The Ettringer Bellerberg, also called the Ettringer Bellberg, is a hill, , forming the western flank of the

Bellerberg Volcano The Bellerberg Volcano () is a volcano group that was formed 200,000 years ago by a large number of individual eruptions. Formation The volcano complex lies in the East Eifel between the villages of Ettringen (Eifel), Ettringen and Kottenheim and ...

, a volcano system that was active about 200,000 years ago.

Geography

Location

The Ettringer Bellerberg rises in the southern part of the municipality of Ettringen. Its summit is 800 metres southeast of the centre of Ettringen village, 2 km west of

Kottenheim Kottenheim is a municipality in the Mayen-Koblenz, district of Mayen-Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany. References

Municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate Mayen-Koblenz {{MayenKoblenz-geo-stub ...

and 2.3 km north-northeast of

Mayen Mayen () is a town in the Mayen-Koblenz, Mayen-Koblenz District of the Rhineland-Palatinate Federal State of Germany, in the eastern part of the Volcanic Eifel Region. As well as the main town, additional settlements include Alzheim, Kürrenberg, ...

in the

East Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...

. Roughly southwest of the hill is the River Nette and to the north – on the far side of Ettringen – the Segbach, a small tributary of the Krufter Bach ''(Thürer Bach)''. The hill's south-southeastern neighbour is the Mayener Bellerberg (363.2 m).

Natural regions

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 ...

perspective, the Ettringer Bellerberg is located within the major unit group of the Middle Rhine Region (no. 29), in the major unit of the Lower Middle Rhine Region (292), the sub-unit of the Laach Volcanoes (292.0) and the natural region of the Ettringen Volcanic Kuppen (292.01). To the east the terrain transitions to the Pellenz Basin (291.221) in the natural region of the

Pellenz The Pellenz is a hill country in the northwestern part of the Middle Rhine Basin in Germany between Mayen in the southwest and Andernach in the northeast. In addition Pellenz is the name of a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' in the state of Rhineland-Pal ...

Basin and Hill Country (291.22). To the south it descends to the Mayen Bowl (291.25), which is within the major unit of the

Middle Rhine Basin The Middle Rhine Basin () is the central landscape region of the Middle Rhine in Germany and, along with the Limburg Basin, forms one of the biggest intra-montane lowland regions within the Rhenish Massif. The basin is divided into the valley bott ...

(291). To the west it is adjoined by the major unit group of the

(no. 27), major unit of the

Eastern High Eifel The High Eifel ( or ''Hohe Eifel'') forms part of the Eifel Mountains in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The landscape here between Adenau, Mendig and Daun rises to a height of 747 m. The region is not to be confused with the wes ...

(271), the sub-unit of the Hohe-Acht/Nitz-Nette Upland (271.2) and the natural region of the Nitz-Nette Forest (271.21).

Height

The Ettringer Bellerberg is 427.5 m hoch. On

topographical map In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but historic ...

s, a spot height is printed near the summit with a height of 426.8 m. However, its height is usually given as about 428 m or 427 m.

Protected areas

On the Ettringer Bellerberg is the

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

of Ettringen and Mayen Bellberg, Kottenheimer Büden' ( CDDA no. 81634; designated in 1978; 63.87 ha in area) and parts of the

bird reserve A bird reserve (also called ornithological reserve) is a wildlife refuge designed to protect bird species. Like other wildlife refuges, the main goal of a reserve is to prevent species from becoming endangered or extinct. Typically, bird species in ...

of the Lower Middle Rhine Region (''Unteres Mittelrheingebiet'', VSG no. 5609-401; 20.66 km²).

Leisure

Over the Ettringer Bellerberg runs a so-called "

dream trail A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

", the Volcano Path (''Vulkanpfad''), which is just under 7 km long and crosses the Kottenheimer Büden and runs through the nearby Kottenheimer Winfeld. From its summit the eastern flank of the Bellerberg Volcano, the Kottenheimer Büden, the

and the valleys of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

and

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...

may be seen.

References

Berghöhe/Höhenlage (je nach Maßstabswahl in referenziertem RP-LANDIS): 427.5 m (TK; 1:25.000) und m (DTK; 1:5.000)

Literature

* Angelika Hunold: ''Das Erbe des Vulkans. Eine Reise in die Erd- und Technikgeschichte zwischen Eifel und Rhein.'' Schnell + Steiner und Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, Regensburg/Mainz, 2011, .

External links

{{Commons category Mountains and hills of the Eifel Volcanoes of Germany Nature reserves in Rhineland-Palatinate Mayen-Koblenz