The Pfahl is a 150-kilometre-long quartz

vein Veins () are blood vessels in the circulatory system of humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are those of the pulmonary and feta ...

that runs through the northeastern

Bavarian Forest image:Zell-bayerischer-wald.jpg, The village of Zell in the Bavarian Forest The Bavarian Forest ( or ''Bayerwald'' ; ) is a wooded, low-mountain region in Bavaria, Germany, that is about 100 kilometres long. It runs along the Czech Republic, C ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. From a geomorphological point of view, it represents a residual ridge that has been formed by weathering and erosion over millions of years.

Formation

The Pfahl consists of

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

that was deposited as a

hydrothermal Hydrothermal circulation in its most general sense is the circulation of hot water (Ancient Greek ὕδωρ, ''water'',Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with th ...

vein about 275 million years ago within the existing fault structure. The Pfahl was probably active as a fault several times. Because the rock of the Pfahl was harder than the surrounding rock, it was left standing like a wall as softer rocks were eroded. Today the Pfahl forms a residual ridge 150 kilometres long and 10 to 40 metres high. The shining white quartz of the Pfahl consists of up to 98%

silicic acid In chemistry, a silicic acid () is any chemical compound containing the element silicon attached to oxide () and hydroxyl () groups, with the general formula or, equivalently, . Orthosilicic acid is a representative example. Silicic acids are ra ...

; any yellowish to reddish or grey coloration is caused by iron compounds and impurities (''Pfahlschiefer''). The interpretation of the actual Pfahl fault as a suture is disputed; but it has been confirmed that it separates various magmatic rocks.

Course

The Pfahl begins in the northwest in the

Upper Palatinate The Upper Palatinate (; , , ) is an administrative district in the east of Bavaria, Germany. It consists of seven districts and 226 municipalities, including three cities. Geography The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and nume ...

, southeast of

Schwarzenfeld Schwarzenfeld is a municipality in the district of Schwandorf (district), Schwandorf in Bavaria, Germany. Schwarzenfeld was first mentioned as “Suarzinvelt” on April 17, 1015 in a deed of gift from Emperor Henry II to the diocese of Bamberg. I ...

, passes the town of

Cham Cham or CHAM may refer to: Ethnicities and languages *Chams, people in Vietnam and Cambodia **Cham language, the language of the Cham people ***Cham script *** Cham (Unicode block), a block of Unicode characters of the Cham script * Cham Albani ...

to the southwest and runs in a southeasterly direction via

Viechtach Viechtach is a town in the district of Regen in Bavaria in Germany. It is situated on the river Schwarzer Regen, 31 km northeast of Straubing Straubing (; Central Bavarian: ''Strauwing'') is an independent city in Lower Bavaria, southern ...

Regen Regen (; Northern Bavarian: ''Reng'') is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and the district town of the district of Regen. Geography Regen is situated on the great Regen River, located in the Bavarian Forest. Divisions Originally the town consiste ...

, Grafenau and Freyung and into

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. The quartz only outcrops in a few places (and not at all southeast of Freyung); otherwise the Pfahl is only recognisable as a ridge. In

Weißenstein Weißenstein () is a town in the district of Villach-Land in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Geography Weißenstein lies in the lower Drau valley northwest of Villach. The highest point in the municipality is the Spitzeck at 1517 m, and the ...

near Regen it reaches a height of 758 metres

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

; on this summit stand the ruins of Weißenstein Castle. The quartz formations are most easily visible near Viechtach (west of the town) and here they rise up to 30 metres above the ground. With a few exceptions the Pfahl has survived as a continuous geological formation. Through the

Zellertal Zellertal is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The villages of , Harxheim and Niefernheim form Zellertal. Zellertal is located in the eponymous region, which in turn is part of the Palatinate w ...

valley between

Bad Kötzting Bad Kötzting (; before 2005: Kötzting; Northern Bavarian: ''Bad Ketzing'') is a town in the district of Cham, in Bavaria, Germany, near the Czech border. It is situated in the Bavarian Forest, southeast of Cham. Overview Bad Kötzting has the ...

and

Bodenmais Bodenmais is a municipality in the district of Regen in Bavaria, Germany. It lies at one end of the Zeller Valley in the Bavarian Forest. The tourist attractions at the Silberberg mountain, with its former silver mine, include cross-country ...

