The '' gäu'' landscapes of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

are sparsely wooded cultural landscapes that have evolved on the

South German Scarplands The South German Scarplands is a geological and geomorphological natural region or landscape in Switzerland and the south German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. The landscape is characterised by escarpments. Name It is variously referre ...

between the

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, 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 th ...

, the Stromberg and Heuchelberg in the west, and the

Swabian Jura The Swabian Jura ( , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of Swabia. It is part of th ...

and Swabian Keuperwald Hills in the east. In the north, the Swabian ''gäu'' landscapes transition into the uplands of Bauland and Tauberland. A ''gäu'' (plural ''gäue'') is a

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

, about 250 to 500 metres above sea level. It is made of

muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; ) is a sequence of sedimentary rock, sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic (240 to 230 m ...

and lettenkeuper rock strata, which have been deeply incised in places by the rivers

Neckar The Neckar () is a river in Germany, mainly flowing through the southwestern States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, with a short section through Hesse. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the Rhine. Rising in the Schwarzwald-Baar ...

, Ammer,

Würm Wurm or Würm may refer to: Places * Wurm (Rur), a river in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany * Würm (Amper), a river in Bavaria, southeastern Germany ** Würm glaciation, an Alpine ice age, named after the Bavarian river * Würm (Nagold ...

, Glems, Enz, Metter and

Zaber The Zaber () is a minor tributary of the River Neckar in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is some 22 km in length and joins the Neckar from the west at Lauffen am Neckar. It has given its name to the Zabergäu, the area between the Heuchelb ...

. The ''gäue'' are intensively farmed regions, whose soils mainly consist of

brown earth Brown earth is a type of soil. Brown earths are mostly located between 35° and 55° north of the Equator. The largest expanses cover western and central Europe, large areas of western and trans-Uralian Russia, the east coast of America and easte ...

s (''Parabraunerden'') on

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 ...

. In the so-called Poor Gäue (''Arme Gäue'') there is no covering of loess. On the karstified limestones of the Upper Muschelkalk, generally only shallow and less fertile rendzinas have developed. Hedges have formed on the ''Lesesteinriegeln'' (Heckengäu). Comparable landscapes in the immediate vicinity bordering on those of the ''gäue'' are the Schmidener Feld near Fellbach and the Backnang Bight east of the Middle Neckar.

See also