Ablach (Danube)
Encyclopedia
The Ablach is a right tributary
of the Danube
. It rises on the European Watershed
, which is only a hint in this area, from the Mindersdorfer Aach in the municipality of Hohenfels in the Landkreis of Konstanz
. It is about 36 kilometers long, or, when including the headwaters in the Hohenfels area, 38 km.
, about 120,000 years ago, the Ablach flowed into the Danube at Engelswies, because its original valley was covered by the ice. The ice blocked the Danube, and the Danube formed a lake between Geisingen and Spaichingen. When the water level of this lake reached 667 meters above mean sea level
, it overflowed into the Neckar valley at Spaichingen. About 100,000 years ago, the ice melted and the Ablach took its current course.
Before it was straightenen, the Ablach meander
ed through its valley. The Ablach Valley in the broadest sense is the area between the Großer Heuberg in the north and the Linzgau
in the south
, the Grabenbach
joins from the left. the Ablach then flows past Igelsweis and Menningen, where, in the Middle Ages
, the Ablach fed the moat around the water castle. Before Göggingen, the Ringgenbach
joins from the right and some of the Ablach's water is diverted into a mill channel. Past Göggingen, this channel joins the Ablach again.
The Ablach then flows past a village named after it, Ablach, and then towards Krauchenwies
and through the local royal park. After Krauchenwies, it flows in a graded bed past Zielfingen, amidst a collection of water-filled gravel pit
s. A weir
near the Südsee III restaurant diverts some the Ablach's water into a channel where it drives a water mill and a saw mill. Past this sawmill, the water is led back to the Ablach, only to be diverted again for the next saw mill. The diverted water then flows through Mengen
, while the original course flows through Ennetach. The two streams are reunited south of Blochingen, shortly before the Ablach flows into the Danube.
The last 800 meters of the Ablach from through a former bed of the Danube. This arm of the Danube was cut off when the Danube was straightened.
had a favourable gradient for use in a hydropower plant and to drive several sawmills and a forge. However the Stockacher Aach does not naturally carry enough water to drive all of these, which is why as early as 1699, a canal was dug across the European Watershed
to divert the water of the upper Ablach into the Mindersdorfer Aach. A canal of only 100 meters across the Schwackenreute Plateau was all that it took to accomplish this. This effectively moved the European watershed, annexing the upper Ablach into the catchment area of the Rhine. Strictly speaking, the weir
at the start of the canal creates an artificial bifurcation
: most of the water is diverted via the Stockacher Aach to Lake Constance
, but in times of heavy rainfall, the excess water follows the original course of the Ablach to the Danube.
and Alamanni
villages have been found. The name Ablach is probably derived from the Celtic Abela, which means something like "brook".
In the fifth and sixth century, the Alamanni established villages in the more suitable places. These villages can be recognized by te fact that they have names ending in "-ingen": Göggingen, Menningen, Schnerkingen, Bichtlingen.
Later the Ablach Valley gained imporance because of its supply of wood and because the soil quality made it suitable for growing cereal
. The annual spring floods ensured adequate fertilization. In the past century, the Ablach Valley became an important center for gravel
mining.
The course of the Ablach has been adjusted several times. A few kilometers of the headwaters have been diverted into the Stockacher Aach
, reducing the catchment area of the Ablach by about 20 square kilometers.
The course of Ablach received by many factors in its present form. Quite a few miles of the headwaters of the plateau in the have been redirected, so reduced that the catchment area of around 20 square kilometers Ablach. Curiously, the upper part of the Ablach as it flows through Zizenhausen was still called Ablach as late as 1857. The course of the river was again altered during construction of the Hegau-Ablach Railway line, between 1866 and 1870 from Stockach
ot Meßkirch
and between 1870 and 1873 from Meßkirch via Krauchenwies
to Mengen
. The line runs along the Ablach and crosses it several times. Room for the Ablach was further restricted by road construction, in particular the construction of Federal road 311. Road construction and the alteration of the habitat for agricultural purposes gave the landscape in the valley its current shape. The section of the Ablach between Menningen and Göggingen was improved after repeated flooding; in 1910 it was widened to 12 meters, at a cost of . The exploitation of gravel pits has also led to changes in the course of the Ablach.
Tübingen
measured in three locations: one measuring device is located in Menningen and two in Mengen
, where the Ennetach and Mengen distributaries are measured separately.
is visually marked by a sculpture called the by Peter Klink, erected in 2007.
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
of the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
. It rises on the European Watershed
European Watershed
The European Watershed is the line which divides the drainage basins of the major rivers of Germany: the Rhine, which originates in the Swiss Alps and empties into the North Sea via the Netherlands, and the Danube, which originates in the Black Forest and flows eastward emptying into the Black...
