In the south German language (of the Alemannic-speaking area, or in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

), a ''gäu'' landscape (''gäulandschaft'') refers to an area of open, level countryside. These regions typically have fertile soils resulting from depositions of

loess A loess (, ; from ) is a clastic rock, clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loesses or similar deposition (geology), deposits. A loess ...

(an exception is the ''Arme Gäue'' Poor Gäus"of the Baden-Württemberg Gäu). The intensive use of the ''Gäu'' regions for

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, Fiber, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same spe ...

s has displaced the originally wooded countryside (→'' climax vegetation'' – in contrast with the steppe heath theory and disputed megaherbivore hypothesis). The North German equivalent of such landscapes is '' börde.''

See also