The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, near its
border
Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...
with
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 ...
. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single
geomorphological
Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or n ...
unit and low mountain range of around in area. It runs in a north-northeast direction from the
Burgundian Gate
The Belfort Gap ( ) or Burgundian Gate ( ) is the area of relatively flat terrain in Eastern France between the Vosges Mountains to the north and the Jura Mountains to the south. It marks the watershed between the drainage basins of the River R ...
Winnweiler
Winnweiler is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the upper course of the river Alsenz, approx. north-east of Kaiserslautern. Winnweiler is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collectiv ...
Göllheim
Göllheim () is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated north of the Palatinate forest, approx. 25 km west of Worms. It was the site of the 1298 Battle of Göllheim.
Göllheim is the seat of ...
Grand Ballon
The Grand Ballon () or Great Belchen is the highest mountain of the Vosges, located northwest of Mulhouse, France. It is also the highest point of the Grand-Est French region.
Name
''Grand Ballon'' means "great ound-toppedmountain" because ...
is the highest peak at , followed by the Storkenkopf (), and the Hohneck ().
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
Geographically, the Vosges Mountains are wholly in France, far above the Col de Saverne separating them from the Palatinate Forest in Germany. The latter area logically continues the same Vosges geologic structure but traditionally receives this different name for historical and political reasons. From 1871 to 1918 the Vosges marked for the most part the border between Germany and France, due to the Franco-Prussian War. The elongated
massif
In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...
is divided south to north into three sections:
* The Higher Vosges or High VosgesDickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A Regional and Economic Geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 540. . (''Hautes Vosges''), extending in the southern part of the range from Belfort to the river valley of the Bruche. The rounded summits of the Hautes Vosges are called ''ballons'' in French, literally "balloons".
* The
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
Vosges or Middle Vosges (), between the Permian Basin of Saint-Die including the
Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...
-
Dinantian
Dinantian is the name of a series or epoch from the Lower Carboniferous system in Europe. It can stand for a series of rocks in Europe or the time span in which they were deposited.
The Dinantian is equal to the lower part of the Mississippian s ...
volcanic massif of Schirmeck-Moyenmoutier and the Col de Saverne
* The Lower Vosges or Low Vosges (), commonly known as North Vosges, a sandstone plateau ranging from to high, between the Col de Saverne and the source of the
Lauter
Lauter may refer to:
People
* Lauter (surname)
Places
*Lauter, Saxony, town in the district of Aue-Schwarzenberg, Saxony, Germany
* Lauter, Bavaria, village in the district of Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany
Rivers
* Lauter (Baunach), tributary to th ...
.
In addition, the term "Central Vosges" is used to designate the various lines of summits, especially those above in elevation. The French department of Vosges is named after the range.
Geology
From a geological point of view, a
graben
In geology, a graben () is a depressed block of the crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults.
Etymology
''Graben'' is a loan word from German, meaning 'ditch' or 'trench'. The word was first used in the geologic contex ...
at the beginning of the
Paleogene
The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...
period caused the formation of
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsà ss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
and the uplift of the bedrock plates of the Vosges, in eastern France, and those in the
Black Forest
The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...
, in Germany. From a scientific view, the Vosges Mountains are not mountains as such, but rather the western edge of the unfinished Alsatian graben, stretching continuously as part of the larger Tertiary formations. Erosive
glacial
A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...
action was the primary catalyst for development of the
highland
Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...
massif feature.
The Vosges in their southern and central parts are called the ''Hautes Vosges''. These consist of a large
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...
mountain eroded just before the
Permian
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...
Period with
gneiss
Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...
,
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
s,
porphyritic
Porphyritic is an adjective used in geology to describe igneous rocks with a distinct difference in the size of mineral crystals, with the larger crystals known as phenocrysts. Both extrusive and intrusive rocks can be porphyritic, meaning all ...
masses or other volcanic intrusions. The north, south and west parts are less eroded by glaciers, and here Vosges
Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...
and Permian red
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
remains are found in large beds. The ''grès vosgien'' (a French name for a Triassic rose sandstone) are embedded sometimes up to more than in thickness. The Lower Vosges in the north are dislocated plates of various sandstones, ranging from high.
