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Staufen im Breisgau (
High Alemannic High Alemannic is a dialect of Alemannic German spoken in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg and in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Language area The High Alemannic dialects are spoken in Liechtenstein and in most of German-speaking S ...
: ''Staufe im Brisgau'') is a German town in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district of
Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a 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 inhabitants across a ...
. It had a population of approximately 8,300 in 2019.


General

The city of Staufen im Breisgau lies in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in the German
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
of
Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a 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 inhabitants across a ...
. Staufen has approximately 7,700 inhabitants and forms, together with the community of
Münstertal, Black Forest The Münstertal (Münster valley) is a municipality in the southern Black Forest, which belongs to the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is 3 miles east from Staufen. Geography Location The M ...
, a community administrative unit. It is noted in history and culture for its association with
Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...
who, according to one source, died in or near Staufen around 1540.


Geography

Staufen lies at the foot of 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 ...
at the exit from the Münstertal. The Black Forest valley of Neumagen goes here directly over into the
Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...
plain. The piedmont of the Black Forest is less distinct. North of the valley exit, the steeply rising old castle ruins dominates; to the southwest begins the hilly landscape of the
Markgräflerland Markgräflerland () is a region in the southwest of Germany, in the south of the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg, located between the Breisgau in the north and the Black Forest in the east; adjacent to west with France and in the south ...
. Staufen lies on the border between two natural and economic areas: the Rhine plain up to the piedmont with its cultivation of grain, vineyards and vegetables; and the Black Forest, with its cattle and wood, and, until the 19th century, silver mines.


Geothermal drilling controversy

Since 2008, the centre of the city has reported to have risen some , after initially sinking a few millimeters. This has caused considerable damage to buildings in the city centre, including the historical town hall. The cause for this geological change has been identified as a drilling operation conducted in the summer and autumn of 2007 to provide
geothermal heating Geothermal heating is the direct use of geothermal energy for some heating applications. Humans have taken advantage of geothermal heat this way since the Paleolithic era. Approximately seventy countries made direct use of a total of 270 PJ of ...
to the city hall. The drilling perforated an
anhydrite Anhydrite, or anhydrous calcium sulfate, is a mineral with the chemical formula CaSO4. It is in the orthorhombic crystal system, with three directions of perfect cleavage parallel to the three planes of symmetry. It is not isomorphous with the ...
layer and caused high-pressure
groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated ...
to come into contact with the anhydrite, which then began to expand. By 2010, some sections of town had risen by . In July 2013, no end to the rising process was in sight. Data from the TerraSAR-X radar satellite before and after the changes have confirmed the localised nature of the situation. "A geochemical process called
anhydrite Anhydrite, or anhydrous calcium sulfate, is a mineral with the chemical formula CaSO4. It is in the orthorhombic crystal system, with three directions of perfect cleavage parallel to the three planes of symmetry. It is not isomorphous with the ...
swelling has been confirmed as the cause of these uplifts. This is a transformation of the mineral anhydrite (anhydrous calcium sulphate) into
gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywal ...
(hydrous calcium sulphate). A pre-condition for this transformation is that the anhydrite is in contact with water, which is then stored in its crystalline structure".


Infrastructure

Staufen is located next to the Münstertal railway which runs from
Bad Krozingen Bad Krozingen (; Alemannic: ''Bad Chrotzige'') is a spa town in the district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 15 km southwest of Freiburg. In the 1970s, the previously independent villages Biengen, H ...
to
Münstertal, Black Forest The Münstertal (Münster valley) is a municipality in the southern Black Forest, which belongs to the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is 3 miles east from Staufen. Geography Location The M ...
. The railway was electrified in 2013 and is operated by the Südwestdeutsche Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft (SWEG). Leisure and sports facilities The changing rooms of the Alemannenbad The Alemannenbad is a solar-heated outdoor pool with a large sunbathing area. After the Lorettobad in Freiburg, it is the oldest outdoor swimming pool in Baden-Württemberg. The buildings in the entrance area and the changing rooms are under monument protection. The Alemannenbad Staufen eV association was founded in 2003 to provide support. The history of the bathroom is extensively presented in an online publication.


References


External links

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Staufen:images
{{Authority control Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald Baden