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Harz

51 45 '00 "N 10 38' 00" E / 51.75, 10.6333

Geography
Harz
Topographic map of the Harz.
Altitude	1141 m, Brocken
Length	110 km
Width	40 km
Area	2 226 km ²
Administration
Country	Germany
Geology
Age	Paleozoic
Rocks	Rocks, sedimentary , metamorphic and magmatic
change

Satellite view of the Harz, highlighting the unity of its massive forest on its western half and preserved by the sharpest relief and poor soils and acid , susceptible to erosion (These soils are rich in biodiversity but agronomically poor). The image also shows an ecological fragmentation in "sprawl" in the western part, and ecological insularisation of the entire mass related to clearing devices

View of the Brocken

The Harz, in French as the is both the name given to a region, a German district, a mountainous area covering about 2000 km in central northern Germany and the forest that covers or covered, sometimes considered a relic of the Hercynian Forest described by the authors ancient and medieval , itself a relic of the prehistoric forest in Europe.

The Harz mountain range straddles two German regions and is often divided into two different aspects:

Upper Harz north-west, Lower Saxony , where the ranges of higher elevation forests and richer in coniferous ( pine ). The highest point is 1,141 meters in the Brocken.
Lower Harz south-east of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia , the gentler topography that gradually descends towards the surrounding land with a temperate deciduous forest , features almost continental climate, and mingled with meadows , so that approaches the valleys and plains devices.

Summary

/ / Place names

The name derives from the Harz medieval German word Hart can mean both mountain and forest depending on the context (we find an example in Belgium Hart Wood, north of Lomprez and Wellin ).

This solid gave its name to

breed cattle became scarce, and the rotvieh Harzer ,
to mountains and a geological epoch; called " Hercynian "(solid European Hercynian appeared at that time and at the end of the Paleozoic era )
a plant, the Cleavers Harz.
a bird, the canary song: Harz.

Geography

A network of mountain

The Harz is a mountain area with the highlight is the Brocken , located in Saxony-Anhalt and whose altitude is 1142 m. Until 1989 the station hosted a summit of military surveillance and interception important to the regime of the German Democratic Republic. The area is served by the railway company private HSB ( Harzer Schmalspurbahnen ). This company carries a large number of tourists visiting the mountain, especially the tourists visiting the Brocken. This company alone is an attraction of the region and attracts many railway enthusiasts through the use of steam locomotives to pull most of its trains. The Brocken is the highest peak wind of Germany with gusts sometimes approaching 200 km / h as the 18/01/2007, where a value of 198 km / h was recorded. In Lower Saxony, the highest point of the Harz is Wurmberg (971 meters).

Hydrology

Bode , Grane , Holtemme , Ilse , Innerste , Laute , Oder , Oker , Cold , Selke , SOSE , Thyra , Wipper , Zorge.

Population

The towns are peripheral to the massif which has long remained sparsely inhabited, though highly exploited for its timber and mineral resources. Today about 600 000 people live in cities and villages of the Harz.

Cities or near the Harz

+ Halberstadt

Geology

Geological Map

Gabbro quarry near Bad Harzburg

The Hartz passes geologically one of the mountains for the relief the most tormented of Germany, where the rocks acids dominate by far. Surface rocks are the most common of argillite , the greywacke and slate granite that appears in two varieties of plutonic rocks. The extensive coverage of the Gieen-Harz-Hercynian Rhenish area consists mainly of flysch. Outcrops limestone around Elbingerode and gabbro Bad Harzburg are reputable and have a significant economic role. The landscapes of Hartz are characterized by steep slopes, rocky outcrops , hills with eroded peat bogs , and river valleys narrow and straight, whose best known are those of Bode , the Oker and Selke. A representative section of all rocks of the Harz is reported to the parking Jordanshhe near St. ANDREASBERG.

The formation and folding of Hartz were made during an active phase of the Paleozoic , the Hercynian orogeny in the Carboniferous there are about 350 to 250 million years. During this period of Earth history that were formed many mountains of western Europe, including the chain of Fichtel and the Rhenish Slate Mountains. But their high altitude (estimated at 4000 m) were destined to suffer severe erosion, and they were subsequently covered with rocks Mesozoic. The Early Cretaceous Late Cretaceous, the Hartz experienced uplift and overall especially Tertiary surface layers were eroded recently giving birth to the mountain relief average. The deformation phase is the most remarkable phase subhercynienne (83 million years ), who detached the north side along a plane almost vertical. It was formed as a fracture, "Hartz northern fault."

The Hartz is a massive wrinkled, which in the west to north-east is relatively steep and flattens out gradually towards the south. It is interspersed with many gorges. North of the massif, there are layers of Cretaceous Mulde subhercynienne an extension of the foothills of the Harz (Harzvorland) In the south, sediments Permian form a plain above the Paleozoic stage, which begins to flush south West.

The flaw in the Hartz, the folds are straight or lying everywhere visible on only a few square kilometers which is why sometimes termed the visit of Hartz of "classic race of geology."

History

The History of the former region is poorly known. This forest was deemed particularly dense and inaccessible by the authors ancient. She has probably long been exploited for timber harvesting, wildlife and livestock feed, but because of its terrain and difficult access once the clearings have been lower than in the rest of the Western Europe.

The exploitation of mines of money is attested from 968 AD (near the town of Goslar ) and in the following centuries, in almost all the mountains. During the Middle Ages ore from this region was exported along the trade routes to places far away (to Mesopotamia ). The prosperity of the region has declined with the depletion of mineral resources in the early 19th century. Cities relatively abandoned some time, had found a second prosperity through tourism and summer ski.

From 1945 to 1990 , an international border has gone through the Harz Mountains, separating the two Germanys ( East Germany and West), generating an occupation and military surveillance.

Nature and Environment

This area was once particularly rich in terms of ecological, yet rich in beaver, lynx, wolves in the 17th century. Many authors, from the antiquity have seen one of the last relics of the prehistoric forest or Hercynian. It is likely that the intense mining activity in this region has left a legacy environment (especially because of the lead factor ( lead poisoning and pollution ) which is a waste associated with the operation of silver ore.

The Harz National Park covers the Brocken and diverse natural habitats in the area, in areas with a high degree of naturalness , that is to say where wildlife still strongly expressed, although some of these habitats have an origin in part (deforestation, grazing, mining). It is an important nucleus of PEEN and the Natura 2000 network.