Großer Graben and Schiffgraben together are an artificial waterbody with ambiguous flows in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

and

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, partly forming the border of both ''

Länder (singular ) or (singular ) is the name for (federal) states in two German-speaking countries. It may more specifically refer to: * States of Austria, the nine federal subdivisions of Austria * States of Germany The Federal Republic of Ge ...

''. It is fed by lateral sources and by the humidity of the wetland it passes. The western part of this waterway is an affluent of river Ilse, part of

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 o ...

bassin, the eastern part an affluent of river Bode, part of

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

bassin. The top, almost without flow, is a pseudo-bifurcation and part of the section called Schiffgraben. The border between the names Großer Graben and Schiffgraben is situated east of the pseudo-bifurcation. The names Großer Graben (''Large Canal'') and Schiffgraben (''Ship Canal'') are because in old ages it was intended to use them as a waterway.

See also