The Großer Jasmunder Bodden belongs to the Northern Rügener Boddens and is a water body on the southern edge of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

in the German state of

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

. It is a '' bodden'', a type of lagoon that occurs in northern Europe especially on the coast of

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

. It lies within the island of

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...

, is around 14 kilometres long, an average of six kilometres wide and is up to nine metres deep with an average depth of 5.3m. The Großer Jasmunder Bodden has an area of 58.6 square kilometres; if the ''Breetzer Bodden'', ''Breeger Bodden'', ''Lebbiner Bodden'', ''Neuendorfer Wiek'' and ''Tetzitzer See'' are included the total area of water comes to over 94 square kilometres. The lagoon is bounded to the north by the peninsulas of

Wittow Wittow is the northernmost peninsula of the island of Rügen. Wittow was a separate island until the High Middle Ages, but since then has been connected to the Jasmund peninsula of Rügen by the Schaabe spit. Wittow is most famous for Cape Ark ...

and

Jasmund Jasmund is a peninsula of the island of Rügen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is connected to the Wittow peninsula and to the Muttland main section of Rügen by the narrow land bridges Schaabe and Schmale Heide, respectively. Sassnitz, S ...

, which are linked by the narrow spit of

Schaabe The Schaabe is a bar, almost twelve kilometres long, on the German Baltic Sea island of Rügen. It joins the peninsulas of Jasmund and Wittow. Washed up and shaped by the sea, it forms a sickle-shaped shoreline on the bay of Tromper Wiek and ...

. To the south of the ''bodden'' is the main body of the island of Rügen,

Muttland Muttland comprises the main section of the German island of Rügen, excluding the Rugian peninsulae and small surrounding islands. The predominant land use is agriculture. Grasslands are found in very small proportions. There are nature conservat ...

. To the east near

Lietzow Lietzow is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. References External links Official website of Lietzow Towns and villages on Rügen {{VorpommernRügen-geo-stub ...

it is linked to the Kleiner Jasmunder Bodden by a ditch and sluice gate. The two ''bodden'' were first separated in 1869 by the construction of an embankment that now carries the B 96 federal road and the Stralsund–Sassnitz railway. In the west at the

Wittow Ferry The Wittow Ferry (german: Wittower Fähre) is a ferry service for foot passengers and vehicles (up to a total weight of 30 t each) from the heart of the German Baltic Sea island of Rügen, the Muttland, to the peninsula of Wittow to the no ...

the ''bodden'' has a narrow branch running into the lagoon of Rassower Strom and is thereby linked to the

. The western part of the ''bodden'' is further sub-divided into the ''Breetzer Bodden'', ''Breeger Bodden'' and ''Lebbiner Bodden'', which, strictly speaking, are not part of the Großer Jasmunder Bodden. The north of the ''bodden'' is less divided. Only the ''Spykersche See'' near Spyker pushes east forming a small bay. By contrast the southwestern shore is more indented, with the ''Tetzitzer See'' and the ''Neuendorfer Wiek'' pushing well inland. The extreme southeastern shore of the ''bodden'' near Ralswiek is the venue for the

Störtebeker Festival The Störtebeker Festival (german: Störtebeker-Festspiele) is an yearly open-air theatre festival in Germany. It is based on stories around the medieval German privateer Klaus Störtebeker and his Victual Brothers, who later turned to pirates. ...

that takes place every summer. The water of the Großer Jasmunder Bodden is a mix of fresh water from the streams that discharge into it and the salty waters of the Baltic and is classed as

brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

with a salt content of 0.7 to 0.8 per cent. Almost the entire shore is girt with reeds. In places the shoreline forms sea cliffs that were formed thousands of years ago by breakers in the Littorina Sea, when the islands of Wittow and Jasmund were still not linked by the Schaabe. The ''bodden'' is rich in fish and is also used for bathing and sailing. There are important harbours in Ralswiek, Polchow,

Breege Breege is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-eas ...

and St. Martin's Harbour in

Sagard Sagard is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. History Sagard is first mentioned in 1250 as ''Zagard''. The name of the municipality of Sagard comes from the Slavic and means something lik ...

Sub-divisions

# Großer Jasmunder Bodden # Breetzer Bodden # Neuendorfer Wiek # Breeger Bodden # Lebbiner Bodden # Tetzitzer See # Mittelsee # Spykerscher See

References

Literature

* Schiewer, Ulrich (2008). ''Ecology of Baltic Coastal Waters.'' Springer, Berlin. , pp. 63–70.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosser Jasmunder Bodden Geography of Rügen North Rügen Bodden