Örtze: Difference between revisions

Örtze
The Örtze near Hermannsburg
Location
State	Lower Saxony, Germany
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	north of Munster in the Große Heide (Bundesforst Raubkammer)
• coordinates	53°01′36″N 10°05′01″E
• elevation	86 m above sea level (NN)
Mouth
• location	into the Aller southeast of Winsen
• coordinates	52°40′17″N 9°55′54″E
• elevation	30 m above sea level (NN)
Length	62 km (with Aue and Wietze 70 km)dep1
Basin size	770 km²
Basin features
Progression	Aller → Weser → North Sea
River system	Weser
Landmarks	Small towns: Munster Villages: Kreutzen, Poitzen, Müden, Hermannsburg, Oldendorf, Eversen and Wolthausen
Tributaries
• left	Kleine Örtze, Schmarbeck and Sothrieth (discharge as the Landwehrbach in die Örtze), Weesener Bach, Angelbach
• right	Ilster, Wietze, Brunau, Brandenbach, Hasselbach, Mühlenbach

The Örtze is a river in the North German state of Lower Saxony, which rises north of Munster in the Große Heide (Raubkammer federal forest) and joins the Aller after 62 kilometres (39 mi) southeast of Winsen.

Source and course

The Örtze valley is an old glacial valley. It was formed during the Saale glaciation about 230,000 to 130,000 years ago by the drainage of meltwater from the ice sheet which cut 20 to 50 metres deep into the plateaus of the southern Lüneburg Heath. The upper Örtze has incised its own, much smaller valley into the sandur beds and the roughly 4 kilometre wide, flat glacial valley floor.

The source region of the Örtze and its several source bogs lie on the terrain of the Munster North Training Area. In order to remove suspended solids and sediments which are washed away during heavy rains from the tank training areas with their sparse covering of vegetation, four successive lakes - the so-called Munoseen - have been created on the Örtze, and, on the Ilster, the main headstream of the river, there is a further dam pond. The Örtze is the largest river on the Southern Heath or Südheide and drains its central area, between the rather longer Böhme to the west and the Ise to the east. It has a relatively steep incline. In the middle of the river in its lower course the stream flow is about 0.71 metres per second, the water depth from 0.5 m to 2 m. It is classed as a so-called summer-cold heath stream (sommerkalter Heidebach).

The Örtze passes the towns and villages of Munster (most important military base in North Germany), Kreutzen, Poitzen, Müden, Hermannsburg (reknown because of the Hermannsburg Mission), Oldendorf, Eversen and Wolthausen.

The tributaries of the Örtze are the: Ilster, Kleine Örtze, Wietze, Schmarbeck and Sothrieth (which discharge together as the Landwehrbach into the Örtze), Brunau, Weesener Bach, Brandenbach, Hasselbach, Angelbach and Mühlenbach.

The main headstream of the Örtze is the Ilster. It name recalls the largest village, which the Munster-North Training Area has to circumvent. Its largest tributary is the Wietze, which rises between Soltau and Munster and which, together with its tributary the Aue, is longer than the Örtze by a good 5 kilometres. It joins the Örtze near Müden and gave the heath village its name. The Kleine Örtze rises north of Oerrel and discharges into the Örtze near Kreutzen (parish of Faßberg). Its upper course acted, before it was renaturalised, as a drainage ditch for the former raised bog, now afforrested, in the narrow valley (nature reserve). On the headstreams of the Landwehrbach lie the Faßberg military airfield (north of Schmarbeck) and numerous old kieselgur pits (either side of the Sothrieth).

Source

• Jürgen Delfs: Die Flößerei auf Ise, Aller und Örtze, Gifhorn 1995, ISBN 3-929632-24-1

External links

• River-forest nature trail by the Örtze