, which is only a hint in this area, from the Mindersdorfer Aach in the municipality of Hohenfels in the Landkreis of Konstanz
Konstanz (district)
Konstanz is a district in the south of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Schwarzwald-Baar, Tuttlingen, Sigmaringen and Bodenseekreis. To the south it borders the Swiss canton Thurgau and Schaffhausen...
. It is about 36 kilometers long, or, when including the headwaters in the Hohenfels area, 38 km.
Geology
During the Riss Ice ageIce age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
, about 120,000 years ago, the Ablach flowed into the Danube at Engelswies, because its original valley was covered by the ice. The ice blocked the Danube, and the Danube formed a lake between Geisingen and Spaichingen. When the water level of this lake reached 667 meters above mean sea level
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
, it overflowed into the Neckar valley at Spaichingen. About 100,000 years ago, the ice melted and the Ablach took its current course.
Before it was straightenen, the Ablach meander
Meander
A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the...
ed through its valley. The Ablach Valley in the broadest sense is the area between the Großer Heuberg in the north and the Linzgau
Linzgau
Linzgau is a region in southern Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg north of Lake Constance and south of the Danube valley. It is bounded by Lake Constance on the south, the Hegau on the west, the Danube valley on the north, and the Schussen River on the east.It reaches east as far as...
in the south
Course
The upper reaches of the Ablach flow through the Schwackenreute Plateau, past the towns of Bichtlingen and Schnerkingen. In MeßkirchMeßkirch
Meßkirch is a town in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.Meßkirch was the residence of the counts of Zimmern, widely known through Count Froben Christoph's Zimmern Chronicle ....
, the Grabenbach
Grabenbach
Grabenbach is a river of Baden-Württemberg, Germany....
joins from the left. the Ablach then flows past Igelsweis and Menningen, where, in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, the Ablach fed the moat around the water castle. Before Göggingen, the Ringgenbach
Ringgenbach (Ablach)
Ringgenbach is a river of Baden-Württemberg, Germany....
joins from the right and some of the Ablach's water is diverted into a mill channel. Past Göggingen, this channel joins the Ablach again.
The Ablach then flows past a village named after it, Ablach, and then towards Krauchenwies
Krauchenwies
Krauchenwies is a municipality in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.-Geography:Krauchenwies lies about 10 km south of Sigmaringen and 25 km north of Lake Constance...
and through the local royal park. After Krauchenwies, it flows in a graded bed past Zielfingen, amidst a collection of water-filled gravel pit
Gravel pit
Gravel pit is the term for an open cast working for extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may fill naturally with water to form ponds or lakes. Old, abandoned gravel pits are normally used either as nature reserves, or as amenity areas...
s. A weir
Weir
A weir is a small overflow dam used to alter the flow characteristics of a river or stream. In most cases weirs take the form of a barrier across the river that causes water to pool behind the structure , but allows water to flow over the top...
near the Südsee III restaurant diverts some the Ablach's water into a channel where it drives a water mill and a saw mill. Past this sawmill, the water is led back to the Ablach, only to be diverted again for the next saw mill. The diverted water then flows through Mengen
Mengen
Mengen is a quiet, rural town and district in Bolu province in the Black Sea region of western Turkey, 58 km from the city of Bolu. It covers an area of 895 km², and the population is 16,504 of which 5,500 live in the town of Mengen...
, while the original course flows through Ennetach. The two streams are reunited south of Blochingen, shortly before the Ablach flows into the Danube.
The last 800 meters of the Ablach from through a former bed of the Danube. This arm of the Danube was cut off when the Danube was straightened.
The Mindersdorfer Aach, watershed and bifurcation
The headwaters that are currently the upper part of the Mindersdorfer Aach were originally the headwaters of the Ablach. The Stockacher AachStockacher Aach
Stockacher Aach is a river of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.-See also:*List of rivers of Baden-Württemberg...
had a favourable gradient for use in a hydropower plant and to drive several sawmills and a forge. However the Stockacher Aach does not naturally carry enough water to drive all of these, which is why as early as 1699, a canal was dug across the European Watershed
European Watershed
The European Watershed is the line which divides the drainage basins of the major rivers of Germany: the Rhine, which originates in the Swiss Alps and empties into the North Sea via the Netherlands, and the Danube, which originates in the Black Forest and flows eastward emptying into the Black...
to divert the water of the upper Ablach into the Mindersdorfer Aach. A canal of only 100 meters across the Schwackenreute Plateau was all that it took to accomplish this. This effectively moved the European watershed, annexing the upper Ablach into the catchment area of the Rhine. Strictly speaking, the weir
Weir
A weir is a small overflow dam used to alter the flow characteristics of a river or stream. In most cases weirs take the form of a barrier across the river that causes water to pool behind the structure , but allows water to flow over the top...
at the start of the canal creates an artificial bifurcation
Bifurcation
Bifurcation means the splitting of a main body into two parts.Bifurcation or Bifurcated may refer to:*Bifurcation , the division of issues in a trial for example the division of a page into two parts....
