Leininger Sporn

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Relief of the Palatine Forest. Right: the Haardt (highlit) and above that (north) the Leininger Sporn
View from the Felsenberg-Berntal Nature Reserve

The Leininger Sporn is a highly prominent ridge in the northeast of the Palatinate Forest in western Germany, mainly composed of the rock formations of the Middle and Upper Bunter. It forms the western edge of Upper Rhine Plain between Grünstadt in the north and Leistadt, a village in the county of Bad Durkheim, in the southeast.[1] In the natural region system of the German Central Uplands it is considered one of the four sub-units of the Middle Palatinate Forest.

Geography

Location

The Leininger Sporn lies between the valleys of the river Isenach in the south and the Eckbach stream in the north, and has an area of around 44.8 km².[2] From north to south it is about 10 kilometres long, and from east to west it is about 4 to 5, and at its northern tip, only about 2 to 3 kilometres wide.
The outer boundary of this hill ridge runs from the Kleinkarlbach in the northeast, southwards along the edge of the Rhine Graben, before swinging southwest at Leistadt. Here it follows the Lambrecht Fault, a fracture line that crosses the Isenach valley at Hausen between Peterskopf and Teufelsstein, and separates the mountain range of the Haardt from the Leininger Sporn and the Limburg-Durkheim Forest that lies to the southwest. At the Alten Schmelz it turns north and reaches the valley of the Höninger Bach and village of Höningen after crossing the Rahnfels hill (517 m AMSL (NHN)). Here the natural region transitions smoothly in the west into the foothills of the Inner Palatine Forest and, in the northwest, into the Stumpfwald and the forest clearances of the Eisenberg Basin. From Altleiningen the boundary follows the valley of the Eckbach as far as Kleinkarlbach in a northeasterly direction.[3]

Name

The name "Leininger Sporn" was coined by the geographer, Adalbert Pemöller,[4] who in the 1960s developed a detailed internal subdivision of the Palatine Forest for the Handbook of Natural Region Divisions of Germany. In doing so, Pemöller gave the historic name, Leiningerland, for this natural sub-region, which in turn was derived from the formerly important noble family of the House of Leiningen. From a geographic perspective, the Leiningerland, and the low mountain country of the Leininger Sporn are also part of the wine route region and the zone of low, rolling hills on the edge of the mountain region and the Upper Rhine Plain.

References

  1. ↑ Landscape information system of the Rhineland-Palatine Nature Conservation Administration:Leininger Sporn landscape fact file. Retrieved 10 November 2012
  2. ↑ Landesamt für Umwelt, Wasserwirtschaft und Gewerbeaufsicht Rheinland-Pfalz (pub.): Naturräumliche Gliederung von Rheinland-Pfalz. Retrieved 12 November 2012
  3. ↑ Landesamt für Vermessung und Geobasisinformation Rheinland-Pfalz (Hrsg): Topographic map 1:25,000 Bad Dürkheim and Area. Self-pub. by the state office, 6th edn., Koblenz, 2003
  4. ↑ Adalbert Pemöller: Die naturräumlichen Einheiten auf Blatt 160 Landau i. d. Pfalz. Geographische Landesaufnahme 1 : 200,000 Naturräumliche Gliederung Deutschlands. pp. 7–8

Literature

  • August Becker: Die Pfalz und die Pfälzer. 7th edn., Pfälzische Verlagsanstalt, Landau/Pfalz, 2005 (1st edn. 1857), pp. 138–154, ISBN 3898571939
  • Michael Geiger: Haardt und Weinstraße im geographischen Überblick. In: Michael Geiger (ed.): Haardt und Weinstraße – Beiträge zur Landeskunde. Verlag der Pfälzischen Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften, Speyer, 1996, pp. 6–35 ISBN 3-932155-14-9
  • Michael Geiger: Die Landschaften der Pfalz.In: Michael Geiger (ed.): Geographie der Pfalz. Verlag Pfälzische Landeskunde, Landau/Pfalz, 2010, pp. 92–113 ISBN 9783981297409
  • Daniel Häberle: Der Pfälzerwald. Ein Beitrag zur Landeskunde der Rheinpfalz. Georg Westermann Verlag, Brunswick and Berlin, 1913
  • Karl Heinz: Pfalz mit Weinstraße. Landschaft, Geschichte, Kultur, Kunst, Volkstum. Glock und Lutz Verlag, Heroldsberg, 1976, pp. 375–381, ASIN B002GZ8RN
  • Klaus Meyer: Die Wälder der Haardt: gestern – heute – morgen. In: Michael Geiger (Hrsg): Haardt und Weinstraße – Beiträge zur Landeskunde. Verlag der Pfälzischen Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften, Speyer, 1996 ISBN 3-932155-14-9, S. 248–249
  • Adalbert Pemöller: Die naturräumlichen Einheiten auf Blatt 160 Landau i. d. Pfalz. Geographische Landesaufnahme 1 : 200,000 Naturräumliche Gliederung Deutschlands. Selbstverlag der Bundesforschungsanstalt für Landeskunde und Raumordnung, Bad Godesberg, 1969
  • Heinz Wittner: Großer Pfalzführer. Deutscher Wanderverlag Dr. Mair & Schnabel & Co., Stuttgart, 1981 pp. 307–312, ISBN 3813401065

External links

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