Möhlinbach

Bridge over the Möhlinbach in Möhlin

The Möhlinbach is a 15 km long river in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. He is a left tributary of the Rhine River and drains the Möhlintal in the western part of the Frick Valley. The river has a catchment area of 26.6 km ². The largest village on the creek is Möhlin.

The creek rises on a mountain pass between the municipalities Wegenstetten and Hemmiken to around 520 m above sea level. M. Wockermatt in the area, in the middle of the Jura. On his way to Wegenstetten he takes on several streams that flow on the western flank of the animal stone mountain. In Wegenstetten to about 438 m above sea level. M. Bach changes the direction of its East to West. He then flows through the villages Hellikon, Zuzgen and Zeiningen.

Here, the Möhlinbach takes on further inflows from the side valleys such as the Talbach in Hellikon, the Gassenbach in Zuzgen and Maienbächli in Zeiningen. Below Niederhofen at Zuzgen branches from an artificial side channel from Möhlinbach and flows immediately after a former mill back into the creek. At the upper entrance of Zeiningen another side channel branches off. The 750 -meter-long channel flows through several tanks of a trout farm and flows be back in the Möhlinbach.

In the center of Zeiningen, between middle and lower stream, there is a hydrometric station. The measured mean there water flow rate is within the long- period averages at around 0.5 m / s In the flood of 1999 Möhlinbach led with nearly 16 m³ / s about 30 times more water than the period mean. This caused substantial damage to agricultural land and buildings located near the creek.

On the outskirts of Zeiningen the Möhlintal opens completely and the brook enters the wide Rhine plain. During the crack - ice age glaciation reached exactly to the present center of Möhlin and there formed a distinct, miles of terminal moraine. With the melting of the glaciers of the Möhlinbach broke through at this point the terminal moraine, from which terraces formed with a height difference of up to 50 meters. This geologically interesting terraces are unique and characteristic for Möhlin in the region.

At the upper entrance of the Möhlin Möhlinbach flows through directly to a sawmill. The force of the flowing water was used here as late as the last century to drive a saw. From the built up area of Möhlin the stream flows but mainly channeled still open on. In Obermöhlin a mill was formerly driven by another channel. Only recently Möhlinbach was re-naturalized in the center of Möhlin partially. After the stream has passed through the solar park and the Möhliner Allmendfeld, he passes under the railway line Basel- Zurich. Then it flows straightened, channeled and partly underground by Riburg. Further to the north leads to the creek between swimming and camping passes and flows through the nature reserve Bachtalen. Finally it flows near the power plant Ryburg - Schworstadt at an altitude of 280 m in the High Rhine.