: most of the water is diverted via the Stockacher Aach to Lake Constance
Lake Constance
Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...
, but in times of heavy rainfall, the excess water follows the original course of the Ablach to the Danube.
History
People settled early in the fertile lands bordering the Ablach, in which traces of Celtic, RomanRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and Alamanni
Alamanni
The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Rhine river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Roman Emperor Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211 to 217 and claimed thereby to be...
villages have been found. The name Ablach is probably derived from the Celtic Abela, which means something like "brook".
In the fifth and sixth century, the Alamanni established villages in the more suitable places. These villages can be recognized by te fact that they have names ending in "-ingen": Göggingen, Menningen, Schnerkingen, Bichtlingen.
Later the Ablach Valley gained imporance because of its supply of wood and because the soil quality made it suitable for growing cereal
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
. The annual spring floods ensured adequate fertilization. In the past century, the Ablach Valley became an important center for gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
mining.
The course of the Ablach has been adjusted several times. A few kilometers of the headwaters have been diverted into the Stockacher Aach
Stockacher Aach
Stockacher Aach is a river of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.-See also:*List of rivers of Baden-Württemberg...
, reducing the catchment area of the Ablach by about 20 square kilometers.
The course of Ablach received by many factors in its present form. Quite a few miles of the headwaters of the plateau in the have been redirected, so reduced that the catchment area of around 20 square kilometers Ablach. Curiously, the upper part of the Ablach as it flows through Zizenhausen was still called Ablach as late as 1857. The course of the river was again altered during construction of the Hegau-Ablach Railway line, between 1866 and 1870 from Stockach
Stockach
Stockach is a town in the district of Konstanz, in southern Baden-Württemberg, Germany.-Location:It is situated in the Hegau region, about 5 km northwest of Lake Constance, 13 km north of Radolfzell and 25 km northwest of Konstanz....
ot Meßkirch
Meßkirch
Meßkirch is a town in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.Meßkirch was the residence of the counts of Zimmern, widely known through Count Froben Christoph's Zimmern Chronicle ....
and between 1870 and 1873 from Meßkirch via Krauchenwies
Krauchenwies
Krauchenwies is a municipality in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.-Geography:Krauchenwies lies about 10 km south of Sigmaringen and 25 km north of Lake Constance...
to Mengen
Mengen
Mengen is a quiet, rural town and district in Bolu province in the Black Sea region of western Turkey, 58 km from the city of Bolu. It covers an area of 895 km², and the population is 16,504 of which 5,500 live in the town of Mengen...
. The line runs along the Ablach and crosses it several times. Room for the Ablach was further restricted by road construction, in particular the construction of Federal road 311. Road construction and the alteration of the habitat for agricultural purposes gave the landscape in the valley its current shape. The section of the Ablach between Menningen and Göggingen was improved after repeated flooding; in 1910 it was widened to 12 meters, at a cost of . The exploitation of gravel pits has also led to changes in the course of the Ablach.
Water level
The water level of the Ablach is measured by the regierungsbezirkRegierungsbezirk
In Germany, a Government District, in German: Regierungsbezirk – is a subdivision of certain federal states .They are above the Kreise, Landkreise, and kreisfreie Städte...
Tübingen
Tübingen (region)
Tübingen is one of the four Administrative Regions of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located in the south-east of the country. It covers most of the German shore of Lake Constance , and also the beginning of the Danube River valley. It is sub-divided into the three regions : Neckar-Alb, Donau-Iller...
measured in three locations: one measuring device is located in Menningen and two in Mengen
Mengen
Mengen is a quiet, rural town and district in Bolu province in the Black Sea region of western Turkey, 58 km from the city of Bolu. It covers an area of 895 km², and the population is 16,504 of which 5,500 live in the town of Mengen...
, where the Ennetach and Mengen distributaries are measured separately.
Arts
On the Schwackereute Plateau, the European WatershedEuropean Watershed
The European Watershed is the line which divides the drainage basins of the major rivers of Germany: the Rhine, which originates in the Swiss Alps and empties into the North Sea via the Netherlands, and the Danube, which originates in the Black Forest and flows eastward emptying into the Black...
is visually marked by a sculpture called the by Peter Klink, erected in 2007.