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47-675: The Eifel is part of the Rhenish Massif ; within its northern portions lies the Eifel National Park . The Eifelian stage in geological history is named after the region because rocks of that period reach the surface in the Eifel at the Wetteldorf Richtschnitt outcrop. The inhabitants of the Eifel are known as Eiflers or Eifelers . The Eifel lies between the cities of Aachen to the north, Trier to

94-515: A chain from northwest to southeast. The youngest maars are only slightly older than 11,000  years. In the eastern Eifel, volcanism began about 500,000 years ago in the area of today's Laacher See; it extended to the Neuwied Basin to the south, and crossed the Rhine to the east. The quantity of basalt lavas, pumice tuffs and ash tuffs produced by the volcanoes was far greater here than in

141-492: A distinctly stimulating climate; the high elevations being considered as highly stimulating. The Eifel is a clean air area with very low air-chemical pollution. On hot sunny days, there is sometimes an increased concentration of ground-level ozone. Here are a couple of weather station examples for settlements in the Eifel. At the time of the Roman Empire the whole mountain range between the rivers Rhine, Meuse and Moselle

188-824: A list of these and other Eifel mountains and hills see the List of mountains and hills of the Eifel . Many of these prominent points are linked by the Eifel-Ardennes Green Route , which crosses the east and south of the region, the German Volcano Route , the German Wildlife Route and the South Eifel Holiday Route. Due to its moist and mild Atlantic climate, the Eifel is bisected by numerous streams and small rivers. Impoundment of these streams, especially in

235-644: Is a geologic massif in western Germany , eastern Belgium , Luxembourg and northeastern France . It is drained centrally, south to north by the river Rhine and a few of its tributaries. West of the indent of the Cologne Bight it has the Eifel and the Belgian and French Ardennes ; east is its greatest German component, the Süder Uplands . The Hunsrück hills form its southwest. The Westerwald

282-419: Is an average of 70 days of full snow cover because the frequency of snow at higher elevations is relatively high (for comparison: Bitburg 35  days, Maifeld 30  days), but the level of snowfall varies from year to year. Snow heights vary on average between 15 cm and 60 cm. The humid Atlantic climate can cause extreme variations though: on 2 March 1987 there was 227 centimetres of snow in

329-713: Is an eastern strip. The Lahn - Dill area is a small central zone and the Taunus Mountains form the rest, the south-east. The massif hosts the Middle Rhine Valley ( Rhine Gorge ), a UNESCO World Heritage site linked to the lowest parts of the Moselle ( German : Mosel , Luxembourgish : Musel ). Geologically the Rhenish Massif consists of metamorphic rocks , mostly slates (hence its German name), deformed and metamorphosed during

376-669: Is the only Eifel summit above 700 m. However, many peaks, mountain ridges and large regions, such as the Zitterwald reach heights of over 600 m. These include two dozen peaks with good all-round views, of which many have an observation tower . From north to south they are: the Michelsberg, Häuschen and Teufelsley in the north; the Adert, Hohe Acht and Raßberg in the northeast; the Hochkel, Nerotherkopf, Dietzenley and ruins of

423-674: Is west/southwest. A relatively dry and milder climate prevails in the wind and rain shadow of the High Eifel. Cold air from Siberia in the higher elevations of the Eifel has less of an impact on weather conditions, as the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean to the Eifel brings milder sea air to the Eifel even in winter. Looking at the long-term averages, even the Snow Eifel only has snow cover for nine consecutive days in winter, as there are no longer lasting cold spells. However, there

470-482: The individual map sheets Trier/Mettendorf , Cochem (both 1974) and Cologne/Aachen (1978) as follows; for the most detailed natural region divisions in Rhineland-Palatinate, fact files were produced by the state information system of the conservation administration (LANDIS): The BfN groups the 3 (two-digit) major unit groups under the combined group designated D45 . Apart from its valleys,

517-653: The Hercynian orogeny (around 300 million years ago). Most of the massif is part of the Rhenohercynian zone of this orogeny, that also encompasses the Harz further east and Devonian rocks of Cornwall (southwestern England ). Most rocks in the Rhenish Massif were originally sediments, mostly deposited during the Devonian and Carboniferous in a back-arc basin called the Rhenohercynian basin . In some places in

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564-641: The Hohe Acht and the Ernstberg , emerged as a result of volcanicity in the Tertiary and Quaternary periods and rise above the undulating countryside. The rivers draining into the Moselle , Rhine and Meuse , such as the Our , Kyll , Ahr , Brohlbach and Rur , have cut deep into the edge of the Eifel and formed larger valleys. The Eifel covers an area of 5,300 km and is geographically divided into

