The Elbe Urstromtal (german: Elbe-Urstromtal) refers to the present-day valley of the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Rep ...

over a length of around between the German town of

Genthin Genthin () is a town in Jerichower Land district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography Genthin is situated east of the Elbe river on the Elbe-Havel Canal, approx. northeast of Magdeburg and west of Brandenburg. The municipal area consists o ...

, Saxony-Anhalt, and the Elbe's mouth into the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

near

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has a ...

, Lower Saxony. The ''

urstromtal An ''urstromtal'' (plural: ''Urstromtäler'') is a type of broad glacial valley, for example, in northern Central Europe, that appeared during the ice ages, or individual glacial periods of an ice age, at the edge of the Scandinavian ice sheet and ...

'', or glacial meltwater valley, emerged at the height of the

Weichselian glaciation The Weichselian glaciation was the last glacial period and its associated glaciation in northern parts of Europe. In the Alpine region it corresponds to the Würm glaciation. It was characterized by a large ice sheet (the Fenno-Scandian ice sheet) ...

History

The Elbe Urstromtal probably emerged between the coldest period of the

, about 22,000 to 18,000 years ago, and the end of the glaciation in North Germany about 14,500 years ago. At that time the glacier was melting and the waters attempted to find their way to the lowest lying points. The Elbe Urstromtal collected the meltwaters and carried them to the

, which then lay up to 120 meters below its present level. The then coastline was about further north. The Elbe Urstromtal also collected the meltwaters of the three ''urstromtäler'', the Glogau-Baruth Urstromtal, Warsaw-Berlin Urstromtal and Thorn- Eberswald Urstromtal and carried them in the direction of the North Sea Basin. Today, the course of the Elbe Urstromtal roughly follows the course of the present day

river, because – unlike other ''Urstromtälern'' – the Elbe ''Urstromtal'' has neither dried out nor silted up, but still carries the River Elbe, which has its source in the Bohemian

Giant Mountains The Giant Mountains, Krkonoše or Karkonosze (Czech: , Polish: , german: Riesengebirge) are a mountain range located in the north of the Czech Republic and the south-west of Poland, part of the Sudetes mountain system (part of the Bohemian Mass ...

. The old course of the meltwater river can be easily made out in the

Lower Elbe The Unterelbe or, in English usually the Lower Elbe, refers to the lower reaches of the river Elbe in Germany influenced by the tides. It starts at kilometre 586, at the sluice of Geesthacht, where the Elbe forms the border between Lower Sa ...

(''Niederelbe'') region. For example, there is still a roughly 50-meter-high

geest Geest is a type of landform, slightly raised above the surrounding countryside, that occurs on the plains of Northern Germany, the Northern Netherlands and Denmark. It is a landscape of sandy and gravelly soils formed as a glacial outwash plai ...

slope from Bergedorf to

Geesthacht Geesthacht () is the largest city in the Lauenburg (district), District of the Duchy of Lauenburg (Herzogtum Lauenburg) in Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany, south-east of Hamburg on the right bank of the Elbe, River Elbe. History A church ...

which was the old river bank. Likewise, there is a roughly 30-meter-high slope at the height of Hamburg's western Elbe suburbs (''Elbvororte'')

Othmarschen Othmarschen () is a quarter in the Altona borough of the Hamburg in northern Germany. In 2020 the population was 16,009. History The first records on Othmarschen are from 1317. Together with Altona, Othmarschen became a part of Hamburg in 1937/1 ...

Nienstedten Nienstedten () is a quarter in the city of Hamburg, Germany. It belongs to the Altona borough on the right bank of the Elbe river. Nienstedten is home to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. In 2020 the population was 7,114. Geogra ...

and

Blankenese Blankenese () is a suburban quarter in the borough of Altona in the western part of Hamburg, Germany; until 1938 it was an independent municipality in Holstein. It is located on the right bank of the Elbe river. With a population of 13,637 as of ...

References

Urstromtal Elbe Landforms of Schleswig-Holstein Landforms of Hamburg Landforms of Brandenburg Valleys of Saxony Valleys of Lower Saxony Valleys of Saxony-Anhalt {{Germany-geo-stub