The Vosges are very similar to the corresponding range of the
Black Forest
The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...
since both lie within the same degrees of latitude, have similar geological formations and are characterized by forests on their lower slopes, above which are open pastures and rounded summits of a rather uniform altitude. Both areas exhibit steeper slopes towards the
, a major extensional basin. When such basins form, the thinning of the crust causes uplift immediately adjacent to the basin, decreasing with distance from the basin. Thus, the highest range of peaks rises immediately adjacent to the basin and increasingly lower mountains rise further from the basin.
Mountains
The highest points are in the ''Hautes Vosges'': the
Grand Ballon
The Grand Ballon () or Great Belchen is the highest mountain of the Vosges, located northwest of Mulhouse, France. It is also the highest point of the Grand-Est French region.
Name
''Grand Ballon'' means "great ound-toppedmountain" because ...
, in ancient times called ''Ballon de Guebwiller'' or ''Ballon de Murbach,'' rises to ; the Storckenkopf to ; the Hohneck to ; the
Kastelberg
The Kastelberg is the fourth highest summit of the Vosges Mountains. It is located on the former border between the French regions of Alsace and Lorraine.
Etymology
In German ''Kastelberg'' means ''mountain of the castle''.
Geography
The m ...
to . The Col de Saales, between the Higher and Central Vosges, reaches nearly , both lower and narrower than the Higher Vosges, with
Mont Donon
Mont Donon is the highest peak in the northern Vosges. It is a Category 2 climb in the Tour de France.
On Donon, there is an 80 metre tall lattice tower for TV transmission. Its TV transmission antennas are covered by a polymeric cylinder, which ...
at being the highest point of this Nordic section.
The highest mountains and peaks of the Vosges (with Alsatian or German names in brackets) are:
*
Grand Ballon
The Grand Ballon () or Great Belchen is the highest mountain of the Vosges, located northwest of Mulhouse, France. It is also the highest point of the Grand-Est French region.
Name
''Grand Ballon'' means "great ound-toppedmountain" because ...
Kastelberg
The Kastelberg is the fourth highest summit of the Vosges Mountains. It is located on the former border between the French regions of Alsace and Lorraine.
Etymology
In German ''Kastelberg'' means ''mountain of the castle''.
Geography
The m ...
Rainkopf
The Rainkopf is one of the highest summits of the Vosges Mountains. It is located on the border between the French regions of Alsace and Lorraine. Not faraway from its summit is located a mountain hut called ''Refuge "Louis Hergès" au Rainkopf'' ...
Petit Ballon
The Petit Ballon (german: Kleiner Belchen) or Little Belchen,Chevrier, Jean-François. ''From Basel - Herzog & de Meuron'', Basel: Birkhäuser, 2016, p. 54. is, at 1272m, one of the highest peaks of the Vosges Mountains in the department of Haut-R ...
Ballon de Servance
Ballon may refer to:
Places
* Ballon, County Carlow (''Balana'' in Irish), a village in Ireland
*Grand Ballon, the apex of the Vosges Mountains in France
*Ballon, Charente-Maritime, France
*Ballon, Sarthe, France
Others
* Ballon (ballet), the ap ...
Donon
Mont Donon is the highest peak in the northern Vosges. It is a Category 2 climb in the Tour de France.
On Donon, there is an 80 metre tall lattice tower for TV transmission. Its TV transmission antennas are covered by a polymeric cylinder, which ...
Climont
Climont, formerly called "Clivemont" in Old French, and "Winberg" in Old Alsatian, is a conical sandstone peak of the Vosges mountains. The mountain, with a cut-off shape, is known from afar by walkers and modern-day travellers.
Situated today i ...
Tête du Coquin
Tête, head in French, may refer to :
* Tête (sculpture), ''Tête'' (sculpture), a 1912 work of art by Amedeo Modigliani; one of the most expensive sculptures ever sold
* "Je danse dans ma tête", a 1991 song from the Dion chante Plamondon album ...
Dabo
is a Japanese hip-hop rapper. He first appeared on the Japanese hip-hop scene in the 1990s, collaborating in a Shakkazombie song, ''"Tomo ni ikkou"''. Since 2002, he has released three albums: ''Hitman'' (2002), ''Diamond'' (2003), and ''The Fo ...
