Sieber is a river of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

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 ...

, in the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

mountains. It is long and a right hand

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of the Oder. The Sieber rises at 760 metres on the

Bruchberg At , the Bruchberg in the Upper Harz is the second highest mountain in Lower Saxony and the third highest in the Harz mountains in North Germany. It lies between Altenau and Torfhaus in the middle of the Harz National Park. The Bruchberg is mo ...

massif and flows through Herzberg before discharging at

Hattorf Hattorf am Harz is a municipality in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the southern Harz, approx. 10 km south of Osterode am Harz. Hattorf is also the seat of the ''Samtgemeinde'' ("collective municipal ...

into the Oder which, in turn, flows into the

Rhume The Rhume is a long river in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Leine. Its source is the karstic spring of Rhume Spring in Rhumspringe, south of the Harz mountain range. The water drains with high pressure from the ground of ...

. Its tributaries include the Große Kulmke, Große Lonau and Goldenke. In February 1910, as part of his hydrological research into the '' Rhumequelle'', Karl Thürnau dyed the Sieber tributary of the ''Eichelbach'' (Herzberg) with six kilogrammes of

fluorescein Fluorescein is an organic compound and dye based on the xanthene tricyclic structural motif, formally belonging to triarylmethine dyes family. It is available as a dark orange/red powder slightly soluble in water and alcohol. It is widely used ...

. Three days later, weakly dyed water appeared in the main source of the ''Rhumequelle''. This was confirmed in 1980 by

dye tracing Dye tracing is a method of tracking and tracing various flows using dye as a flow tracer when added to a liquid. Dye tracing may be used to analyse the flow of the liquid or the transport of objects within the liquid. Dye tracking may be either qu ...

carried out by the Geological Survey of Lower Saxony (''Niedersächsischen Landesamtes für Bodenforschung''). This also indicated links between the ''Rhumequelle'' and the Sieber near Hörden and the Oder near

Scharzfeld Scharzfeld is a village in the borough of Herzberg am Harz in the district of Göttingen in South Lower Saxony, Germany. Scharzfeld lies at a height of about 220 m above sea level and has 1,765 inhabitants (as at 1 October 2006). The ...

. The construction of a dam was planned but never realised. As a result the Sieber valley is the only unregulated river valley in the western Harz. The upper Sieber valley has been out-of-bounds to motor traffic since the 1980s from the Forsthaus Königshof and lies partly within the

Harz National Park Harz National Park is a nature reserve in the German federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It comprises portions of the western Harz mountain range, extending from Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg at the southern edge to Bad Harzburg and ...

– the road leads to the B 242 federal highway northwest of Sonnenberg. The river gives its name to the village of Sieber in the middle of the Sieber valley. File:SieberSchluft.jpg, The Schluft is the 'transport hub' of the upper Sieber Valley.

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

walked here. File:SieberParadies.jpg, The Sieber in "Paradies" (''paradise'') between Herzberg and the village of Sieber File:SieberWehrHerzberg.jpg, The Sieber Weir near the Herzberg paper factory File:LonauEinmuendung.jpg, Confluence of the Große Lonau with the Sieber near Herzberg

References

{{Authority control Rivers of Lower Saxony Rivers of the Harz Rivers of Germany

See also

References