Eifel - Deutsche Mittelgebirge, Serie A-de

The Schnee Eifel is a heavily wooded landscape in Germany's Central Uplands, up to , that forms part of the western

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

in the area of the German-Belgian border. The name may have been derived in the 19th century from the Schneifel chain of hills which had nothing to do with snow (''Schnee''), but with the name for a forest swathe (''Schneise'').

Geography

The Schnee Eifel natural region is formed by the southern part of the Hohes Venn-Eifel Nature Park. To the north it is bounded by the river

Kyll The Kyll (), noted by the Roman poet Ausonius as ''Celbis'',Ausonius, ''Mosella'', v. 359 is a river in western Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate), left tributary of the Moselle. It rises in the Eifel mountains, near the b ...

, the border with the North Eifel, that begins near Hallschlag and Kronenburg with the Zitter Forest; To the east the Kyll forms the boundary river with the High Eifel. To the south the Schnee Eifel merges into the

South Eifel The South Eifel (german: Südeifel) refers to that part of the Eifel mountain region around the Bitburg-Prüm district in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is bordered to the south and southeast by the river Moselle, to the northwest by ...

Pronsfeld Pronsfeld is a municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany. Economy and infrastructure Pronsfeld is the location of the head office of MUH Arla, the largest UHT milk Ultra-high temperature proces ...

in the Prümer Land. Its highest elevation is found on the Schneifel ridge: the high Schwarzer Mann ("Black Man"). The term ''Schneifel'' is frequently employed in publications to mean the whole Schnee Eifel region, but they are not synonymous. The Schneifel is actually the uninhabited central chain of hills in the Schnee-Eifel; whose coverage goes beyond the narrow definition of the Schneifel and includes the southern source region of the

and its upper reaches as well as the adjoining Prüm Forest southeast of the main crest. The largest town in the Schnee Eifel is

Prüm Prüm () is a town in the Westeifel (Rhineland-Palatinate), Germany. Formerly a district capital, today it is the administrative seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Prüm. Geography Prüm lies on the river Prüm (a tri ...

which lies on the river of the same name. Its well-known ski areas are the ''Schwarze Mann'' and the ''Wolfsschlucht''. They lie about northwest and north of Prüm respectively.

Geology

Much of the Eifel belongs to the

Rhine Massif ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

. The Schnee Eifel, and in particular, the Schneifel, its highest region, is a

truncated upland A truncated upland, truncated highland or bevelled upland (german: Rumpfgebirge) is the heavily eroded remains of a fold mountain range, often from an early period in earth history.Murawski, H., Meyer, W. (2004): ''Geologisches Wörterbuch.'' Spekt ...

, the stumps of once great mountains that were formed by Hercynian folding during the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

period of geological history. After a long period of severe erosion they were uplifted again in the

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

period. Scattered areas of old rock with smooth relief still exist, although at times they are hard to discern. Rougher highlands stand out from this base, especially in the north (''Prümer Land'') ], owing to the hardness of their rocks, like the quartzite ridge of the Schneifel. This long, sinewy ridge juts out above the less jagged, old plateau by around 100 metres and is clear evidence of the resistance of the local quartz rock to the forces of weathering. It is remarkable for its length of against an average width of just . With little variation in height, it runs from Brandscheid as far as Ormont near

Stadtkyll Stadtkyll 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, who ...

, where it ends at the Steinberg (654 m).

Fauna

Due to its remote location the ''Schnee-Eifel'' is undeveloped, where rare plants and animals may be found, including the wildcat and, for several years now, the Eurasian lynx.

Fiction

The hamlet of Winterspelt is the setting for the novel of the same name by Alfred Andersch, which takes place in the final months of the Second World War.

References

External links