(''Dagsburg'')
*
Grand Wintersberg
At , the Grand Wintersberg (german: Großer Wintersberg) is the highest hill in the North Vosges in Alsace, France.
The Grand Wintersberg lies about four kilometres northwest of Niederbronn-les-Bains. The massif separates the valleys of the Fa ...
nature park
A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected natural area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscape ...
Palatinate Forest Nature Park
The Palatinate Forest Nature Park (german: Naturpark Pfälzerwald) lies in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany and borders on France. The nature park covers an area of and some 76% of its area is under the woods of the Palatinate For ...
on the German side of the border form the cross-border
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
.
In the late 20th century, a wide area of the massif was included in two
protected area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
Foehn effect
A Foehn or Föhn (, , ), is a type of dry, relatively warm, downslope wind that occurs in the lee (downwind side) of a mountain range.
It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of ...
the difference between the eastern and western mean slopes of the range is very marked. The main air streams come generally from the west and southwest, so the Alsatian central plains just under the Hautes-Vosges receive much less water than the south-west front of the Vosges Mountains. The highlands of the
arrondissement
An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands.
Europe
France
The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements' ...
of Remiremont receive as annual rainfall or snowfall more than of precipitation yearly, whereas some dry countryside near Colmar receives less than of water in the event of insufficient storms. The temperature is much lower in the west front of the mountains than in the low plains behind the massif, especially in summer. On the eastern slope economic vineyards reach to a height of ; on the other hand, in the mountains, it is a land of pasture and forest.
The only rivers in Alsace are the
Ill ILL may refer to:
* '' I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom
* Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland
* Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility
* Interlibra ...
coming from south Alsace (or Sundgau), and the Bruche d'Andlau and the Bruche which have as tributaries other, shorter but sometimes powerful streams coming like the last two from the Vosges Mountains. The rivers
Moselle
The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...
, Meurthe and Sarre and their numerous affluents all rise on the
moraine
A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...
s, boulders and polished rocks testify to the former existence of
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...
s which once covered the top of the Vosges. The mountain lakes caused by the original glacial phenomena are surrounded by pines,
beech
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
es and
maple
''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...
s, and green meadows provide pasture for large herds of cattle, with views of the Rhine valley, the Black Forest and the distant, snow-covered Swiss mountains.
History
The massif known in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
as ''Vosago mons '' or ''Vosego silva'', sometimes ''Vogesus mons'', was extended to the vast woods covering the region. Later, German speakers referred to the same region as ''Vogesen'' or ''Wasgenwald''.
Over the centuries, settlement population density grew gradually, as was typical for a forested region. Forests were cleared for agriculture, livestock and early industrial factories (such as
charcoal
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...
works and
glassworks
Glass production involves two main methods – the float glass process that produces sheet glass, and glassblowing that produces bottles and other containers. It has been done in a variety of ways during the history of glass.
Glass container ...
) and the
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 ...
Mont Donon
Mont Donon is the highest peak in the northern Vosges. It is a Category 2 climb in the Tour de France.
On Donon, there is an 80 metre tall lattice tower for TV transmission. Its TV transmission antennas are covered by a polymeric cylinder, which ...
in the north with the lands east of it being incorporated into Germany as part of Alsace-Lorraine.
The Vosges saw extensive fighting during the world wars. During World War I, there was severe and almost continuous fighting in the mountains. During World War II in October 1944, there was a fierce battle between German forces and the U.S. 442nd Battalion, a segregated unit composed of second-generation Japanese Americans (Nisei), during which the 442nd charged straight up the mountain to rescue the 1st Battalion of the 36th Infantry, formerly the Texas Guard—also known as the "Lost Battalion"—who were cut off and stranded on the mountainside under heavy fire from the Germans. Two previous rescues failed. The 442nd suffered 800 casualties, rescued the Texans, and took the mountain. Brown, James Daniel, Facing the Mountain, a True Story of Japanese American Heroes in WWII (Viking, 2021), Chapter 18.
On 20 January 1992 Air Inter Flight 148 crashed into the Vosges Mountains while circling to land at Strasbourg International Airport, killing 87 people.