Brennsee, also called Feldsee, is a lake in Carinthia,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Geography

Feld am See Gegendtal Brennsee 12082007 02

It is situated at 739 metres above the Adriatic (2,425 ft), in the Gegendtal Valley, running from east to west through the

Gurktal Alps The Gurktal Alps (german: Gurktaler Alpen, sl, Krške Alpe) is a mountain range located in the Central Eastern Alps in Austria, named after the valley of the Gurk river. The range stretches west to Lake Millstatt and east to Neumarkter Sattel ...

(

Nock Mountains The Nock Mountains (german: Nockberge or ''Nockgebirge'') are the westernmost and highest mountain range of the Gurktal Alps in Austria, spread over parts of the federal states of Carinthia, Salzburg and Styria. Their appearance is characterised ...

) range. The shaded steep slopes of the Mirnock massif in the south are covered with forests, while the northern shore is settled with Alpine pastures and farmsteads. Brennsee is entirely located within the

Feld am See Feld is a surname of German origin. The name means "field" in English. * Feld Entertainment, entertainment company formed by Israel and Irvin Feld People * A. Spencer Feld (1891–1987), New York politician * Bernard T. Feld (1919–1993), Americ ...

municipal area.

Limnology

The lake is mainly fed by

ground water 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 unconsolidat ...

and by several small brooks in the north. At the western end of the lake a short stream dewaters the water into the Kleinkirchheimer Bach, which itself flows into Millstätter See (as Riegerbach) at Radenthein-Döbriach. The holomictic waters reach in summer. The surrounding settlements are connected to a sewerage system since the 1970s, nevertheless agricultural discharge has proven to be problematic, leading to

eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

with an overabundance of

aquatic plant Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments ( saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that ...

s and

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) are any of a large and diverse group of photosynthetic, eukaryotic organisms. The name is an informal term for a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from ...

. Recent efforts have decisively improved the

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through ...

. Fishery is common, mainly for

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish water, brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are kno ...

and

common carp The Eurasian carp or European carp (''Cyprinus carpio''), widely known as the common carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.Fishbase''Cyprinus carpio'' Linnaeus, 1758/ref>Arkive The ...

, but also for

wels catfish The wels catfish ( or ; ''Silurus glanis''), also called sheatfish or just wels, is a large species of catfish native to wide areas of central, southern, and eastern Europe, in the basins of the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. It has been in ...

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Per ...

, roach, rudd and bleak. Several attempts have been made to restore the extinct noble crayfish populations.

External links

Carinthian Institute of Limnology
* Lakes of Carinthia (state) {{Carinthia-geo-stub