The Eichholzmaar is one of the smaller

maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...

s in the

Volcanic Eifel The Volcanic Eifel or Vulkan Eifel () consists of three areas of volcanic activity, known as the West Eifel, High Eifel, and East Eifel volcanic fields. Volcanic Eifel is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany that is defined to a large e ...

and lies on the ''

Landstraße Landstraße (; ; "Country Road") is the 3rd municipal district of Vienna, Austria (). It is near the center of Vienna and was established in the 19th century. Landstraße is a heavily populated urban area with many workers and residential homes. ...

'' between

Steffeln Steffeln is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Gerolstein, whos ...

and Duppach. It has a diameter of c. 120 metres. Its greatest depth is 3 metres. The circular shape of the bowl of the maar can still be easily seen. It lies exactly on a geological fault line, which runs from northwest to southeast. At the beginning of the 20th century the maar was drained in order to create meadows. From late summer 2007 to spring 2008 a renaturalisation was carried out and the lake restored with an area of c. 1,1 hectares. In only a few years the maar has become a refuge for rare water birds and reptiles. Two natural mineral springs in the immediate vicinity of the maar are accessible on foot. About 300 metres upstream in a westerly direction from the Eichholzmaar is the mineral spring known as the ''Steffelner Dress'' (). Around 270 metres downstream in an easterly direction from the Eichholzmaar is the mineral spring of ''Aueler Dress'' (). Detailed scientific research of the Eichholzmaar has been carried out by the universities of Jena and Frankfurt. For visitors to the maar between April and October, there is the option of joining one of the regular guided tours by the local branch of the Eifel Club.

External links

Das Eichholzmaar auf der Internetseite der Gemeinde Steffeln

Touristinformation Oberes Kylltal: Eichholzmaar

References

Vulkaneifel Maars of the Eifel Lakes of Rhineland-Palatinate {{coord, 50, 16, 19, N, 6, 33, 53, E, region:DE-RP_type:landmark, display=title