The name Gäu (derived from the Roman ''pagus'' - a territory ruled by a lord - or from the Alemannic ''gou'' for '' Gau'' - a region) is used primarily today for a sparsely wooded cultural landscape type, that has evolved on the South German Scarplands between the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the 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 t ...

, the Stromberg and Heuchelberg in the west and the Swabian Jura and Swabian Keuperwald Hills in the east. Because the region is further subdivided into the Oberes Gäu or Korngäu,

Heckengäu The Heckengäu is a part of the Gäu, a region in the counties of Böblingen, Calw, Ludwigsburg and Enzkreis in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Part of the landscape in the county of Calw is called Schlehengäu. Hence it is also called ...

, Strohgäu and Zabergäu it is also referred to as ''die Gäue'' (pl).

Natural regional characteristics

The Gäu is a

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), 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. Often one or more sides ...

, about 250 to 500 metres above sea level, comprising rocks of the

muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; french: calcaire coquillier) is a sequence of sedimentary rock, sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Mid ...

and Lettenkeuper which has been deeply incised in places by the rivers Neckar, Ammer,

Würm The Würm is a river in Bavaria, Germany, right tributary of the Amper. The length of the river is , or including the ''Steinbach'', the main feed of Lake Starnberg. It drains the overflow from Lake Starnberg and flows swiftly through the villag ...

Glems The river Glems is a right tributary of the river Enz in Baden-Württemberg, Germany and around long. The spring is located in the south-west of Stuttgart. On the way to the confluence into the Enz next to Unterriexingen (a quarter of Markgr� ...

Enz The Enz is a river flowing north from the Black Forest to the Neckar in Baden-Württemberg. It is 106 km long. Its headstreams – the Little Enz (german: Kleine Enz) and the Great Enz or Big Enz (''Große Enz'') – rise in the Northern B ...

, 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 Heuchel ...

. In the north the Swabian Gäu landscapes transition into the uplands of

Bauland The Bauland is a Gäu landscape in the northeast of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is a natural region within the Neckar and Tauber Gäu Plateaus (major unit 12) in the South German Scarplands. Location The Bauland is a Gäu la ...

and Tauberland, in the west they are bounded by the

, in the east by the Swabian Jura and by the Keuper Upland regions of

Schönbuch Schönbuch is an almost completely wooded area south west of Stuttgart and part of the Southern German Escarpment Landscape (German: ''südwestdeutsches Schichtstufenland''). In 1972 the centre zone of Schönbuch became the first nature park in ...

, Glemswald and the Swabian Forest. 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. In the so-called Poor Gäue (''Arme Gäue'') there is no covering of loess: on the

karstified Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

limestones of the Upper Muschelkalk, generally only shallow and less fertile

rendzina Rendzina (or ''rendsina'') is a soil type recognized in various soil classification systems, including those of Britain and Germany as well as some obsolete systems. They are humus-rich shallow soils that are usually formed from carbonate- or occ ...

s have developed. Hedges have formed on the ''Lesesteinriegeln'' (Heckengäu). Comparable landscapes in the immediate vicinity bordering on those of the Gäu are the Schmidener Feld near Fellbach and the Backnang Bight east of the Middle Neckar.

Natural regional characteristics

See also