The Mosbrucher Weiher, also called the ''Mosbrucher Maar'', is a

silted up Sedimentation is the deposition of sediments. It takes place when particles in suspension settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to the ...

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 ...

east of the municipal boundary of the village of Mosbruch in the county

Vulkaneifel Vulkaneifel () is a district (''Kreis'') in the northwest of the state Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the least densely populated district in the state and the fourth most sparsely populated district in Germany. The administrative centre of ...

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 ...

. It is located immediately at the foot of the 675-metre-high

Hochkelberg At the Hochkelberg is one of the ten highest mountains in the Vulkan Eifel in Germany. It is a former stratovolcano, at the southern foot of which lies the Mosbrucher Weiher, an explosion crater lake or maar. Below the summit of the Hochkelbe ...

, a former

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

. The floor of the maar is in the shape of an elongated oval and is about 700×500 metres in size, its upper boundary has a diameter of about 1,300 × 1,050 metres. This makes the Mosbrucher Maar the third largest of the maars in the western

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 ...

region. The Üßbach stream flows past and close to the Mosbrucher Weiher.

Origin

According to

pollen analysis Palynology is the study of microorganisms and microscopic fragments of mega-organisms that are composed of acid-resistant organic material and occur in sediments, sedimentary rocks, and even some metasedimentary rocks. Palynomorphs are the mic ...

studies, the crater was formed about 11,000 years ago by a volcanic eruption. In the area around the maar there are very few volcanic

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...

s in comparison to other Eifel maars; only in two places are there greater accumulations of tuff; the rest of the surrounding area is covered only by a thin layer. Either most of the tuffs have already been removed, or the eruption produced very little tuff. After

volcanic activity Volcanism, vulcanism, volcanicity, or volcanic activity is the phenomenon where solids, liquids, gases, and their mixtures erupt to the surface of a solid-surface astronomical body such as a planet or a moon. It is caused by the presence of a he ...

ceased, water collected in the maar basin and a very shallow maar lake was formed. Because of its low water level it

relatively quickly and, after a few thousand years, became

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

. As early as

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingd ...

- there are still remains of Roman facilities on the Hochkelberg - the remaining water was impounded to create a fish pond. In 1838, water was drained from the pond so that the western outlying areas could be used as

arable land Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...

. Today, it forms meadowland and pastureland, while the eastern part retains its bog character. In the 20th century, the 6-metre-thick peat layer of the lake was harvested in order to produce

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

for heating. Peat cutting ceased in the 1950s.

Nature reserve

The bog has created an excellent habitat for rare plants and animals. In 1980, the Mosbrucher Weiher was declared a

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 ...

. It was the 100th nature reserve in the state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

. The long-term renaturalisation measure is embedded in the overall project "Restoration and conservation of hillside bogs, raised bogs and intermediate bogs and their adjacent habitats in the Hunsrück and the Eifel", with the ''Stiftung Natur und Umwelt Rheinland-Pfalz'' as the project sponsor.pdf ''EU LIFE+ Natur Projekt "Wiederherstellung und Erhalt von Hang-, Hoch und Zwischenmooren sowie angrenzenden Lebensräumen im Hunsrück und der Eifel."''
(pdf; 127 kB). Description of the project. Visitors to the maar are guided by carefully laid-out gangplanks in order to protect the maar from damage.

References

Literature

External links

{{coord, 50.260931, 6.952013, region:DE-RP_type:landmark, display=title Maars of the Eifel Nature reserves in Rhineland-Palatinate Vulkaneifel