611-797: The Kasselburg in the central area; the Prümer Kalvarienberg, Hartkopf and Prümer Kopf in the east, the Steineberg and Mäuseberg near Daun, the Hochsimmer and Scheidkopf near Mayen; the Eickelslay and Absberg in the southeast; and the Krautscheid and Hohe Kuppe in the southwest. The mountains and hills of the Eifel include the following (in order of height in metres above sea level ): (near Schwarzer Mann ) For

658-597: The Tertiary , the Eifel was inundated mainly from the north. Remains of Cretaceous rocks were discovered on the High Fens. Scattered patches of Oligocene deposits can be found there and in the Western Eifel. From the Pliocene onwards, the Rhenish Massif, including the Eifel, experienced an uplift. This led to the streams and rivers cutting into the gently rolling landscape resulting in the present appearance of

705-609: The Vulkaneifel , the Westerwald and the Vogelsberg . The volcanic rocks have been linked to a mantle plume that, due to its low density and buoyancy, uplifted the entire region during the last few hundred thousand years, as measured from the present elevation of old river terraces. The mountain and hill ranges within the Rhenish Massif - some with maximum height in metres above sea level (NN) ) are given below: West of

752-455: The diphthong and the syllable , -fel . The resulting root form Anfil or Anfali would then mean an "area that is not so level". An - would then be a prefix and -fali , which is related to the Slavic polje ("field"), means "plain" or "heath". W. Kaspers (1938) deduces from the surviving form in pago aquilinse the root form aku-ella, akwella and points to its development into

799-624: The Ardennes, even older rocks of Cambrian to Silurian age crop out as massifs overlain by Devonian slates. These older rocks form smaller massifs of their own ( Stavelot , Rocroi , Givonne and Serpont ). In the eastern Rhenish Massif some very limited outcrops in the Sauerland show rocks of Ordovician and lower Siliurian age. Further Ordovician rock exposures are part of the southern Taunus . The second rock type are Tertiary and Quaternary igneous rocks , which most prominently occur in

846-513: The Earth's surface from the upper regions of the Earth's mantle or, in the majority of cases, gathers in a magma chamber, several tens of kilometres deep, at the base of the Earth's crust , from which magma rises at irregular intervals and causes volcanic eruptions. Volcanism in the Eifel is thought to be partly caused by the Eifel hotspot , a place where hot material from deep in the mantle rises to

893-675: The Eifel drain into the North Sea via the great rivers outside of the Eifel: the Rhine (and its tributary, the Moselle ) and the Meuse (with its tributaries, the Rur and Ourthe ). The rivers and streams within the mountain range, together with their larger tributaries, are as follows: Rhine tributaries: Meuse tributaries: Reservoirs Volcanic lakes Despite the interesting geology of

940-555: The Eifel is a gently rolling plateau from which elongated mountain ridges and individual mountains rise. The majority of these summits do not attain a great height above the surrounding terrain. Several, however, like the Schwarzer Mann in the Schnee-Eifel , stand out from a long way off as long, forested ridges or clearly isolated mountaintops. The highest mountain in the whole Eifel is the Hohe Acht at 746.9 m. It

987-602: The Eifel itself, but lie along its northern boundary in the region of Aachen . The Devonian rocks were deposited in an oceanic basin , in which erosion debris was washed in from the north from the great north continent of Euramerica ( Laurussia or the Old Red Continent ) which was formed by Caledonian mountain building during the Silurian . From the end of the Lower Carboniferous the sea basin

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1034-483: The Eifel on the Weißer Stein . The mean temperature in the coldest month (January) is -1.5 °C at high elevations, +1.5 to 2 °C in the mountain foreland. There is an average of 110 days of frost, with temperatures below 0 °C in the highlands and an average of 30 to 40 'ice days' when temperatures do not rise above 0 °C. The warmest month (July) only has an average temperature of 14 °C in

1081-581: The Eifel region, only three comprehensive geological accounts have been produced. In 1822, Johann Steiniger published the first geological map of the area and, in 1853, the Geognostische Beschreibung der Eifel . In 1915 Otto Follmann published a new account, adding to the extent of scientific understanding at that time, the Abriss der Geologie der Eifel ("Abstract of the geology of the Eifel region". In 1986, Wilhelm Meyer finally published

