Drawehn

The Drawehn is a partly wooded and partly farmed hills in the northeast of the state of Lower Saxony, between the districts of Lüneburg and Uelzen in the west and Lüchow -Dannenberg in the east. It forms the eastern end of the ( over-) natural region Lüneburg Heath ( " Ostheide " ) to the adjacent natural area Wendland and Altmark.

Formation

The Altmoränenlandschaft Lower Saxony emerged in the course of four major glacial advances of the Scandinavian ice sheets 350000-130000 years ago - during one of the Elster, three during the Saale ice age. The glaciers of the most recent, the Weichsel glaciation reached only up to the northeast edge of today's Elbe Valley lowlands, so that the existing terminal moraine thereof was influenced only periglazial, for example in the form of solifluction on the frozen ground, by melt water erosion and sediment or by drifting sand surroundings. The last two Saale glacial advances, particularly the Drenthe II and the Warta stage, but have the Osthannoversche terminal moraine unfolded. It is thus geomorphological younger than the moraine in the western and central Lower Saxony, however, significantly older than the young moraine landscape in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and East Holstein ( = Northern ridge ).

Landscape Spatial Description

The ridge extends from the Elbe valley rim at New Darchau ( " Klötzie " ) in a southerly direction for a distance of about 40 kilometers. In Zernien it reaches 142 meters above sea level its highest peak, the " High Mechtin ". South-east of a line between the towns of Clenze and Schnega flattens the hitherto quite steilkuppige profile and goes into the ground moraine of the " Jeetzel - Stupid - clay board " and finally in the lowlands on Stupid. Next to the southeast is the end moraine season continued in the mountains of Light Altmark, the Colbitz - Letzlinger Heide ( Saxony -Anhalt ) and the flaming ( see also Southern ridge ).

Spatially culture of Drawehn is mostly counted for Wendland. The exact definition is ambiguous: sometimes the term is used synonymously for the ridge of the Osthannoverschen terminal moraine, then again just for the south - the northern part is called in this case " Goehrde ". Sources of the 14th to 16th century, but following the entire High and Low Geest of Jeetzelniederung and east of Uelzen - Bevenser basin and the basin Dahlenburger to apply west as Drawehn. In this sense, the main crest of the terminal moraine Osthannoverschen including its foothills and the flatter eastern slope of fluvial Lüchower depression is defined by the term here. The Osthannoversche terminal moraine can also be broken down into its northern part in the subspaces Goehrde and Klötzie - with smooth transitions and overlaps. As " Klötzie " (also: " Elbhöhen " ) is up to 70 meters steeply to the Elbe river valley sloping northern edge of the ridge between Hitzacker (Elbe ) and New Darchau called. Under " Goehrde " is here, deviating by about municipal boundaries, understood only the more or less closed forest complex of the " state forest Goehrde ", located on an undulating plateau in the north west of the ridge.

The Drawehn can be topographically and hydrologically divided into the High and the Low Drawehn. For this, the 50 - m -NN- contour line is useful as a guide: Above this height line is the High Drawehn with steep hills and usually remote from groundwater sites. The sandy to loamy, interspersed with scree and boulders from glacial soils and partly aeolian deposits are covered mostly with drier pine forest and locally with fresh mixed deciduous forest; flatter areas are used for agricultural purposes. From a natural history perspective, among other things lean and dry grasslands with rare grasses, herbs and lichens are worth mentioning. To the west of the ridge limits the rather lehmbödige " Uelzener - Bevenser pool ".

Along the eastern flank occur about 50 meters above sea level, numerous streams to light. This is to hang pressurized water is fed by rainfall on the western side and the ridges of the ridge. Almost all the streams flowing from this source horizon to the east from the ridge to eventually empty into the Elbe Creek Jeetzel, which is approximately 11 to 18 m above sea level. NN is. Due to the relatively large difference in height on a short course track, the streams on quite a high flow rate. As a result, eroded on the eastern flank of the ridge expansive valleys in the Pleistocene surface. Man hydropower made ​​here early advantage and built mills on the streams. Almost all bear the suffix " - mill brook".

Niederer Drawehn

The mill stream valleys are the most prominent feature of the Low Drawehn. Unlike the High Drawehn be found here on glazifluviatilen sands and sediment cover sands many groundwater near sites that in Talrinnen as fens, for example in the form of Erlenbruchwald, ausprägten itself. ( A different feature is the transitional moor " Maujahn ", which was formed in a Erdfalltrichter. ) In addition to agriculture, there are also documents in the wetter grassland management. However, by hydraulic engineering drainage measures and by excessive groundwater extraction - especially for field sprinkler irrigation in the district of Uelzen - many former wetlands now dried up. East of the Low Drawehn runs out in the Jeetzelniederung. This is achieved the largest expansion in the south between Clenze and Lüchow while, abrupt transitions between high Geest and the river valleys of Jeetzel and same can be observed in the north, towards the Elbe.

Cultural and historical aspects

The name " Drawehn " was used in the Middle Ages and probably means "forest land" ( cf. Sorbian drjewo, " timber "). As " Drawey " described the Slavic settlers of the tribe of Polabs ( colloquially Wenden) their local district. Contemporary German sources speak of the land of " Drevener " (also " Drawänen " or " Drewjanen "). The landscape is cross-border and overlap area between Germans ( Saxons ) and the Slavs who migrated into the area in the 9th century. Peculiar village names in Wendland witness today from the Slavic influence: Waddeweitz, Meuchefitz, Middefeitz, Mammoißel, Guhreitzen, Tolstefanz, Dickfeitzen, Salderatzen and many others. The Slavic language of the Wends in the Hanoverian Wendland disappeared towards the end of the 18th century.

Another special feature of the area is the settlement form of the winder. The half-timbered building of a village are arranged in an almost closed circle around a central village square. Only a general approach interrupts this round in the ideal case. Outwardly, the farmsteads ( hooves ) expand wedge-shaped. Church, school, inn are - if any - in front of the village. Especially frequently find Rundlinge in Low Drawehn between Lüchow and Clenze where agronomically favorable soils predominate. Tourist known examples are the villages Schreyahn, Lübeln and Satemin.