a height of approx 40m above

NAP A nap is a short period of sleep, typically taken during daytime hours as an adjunct to the usual nocturnal sleep period. Naps are most often taken as a response to drowsiness during waking hours. A nap is a form of biphasic or polyphasic sl ...

, the Aue flows through the so-called

Bremen Switzerland Bremen Switzerland (german: Bremer Schweiz; Northern Low Saxon: ''Bremer Swiez'') is an undulating geest landscape in the north of Bremen (Bremen Nord) and the adjacent district of Osterholz, and forms the western portion of the Osterholz Geest. I ...

in the lowland meadows around the castle . Here the stream carved the ''Auetal'' (Aue valley), which is a major recreational area for the population of . Not far after the Aue reaches Bremen territory, it flows into a pond, which on one side forms a crescent around Schloss Schönebeck, and on the other side used to serve as the water source for a now-disused

water mill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production o ...

. At the old mill today, there is only a weir, which regulates the water level in the ''Schlossteich'' (castle pond). Downstream from the weir, the Aue flows through Bremen suburbs Schönebeck (belongs to

) und Bremen-Vegesack, then for a short way through fields, before reaching another residential area.

Bundesautobahn 270 is an autobahn in Germany. The A 270 was created in 2001 as a redesignation of the freeway into the northern part of Bremen. Previously, the freeway was known as the B 74n ''Lesumerschnellweg''. The freeway replaced the route of the ...

and Uhthoffstraße pass over the Aue, and at Vegesack railway station the stream is led underneath the station's

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...

via a series of pipes. Directly from the pipes, the Aue flows into Vegesack harbor.

Redirection

In its upper reaches, the course of the Aue has been "lightly to moderately altered". Source not retrieved The weir at Schloss Schönebeck, as well as pipe laying at Vegesack railway station had previously caused impassable obstacles for migrating fish. In 2007 a redirection of the Aue around the weir was initiated. This involved a small, naturalistically-formed canal, which leads the stream in a crescent around the weir and was laid out by conservationist volunteers. The mouth of the Aue was modified several years ago with a stone embankment, through which the migrating fish can still pass. For years before that, the "opening" of the Aue into a harbor basin near to Vegesack railway station was a controversial discussion point in Bremen communal politics. File:Schoenebecker aue umgehung.jpg, View of the re-routed river at its upper end File:Vegesacker Hafen - Mündung der Aue.JPG, Mouth of the Schönebecker Aue at the

References

External links

Aktionsgemeinschaft Bremer Schweiz - Schönebecker Aue
(in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Schonebecker Aue Rivers of Bremen (state) Rivers of Lower Saxony Rivers of Germany