another Pfahl-like slate zone runs parallel to the actual Pfahl and in which the quartz does not immediately outcrop. This 'secondary pfahl' is called the Rundingen Pfahl Zone (''Rundinger-Pfahlzone''). Its southeastern outcrop lies near

Bettmannsäge Bettmannsäge is a village in the borough of Regen (town), Regen in the Bavarian Forest region of Germany. It has a population of about 150. Location Bettmannsäge lies between Zwiesel and Regen on the railway line from Plattling to Bayerisch E ...

southwest of

Zwiesel Zwiesel () is a town in the lower-Bavarian district of Regen (district), Regen, and since 1972 is a Luftkurort with particularly good air. The name of the town was derived from the Bavarian word stem which refers to the form of a fork. The fork ...

. There is another secondary pfahl in the southeast of the Bavarian Forest, the Aicha-Hals Secondary Pfahl (''Aicha-Halser-Nebenpfahl''), which is responsible for the double bend on the Ilz near Hals as well as a bend in the River

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

to the north just behind Passau. There is yet another one between Kirchberg vorm Wald and Gerlesberg.

Natural region divisions

The longest section of the Pfahl runs through the Regen Depression. Here there are several, individual, southeast-running residual ridges that are repeatedly interrupted by basins and transverse valleys. From a

natural region A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate. From the ecological point of view, the naturally occurring flora and ...

al perspective, the Pfahl is divided into the following sub-divisions as follows (from NW to SE): * to 404 Regen Depression (''Regensenke'') ** 404.2 Pfahl *** 404.25 Thierlstein Pfahl (''Thierlsteiner Pfahl''), SW of

; on the main chain up to 448.9 m, on its southwest uplands up to 469.9 m *** 404.24 Moosbach Pfahl (''Moosbacher Pfahl''), up to 639 m *** 404.23

Pfahl (''Viechtacher Pfahl''), up to 583 m *** 404.22

Patersdorf Patersdorf is a municipality in the district of Regen in Bavaria in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to ...

Pfahl (''Patersdorfer Pfahl''), up to 648 m *** 404.21

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...

Pfahl (''Marcher Pfahl''), on its southwest highlands up to 784.6 m *** 404.20

Weissenstein The Weissenstein () is a mountain of the Jura, located north of Solothurn in the Swiss canton of Solothurn. The culminating point of the chain is distinguished by the name . It is the easternmost summit above 1,300 metres in the Jura Mountain ...

Pfahl (''Weißensteiner Pfahl''), at Weißenstein Castle 758 m Southeast and on the far side of the Regen Depression, in the Abteiland, the sections of the Pfahl are geomorphologically less obvious and do not form their own natural regions. One notable geotope there is the Buchberger Leite.

National geotope

In 2006 the Pfahl was added to the list of 77 outstanding national geotopes in Germany.Stefan Glaser: ''Ein langer Schnitt in der Erdkruste Bayerns - Der "Bayerische Pfahl"''. In: Ernst-Rüdiger Look, Ludger Feldmann (Hrsg.): ''Faszination Geologie. Die bedeutende Geotope Deutschlands'', E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, 2006, , pp.64f.

References

Klaus Müller-Hohenstein: ''Geographische Landesaufnahme: Die naturräumlichen Einheiten auf Blatt 165/166 Cham.'' Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Bad Godesberg, 1973. →&nbs
Online map
(pdf; 4.4 MB) Willi Czajka, Hans-Jürgen Klink: ''Geographische Landesaufnahme: The natural regional units on Sheet 174 Straubing.'' Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Bad Godesberg, 1967. →&nbs
Online map
(pdf; 4.3 MB)

Literature

* Bayerisches Landesamt für Umwelt: ''Ein Bild von einer Störung! Großer Pfahl''. In: ''Hundert Meisterwerke - Die schönsten Geotope Bavarias'', Augsburg, 2012, , pp. 72f. {{coord, 49, 05, 2, N, 12, 51, 36, E, region:DE-BY_type:landmark, display=title Geography of Bavaria Bavarian Forest Schwandorf (district) Cham (district) Regen (district) Geotopes