Rhine knee

With Rheinknie some striking geographical curves are referred to, which describes the Rhine in its course.

Rhine knee at Basel

In Basel, the Rhine changes its flow direction from east to west in an expiring curve by about 90 °, and then continue to flow towards the north along the German - French border to the North Sea. Politically, the elbow of the Rhine is situated on the border triangle of Germany, Switzerland and France, which is why this region is also called RegioTriRhena.

The whole Rheinknie is within the Swiss territory and is inhabited by the city of Basel, Center of RegioTriRhena, and its municipalities of Riehen and rings. Further north, the German places Lörrach and Weil am Rhein and the French cities Huningue and Saint- Louis.

Below the Rhine knee is seen tectonically the Rhine Graben, which is the main element of the Basel earthquake zone.

On the origin

The bend in the Rhine since the end of the last ice age, the Würm glaciation, emerged. At that time the Rhine still flowed in direct line from Grenzacher horn, over the districts of Riehen and Weil to push between Friedlingen and Eimeldingen in its present bed. The huge boulders and gravel deposits of the Feldberg glacier in the meadow valley were transported to the melting of the glacier from the meadow towards the Rhine. They formed a broad delta, so that the Rhine was pushed into its present Rheinknie. The meadow mouth was over the millennia between Grenzacher Horn and Friedlingen and has sought only in the last 6000-2500 years, its present estuary at Kleinhueningen. An old Wiesenarm, which did not result in Kleinhueningen, for example, was the Klybeckteich.

Rheinknie near Bingen

At the junction of the Upper Rhine in the Middle Rhine near Bingen, the flow of Mainz coming changes its course parallel to the northerly ridge of the Rheingau Mountains towards the east-southeast at a 90 ° bend to the north - northwest. Here, to Koblenz -reaching breakthrough begins by Rhenish Slate Mountains. On the left bank of the Rhine knee of Bingen Forest rises. In the Rhine knee is the Binger Loch - a bottleneck due to a transverse to the flow running quartzite reef. Because of this outflow obstruction makes not only the geographical course of the Rhine, but also its gradient profile a huge kink. Above the Binger Loch between Mannheim and Bingen, the Rhine has a slope of 10 cm per river kilometer. Below between Bingen and Koblenz, the slope is but 65 cm per kilometer.

Rheinknie in Dusseldorf

In Dusseldorf, the Rhine near the right bank of past port describes a sharp curve, which contributes to the already acts opposite Oberkassel almost like a peninsula. This referred to as Rheinknie bow is spanned by the 1969 shared Rheinkniebrücke. In him the to 1982 Built in 1978 Rhine Tower and the 1988 completed building of the North Rhine-Westphalian Landtag lie at the center of the North Rhine -Westphalian government district. Before the completion of the hammer rail bridge in 1870, the railway Dusseldorf -Elberfeld ended in Rheinknie station. At the opposite left bank of the Rhine was the Rhine Station Upper Kassel, from which the traveler - after they had ferried by ferry - were able to travel on the railway Upper Kassel- Mönchengladbach Neuss, Mönchengladbach and Aachen.