The Schwarzer See is a lake on the German
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...
island of
Rügen
Rügen (; Rani: ''Rȯjana'', ''Rāna''; , ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic ci ...
. It belongs to the municipality of
Sellin
Sellin is a municipality on the Island of Rügen, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.
History
First mentions of Sellin date to 1295. From 1880 on, the town gained importance as a Baltic Sea spa town.
After the '' Wende'' in 1989, the building ...
and is located in the
Granitz
The Granitz is a wooded ridge in the southeast of Germany's largest island, Rügen, between the Baltic Sea resorts of Binz and Sellin. The woods cover an area of 982 hectares and are designated as a nature reserve. Since 1991 they have been ...
Forest.
The lake has an area of 23
hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...
s, a greatest depth of 15 metres and the elevation of its water surface above sea level is . The lake, which is poor in nutrients, is one of the very rare types of waterbody, a so-called
kettle lake
A kettle (also known as a kettle hole, kettlehole, or pothole) is a depression or hole in an outwash plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. The kettles are formed as a result of blocks of dead ice left behind by retreating ...
(''Kesselsee'').
Around the shores the formation of
transitional bog
A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires. Th ...
s and
raised bog
Raised bogs, also called ombrotrophic bogs, are acidic, wet habitats that are poor in mineral salts and are home to flora and fauna that can cope with such extreme conditions. Raised bogs, unlike fens, are exclusively fed by precipitation (ombro ...
s is taking place. It places there is a
quagmire vegetation. Here,
peat moss
''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store water, since ...
,
cottongrass
''Eriophorum'' (cottongrass, cotton-grass or cottonsedge) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cyperaceae, the sedge family. They are found in the cool temperate, alpine, and Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, primarily in the mi ...
es,
bog-bean
''Menyanthes'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Menyanthaceae containing the single species ''Menyanthes trifoliata''. The North American form is often referred to as ''M. trifoliata'' var. ''minor'' Michx. It is known ...
,
cranberries
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines up to long and in height; they have slender stems that are not t ...
and
bog rosemary
''Andromeda polifolia'', common name bog-rosemary, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, native to northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only member of the genus ''Andromeda'', and is only found in bogs in ...
occur.
The entire lake, the bogs around its shores and a 100-metre-wide strip of the wood surrounding the lake are designated as a core zone of the
Southeast Rügen Biosphere Reserve
The Southeast Rügen Biosphere Reserve () is a biosphere reserve in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which covers the southeastern part of the island of Rügen (including Granitz and Mönchgut), the lagoon of Rügischer Bodden betwe ...
. That said, the lake is accessible to hikers and cyclists along the path from
Binz
Binz is the largest seaside resort city on the German island of Rügen.
It is situated between the bay of Prorer Wiek and the ''Schmachter See'' (a lake) in the southeast of the island. To the north of Binz stretches the Schmale Heide (the "na ...
to Sellin. The lake itself can be reached on a small wooden jetty.
Lakes of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Sellin
Geography of Rügen
{{Rügen-geo-stub