Nahe (river)

Catchment area of ​​the Near and its tributaries

The Near (Latin Nava, originally kelt. Wild River ) is an approximately 125 km long, orographic left tributary of the Rhine, the Saarland and Rhineland -Palatinate.

Geography

Course

The Near separates the North Palatine Uplands from the Hunsrück and flows successively through the district of St. Wendel, Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate circles Birkenfeld, Bad Kreuznach and Mainz- Bingen.

The river originates at the edge of the forest northwest of Selbach Saarland. The source of running water is about four kilometers southwest of Bostal Lake, Near to the flows around the southeast. After the passage of the main town of Nohfelden she leaves the Saarland in a northeasterly direction, crossing the border to Rhineland- Palatinate.

Continue in this direction leads to the river, among others, by Hoppstädten- Weiersbach to Idar -Oberstein. Here the close has been built over nearly two kilometers of the highway 41 since 1985 with the Near high street. With this controversial measure, the old town was relieved of through traffic, at the same time but very altered the appearance of the city. Downstream, the Middle overbuilding follow the places Kirn, Monzingen, Bad Sobernheim and low living. About Bad Munster am Stein, Bad Kreuznach and Gensingen enters the Nahe - now in a northerly direction -. Bingen, where it empties 529.1 on the Rhine from the south at Rhine kilometer into the Rhine The Nahe estuary separates the Upper Rhine from the Middle Rhine.

Tributaries

The tributaries second order in the catchment area of ​​the Near are Idarbach, Kyrbach, Hahnenbach, Simmersbach, Ellerbach, Gräfenbach, Gulden Bach, Glan, Alsenz, Appel creek and meadow brook.

Other, smaller tributaries are, inter alia Söterbach, Traunbach, Schwoll Bach, Siesbach, Fischbach, Bos, Dämelbach, Gaulsbach / Hoxbach.

Reservoirs

  • The Kammerwoog lies immediately above Idar -Oberstein. With this dam the flow volume Nahe if necessary regulated, because the river in Idar -Oberstein has under close overbuilding only over a limited level.
  • The Gänsmühle in Martin Stein uses the water of slightly dammed the river to generate electricity, thus a maximum of 30 kW can be generated.
  • At Hüsters mill in Idar -Oberstein current is also generated by water power, the performance of the system is less than 200 kW. At the weir, a fish ladder ascent and descent assistance has been installed in the years 2008/2009 by the operator and the district of Birkenfeld, the first and so far only on the Nahe.
  • The Nahe flows through its reservoir, which is located behind a barrage and has 800,000 m³ volume at low Hausen. Again, electricity is generated under optimum conditions of two generators a total of 3200 kW fed into the 20 kV network.

Hydrology

The catchment area of ​​the Near covers an area of ​​4065 km ². Because of this in comparison to the flow length large catchment area can in the middle and lower reaches within a few hours very strong floods occur, but also drain quickly. This can result in Bad Kreuznach to runoff of about 1000 m³ / s, at the mouth of over 1300 m³ / s.

The extent of the catchment area is shown in the map. Its boundaries are clockwise, starting in the east:

  • The Rheinhessen Switzerland as a watershed to the Rhine
  • The thunder mountain massif that watershed to Selz and Rhine
  • The North Palatine Uplands watershed to Pfrimm and Rhine to the east and to semi- Wall and Schwarzenbach south
  • The Hunsrück watershed to prim assemblies and Saar to the south or to the Moselle to the northwest
  • Binger forest watershed of the Rhine to the North

Colonization

Riverside based on the following localities:

  • Nohfelden
  • Hoppstädten- Weiersbach
  • Nohen
  • Kronweiler
  • Sonnenberg- Winnenberg
  • Fraunberg
  • Idar -Oberstein
  • Kirn
  • Hochstetten- Dhaun
  • Martin Stein

Geology and flora

Since the 19th century, the Nahe Valley and the south-east of it located North Palatine Uplands are the target of domestic and foreign botanists and nature lovers. Through numerous scientific publications and local history became known that there thermophilic plant species occur in large numbers, which have their main distribution mainly in southern Europe and partly in the steppe regions of Eastern Europe and Asia. Characteristic species include mountain alyssum ( Alyssum montanum subsp. Montanum ), gold - Aster (Aster linosyris ) Grundblütige sedge ( Carex Halleriana ), burning bush ( Dictamnus albus), Whit - carnation (Dianthus grationopolitanus ), Bleicher Wallflower ( Erysimum crepidifolium ), Bleicher fescue ( Festuca pallens ), Rock Yellow star ( Gagea bohemica subsp. saxatilis ), Blue Green bedstraw ( Galium glaucum ), steppe Spitz Kiel ( Oxytropis pilosa ), Large feather grass ( Stipa pulcherrima ) and horsehair plume - feather grass ( Stipa Tirsa ).

