Pfaelzerwaldkarte Westricher Hochflaeche

The Westrich Plateau (german: Westricher Hochfläche),Helmut Beeger et al.: "Die Landschaften von Rheinhessen-Pfalz − Benennung und räumliche Abgrenzung". In: ''Berichte zur deutschen Landeskunde'', Vol. 63, Part 2, Trier, 1989, pp. 327–359 also Zweibrücken Westrich (''Zweibrücker Westrich'')For example in the

Handbuch der naturräumlichen Gliederung Deutschlands The ''Handbook of Natural Region Divisions of Germany'' (german: Handbuch der naturräumlichen Gliederung Deutschlands) was a book series resulting from a project by the former German Federal Institute for Regional Studies ('' Bundesanstalt für La ...

. or Southwest Palatine Plateau (''Südwestpfälzische Hochfläche''), is a landscape 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 ...

, with small areas also in the

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

(

Saarpfalz-Kreis Saarpfalz (''Saar-Palatinate'') is a Kreis (district) in the south-east of the Saarland, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west clockwise) Saarbrücken, Neunkirchen, Kusel, Kaiserslautern, Südwestpfalz, district-free Zweibrücken, and th ...

). Its heart is in the southwest of the

Palatinate region The Palatinate (german: Pfalz; Palatine German: ''Palz'') is a region of Germany. In the Middle Ages it was known as the Rhenish Palatinate (''Rheinpfalz'') and Lower Palatinate (''Unterpfalz''), which strictly speaking designated only the wes ...

and it is part of the historic region of Westrich.

Geography

Structure and boundaries

The Westrich Plateau consists mainly of the Sickingen Heights in the north and the Zweibrücken Hills in the south which, morphologically, belong more to northeastern

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

). The main plateau falls away in a marked scarp slope, the Sickingen Escarpment, to the northwest (towards the Homburg Basin) and especially to the north, towards the Landstuhl Marsh. By contrast, the eastern edge of the Westrich transitions rather smoothly from its

muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; french: calcaire coquillier) is a sequence of sedimentary rock, sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Mid ...

plateau to the

bunter sandstone The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsands ...

of the Palatine Forest. The

subdivisions Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rush ...

of the plateau along the Moosalb and near Eppenbrunn also extend into the wooded region of the Palatine Forest Nature Park. In the east the land gradually descends to the settlement fringe of

Pirmasens Pirmasens (; pfl, Bärmesens (also ''Bermesens'' or ''Bärmasens'')) is an independent town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the border with France. It was famous for the manufacture of shoes. The surrounding rural district was called ''Lan ...

and the Trualbe, opposite the

Queidersbach Queidersbach is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany. Geography The municipality is located 10 km southwest of Kaiserslautern in a natural meadow valley on the western edge of the Pa ...

and the Moosalb valley, which forms the actual eastern boundary. To the south the Zweibrücken Hills continue the plateau into

, and more specifically into the Bitscherland and the

Alsace bossue The Alsace bossue ( Alemannic and Frankish: ''S'Gromme/S'Krumme Elsass'', German: ''das krumme Elsass/ Krummes Elsass''), is a territory of Bas-Rhin in Alsace, which includes the three former cantons of Sarre-Union, Drulingen and La Petite-Pierre ...

. The central section of the plateau's western boundary with the Saint Ingbert-Kirkeler Woods and, further south, with the Bliesgau, runs (according to the ''Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde'', Saarbrücken sheet, and popular opinion) just west of the state border with Saarland and does not cross the valley of the

Blies The Blies () is a right tributary of the Saar in southwestern Germany (Saarland) and northeastern France (Moselle). The Blies flows from three springs in the Hunsrück near Selbach, Germany. It is roughly 100 km long, ending in the French c ...

, which from here on forms the boundary with the first-named of the two regions. This compares with a purely Saarland division according to Quasten which also counts a narrow strip of land southwest of

Blieskastel Blieskastel () is a city in the Saarpfalz (Saar-Palatinate) district, in Saarland, Germany which is divided into villages. It is situated on the river Blies, approximately southwest of Homburg (Saar), west of Zweibrücken, and east of Saarbrü ...

(right = west of the Blies) as part of the Zweibrücken Westrich.

References

Literature

* * * * * *

External links

BfN The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (german: Bundesamt für Naturschutz, ''BfN'') is the German government's scientific authority with responsibility for national and international nature conservation. BfN is one of the government' ...

landscape fact file
Sickingen Heights and Zweibrücken Hills
!-- Erroneously under "Zweibrücker Westrich" -->

{{coord missing, Rhineland-Palatinate Landscapes of Rhineland-Palatinate Western Palatinate Natural regions of the South German Scarplands