Carolinea 72

Carolinea 72

(2014)

predominantly subject to erosion, in the Rhine

rift valley predominantly alluvial sediments were

deposited by rivers flowing from both mountain

ranges, and by the Rhine. Marine sediments

were deposited during periods when the sea had

invaded the rift valley. Volcanism from e.g. the

Kaiserstuhl Volcano mainly occurred during the

Oligocene and Miocene.

As a consequence of this development, the pre-

sent-day Vosges Mountains and Black Forest

consist of a central area of granite and gneiss

whereas most of the younger deposits have

been eroded (cf. fig. 2). Sandstone still covers the

northern parts of the mountain ranges that ex-

perienced less erosion than the southern parts.

In the area northwest of the Vosges Mountains

limestones have been preserved that cover the

sandstone. A more complete set of strata is still

present in the Upper Rhine plain.

Both the Vosges Mountains and the Black Forest

have steep slopes directly adjacent to the Upper

Rhine plain, whereas their opposite slopes de-

cline more gently.

Both mountain ranges did not contain a closed ice-

cap during the Quaternary ice ages, but numerous

glaciers extended from the higher elevations into

the valleys. The most prominent glacial landforms

are the cirques (“Kare”), consisting of a basin

with normally steep back-walls, and a low ridge

at their fronts. Due to the differences between the

gentle western slope and the steep eastern slo-

pe of the Vosges Mountains, glaciers were pre-

dominantly shorter on the latter, but had a higher

relief-related dynamic and thus a higher erosional

and landforming potential. Simultaneously, severe

western winds blew much snow over the crest into

the eastern basins which additionally contributed

to cirque formation. Therefore, the cirques to the

east of the crest are more prominently developed

than those towards the west.

After the melting of the Weichselian ice, mostly

lakes filled the cirques which later developed

partly or completely into mires (

alomé

1974,

ick

1985,

ell

et al. 1998). A comprehensive over-

view over the mires and mire types in the Vosges

Mountains – being the most important palaeoeco-

logical archives – is provided by

ick

(1985). Mires

are prominently less frequent towards the east

as the result of a diminishing precipitation in this

direction (

anssen

et al. 1974), whereas also the

small size of the area east of the crest provided

insufficient space for mires to occur extensively.

Depending on climate, geology and parent mate-

rial, geomorphology, and actual vegetation, a va-

riety of soil types occur in the Vosges Mountains,

of which an overview is presented by

arbiener

(1963) and

oucier

(1971).

Climate

The climate of the Vosges Mountains is summa-

rised by

oller

(1956),

othé

errenschneider

(1963),

ggers

(1963, 1964),

anssen

(1981),

tadelbauer

(1992) and

ell

et al. (1998).

Mean temperatures range between 9 °C at 400 m

above sea level (asl.) and 4 °C at 1200 m asl.

(fig. 2). Depending on elevation, mean winter

temperatures range between -6 and -1 °C, and

mean summer temperatures between 8 °C and

14 °C. Annually, there is a mean of 159 days of

frost on the crests. The western windward slopes

of the Vosges Mountains are characterised by an

oceanic climate with 800-1000 mm precipitation

annually, which increases to 2000 mm towards

the crest. The precipitation falls predominantly as

snow during the winter. In contrast, the eastern

leeward slopes have a rather continental character

with an annual precipitation below 500-600 mm.

Present-day vegetation

The present-day vegetation of the Vosges Moun-

tains depends predominantly on elevation. Com-

prehensive overviews are presented by e.g.

ssler

(1942),

irbas

et al. (1948),

oller

(1956),

lau

del

(1963),

chsenbein

(1963),

olge

(1963),

rey

(1964),

ion

(1970),

anssen

et al. (1974),

ranken

berg

(1979),

anssen

(1981),

ick

(1985),

ell

al. (1998),

ogenrieder

(2001), and

ügin

(2007).

In the west, calcareous soils prevail on the lime-

stone deposits of the Muschelkalk and Keuper

that cover the plains and hills below 400 m asl.

Their natural forests include

Quercus robur

Ul-

mus carpinifolia

Carpinus betulus

and

Tilia cor-

data

, in less well-drained areas

Quercus robur

and

Fraxinus excelsior

. On rather dry acid soils

also

Quercus petraea

and

Fagus

sylvatica

occur.

There are many agricultural fields.

The natural vegetation in the belt of Permian

and Triassic sandstone between 400 and 600 m

above sea level consists of submontane

Quercus

petraea

Fagus sylvatica

forests and montane

Fa-

gus

Abies

forests. Pine plantations occur since

ca. AD 1820-1830 on many former heathlands.

Montane

Abies

Fagus

forests dominate the west-

ern slopes up to ca. 1000 m asl.

Fagus

gains in

importance towards higher elevations but is never

the sole constituent of the tree layer. Incidentally,

Picea

plantations occur. The valleys are gener-

ally cultivated, whereas the hills are forested.