These plants are migrated in a postglacial warm period in Europe. As then the climate was considerably cooler and wetter, they died in the largest part of Germany again. They survived only in places where small-scale still prevailed due to special geographical characteristics, the heat and the drought, to which they are adapted. In the Nahe Valley and its side valleys, these are particularly rocky slopes that face south or southwest, so that in summer the sun's rays strike at a steep angle. On hot summer days, there truly develop steppe -like conditions with soil temperatures of 60 ° C or more. But not only rocks, but also deciduous forests and bushes, which cover less rocky scarps, have a fairly warm and dry local climate and are suitable as habitats for heat-loving and drought -enduring plants love the heat and tolerate drought. Its totality is called Xerothermvegetation.

The valleys of the Nahe and its tributaries formed in geologically recent times as a result of uplift of the earth's surface. The waters were thus a stronger fall. Especially in melting periods during the ice ages, as here, there was tundra and the floor was not protected by a dense vegetation, there was severe erosion by the torrential flow of streams and rivers. Depending on how hard was the bedrock, it emerged narrow valleys with steep rocky slopes or wide, gently shaped valleys. In the near field the frequent change between the two forms is appealing. Tight and rocky valley sections can be found there, where hard volcanic rocks are present, long-range in the area of softer sedimentary rocks. Mainly include the rocks of the geological epoch of the Permian to the end of the Paleozoic. At that time, there was a lively volcanism in the area of ​​the Near area.

The reddish volcanic rock rhyolite weathered in the higher, wetter parts of the area near to relatively acidic soil. There, the typical flora is poorly represented. In the area around Bad Kreuznach and Bad Münster am Stein, however, there is quite warm and dry climate in the rain shadow of the Hunsrück. There, the rhyolite delivered to the weathering neutral to alkaline soils, on which almost a "hot spot" botanical species richness has developed. This is due to the fact that the Near there has gnawed by a powerful Rhyolithmassiv and created steep rocky slopes, including the famous Red Rock, which almost rises nearly 120 meters high and the highest vertical rock face of Germany outside the Alps. It presents itself as a giant natural rock garden.

Ideal Locations for the thermophilic flora also offers the more basic volcanic rock andesite, whose presence spread across the entire North Palatine Uplands. Several times the Near had to gnaw through by andesite cross bar, so botanically significant rocky slopes, most of which are classified as nature reserves, like pearls on a chain accompany its course. Mention may be made of Hellberg in Kirn, the flat mountain at Martin Stein and Gangel mountain at Duchroth.

The upper reaches of the Middle crosses the Andesitplateau of Baumholder. It was the time of the Rotliegend as huge lava bed with a diameter of about 20 kilometers. At its edge is the gem city Idar -Oberstein, where there is again a highlight of the botanical wealth. The city is almost surrounded by rocky slopes. Upstream from Idar-Oberstein sounds from the Xerothermvegetation gradually as the climate is cooler and more humid there.

Also in the area of ​​Andesitplateaus is the nearly 12,000 -acre training area Baumholder, stands as an excellent nature reserve. Through the extensive driving tracked vehicles and grazing by sheep walking there almost the agricultural landscape of the early 20th century remained. A barring military reasons guarantees there a particularly effective protection of fauna and flora.

Tourism

Known as Naheland region offers diverse tourist incentives:

Close to bike path - The Middle - cycle path allows getting to know the whole river course from the source to the mouth.

Wine region Nahe - The landscape of the middle and lower Nahe is almost identical with the winegrowing region Nahe, which has been made in spite of its small size, has seven German wine queens.

Castles, monasteries - On the heights of the Hunsrück and North Palatine Uplands on both sides of the river are numerous castles and palaces, the boars castle, on which was in 1481 the rebellious knight Franz born SICKINGEN. The monastery Disibodenberg whose ruins the Disibodenberg crowns at the confluence of the Nahe and Glan, was founded at the beginning of the 8th century.

Other Structures - worth a visit are the Gemstone Museum in Idar- Oberstein or in Bad Kreuznach 's spa facilities with thermal and salt baths as well as the bridge houses, as well as the old village center of Monzingen with its historic buildings such as the Alt'schen house and other interesting buildings. The Drususbrücke near Bingen is the oldest stone bridge in the Middle Ages in Germany, it was built in the 11th century. The Rhineland - Palatinate open-air museum in Bad Sobernheim presents four villages with restored historic houses from different regions of Rhineland- Palatinate.

Red Rock - The 202 meters high and 1,200 meters long Rotenfels near Bad Münster am Stein- Ebernburg was created by the Nahe and is the largest cliff between the Alps and Scandinavia.

Schinderhannes Cave - In Soonwaldsteig nine kilometers north of the Nahe should be around 1800 the robber John Buckler, who was known under the name " Schinderhannes " have been hiding in the cave named after him.

Hahn Airport - On the heights of the Hunsrück, exactly on the watershed close to the Moselle, is the Hahn airport.

Bos (Nahe) Glan (Nahe) Alsenz (river) Orography Mainz-Bingen Niederhausen Rhine knee Martinstein Rhenish-Hessian Switzerland Donnersberg Prims Bingen Forest Sonnenberg-Winnenberg Frauenberg, Rhineland-Palatinate Boos, Bad Kreuznach Oberhausen an der Nahe Bretzenheim Bingen am Rhein Nahe (wine region) Ebernburg Castle Franz von Sickingen Francis Frith
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