Ore Mountain Basin

The Erzgebirgsbecken is a natural area in Saxony, the Saxon part of the natural region Lössgefilde. To the north it borders on the natural bowl - loess hill country and on the south by several natural areas of the natural region Saxon mountains and highlands.

According to current categorization is also the Upper Pleissenland, which adjoins the cities Werdau and Crimmitschau immediately east, added to the Erzgebirgsbecken.

The Erzgebirgsbecken is a special settlement focus in Saxony and a historically important industrial space.

Geography

The reservoir, located at altitudes 100-480 m is characterized by sedimentary rocks of the Rotliegend. Its reddish color is due to the iron oxide-containing mineral hematite. The term basin meets morphologically actually only the area between Zwickau and Chemnitz. In this section, the territory is bordered by the Northern escarpment of the Ore Mountains in the south and from Rabenstein mountains in the north.

Except in many waterlogged areas, the soils can be described as agronomically valuable. Because of its reddish coloring the Rotliegendböden relatively strong heat. Therefore, the ice sheet, especially in spring melts off time and it can also be harvested relatively early in late summer or autumn. With increasing altitude the Lössanteil in the soil and thus the fertility decreases rapidly. The Potential natural vegetation of the high colline Luzulo - oak-beech forest.

The rivers in the West engaging Upper Pleissenland drain on the splices to the White Elster and finally to the Saale. All more central locations drained by the river Mulde to the top - the east of it via the detour of Chemnitz. With a catchment area of ​​about 140 square kilometers, the Lung joke Bach counts ( opens in Glauchau in the Mulde ) of the largest rivers of the Erzgebirge Basin. The extreme east eventually drained via the Zschopau to Freiberger Mulde.

Common to all larger rivers the striking north-south orientation.