1128-590: The Eifel, as in the other regions of the Rhenish Massif , consists mainly of Devonian slates , sandstones and limestones , laid down in an ocean south of the Old Red Continent and folded and overthrust in the Variscan orogeny. Only on the northern edge of the Eifel, in the High Fens and its environs, do older rocks from the Cambrian and Ordovician outcrop. Rocks of the Carboniferous do not occur in

1175-761: The Eifel. There are several distinct chains within the Eifel. Since 2004, about 110 km of the Eifel within the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia have been protected as the Eifel National Park nature reserve . Up to 1960, the German part of the Eifel, which belonged to the natural region of the Rhenish Massif , was, according to the Handbook of the Natural Region Divisions of Germany , divided into three major unit (i.e. two-digit) groups and these were subdivided into (three-digit) major natural units. These divisions were subsequently refined in

1222-577: The High Eifel came to an end about 15 to 20 million years ago, at the same time as that of the Siebengebirge. Volcanism in the western and eastern Eifel is, in contrast to that of the High Eifel, much more recent than that of the Siebengebirge and Westerwald. It began in the West Eifel region of Daun, Hillesheim and Gerolstein about 700,000 years ago and created a chain of ash volcanoes, cinder cones , maars and craters running in

1269-864: The North Eifel has led to the creation of very large reservoir , such as the Rursee , which is the second largest in Germany by volume, and the Urftsee . A feature of the Eifel are its natural lakes of volcanic origin. The largest, the Laacher See , is a collapsed, water-filled caldera , whilst the many maars are water-filled volcanic eruption bowls. The largest maar lake is the Pulvermaar . The Meerfelder Maar has an even bigger basin, but three-quarters of it has silted up. The many rivers and streams of

1316-533: The North and South Eifel. It is further divided into several natural regional landscapes, some with further subdivisions. Since 2004, part of the North Eifel has been designated as the Eifel National Park . There are also four nature parks in the Eifel (from north to south): Rhineland , High Fens-Eifel , Volcanic Eifel , and South Eifel , although the first extends only partly into the northern foothills of

1363-651: The Rhenish Massif whose rolling plateau is categorised as peneplain highland ( Rumpfhochland ), which was formed by the erosion of the ancient mountains of the Variscan mountain building phase and subsequent further uplifting. Individual mountain chains, up to 700 m, such as the Schneifel and High Fens , run through the western part of the plateau. In the eastern part, in the High Eifel and Volcanic Eifel , individual cinder cones and basalt kuppen , like

1410-400: The Rhine from north(west) to south(east) East of the Rhine from north(west) to south(east) 51°00′N 7°50′E  /  51.000°N 7.833°E  / 51.000; 7.833 Handbook of the Natural Region Divisions of Germany#Individual map sheets The Handbook of Natural Region Divisions of Germany ( German : Handbuch der naturräumlichen Gliederung Deutschlands )

1457-503: The Stavelot-Venn Saddle ( Hohes Venn ) are the oldest layers of rock, which originate from the Cambrian and are around 550 million years old. The Eifel is one of the few volcanically active areas of Germany, as is evinced by numerous discharges of carbonic acid , for example into the Laacher See . The last eruptions, which gave rise to the most recent maars , occurred about 11,000  years ago. The basement in

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1504-481: The basis of a significant mining activity for the extraction of building materials since Roman times. Some of the hills are volcanic vents. The peculiar circle-shaped lakes ( maars ) of the volcanic regions formed in volcanic craters. The first volcanic eruptions took place in the early Tertiary centred in the High Eifel and even before the volcanic activity of the Siebengebirge and Westerwald . Volcanism in

1551-502: The higher areas. The level of precipitation decreases significantly from west to east as a result of the rain shadow of the highlands. So the Schneifel receives an average of 1,200 mm of precipitation ( High Fens : 1,400 mm to 1,500 mm), while in Maifeld the average rainfall is only 600 mm. The bioclimatic conditions in the Eifel are favourable. Heat stress and air humidity are rarely present in summer. The Eifel has

1598-458: The low mountain range with its flat plateaus and deeply incised valleys. Due to numerous recent research projects, climate changes since the last ice age can be traced in detail in the Eifel region. Volcanic activity in the Eifel began 50 millions of years ago and continues into the geological present. It created numerous volcanic structures, lava flows and extensive layers of volcanic ejecta made of tuff and pumice , which have formed

1645-580: The mainland. During the Permian , after the end of the uplifting, the Variscan mountains were heavily eroded, leaving only a relatively flat, truncated upland. For a short time, and only partially, this was later flooded by the sea. Depositions from the Triassic and Jurassic periods have survived in the so-called Eifel North-South Zone. This is a region of subsidence , which runs from the Trier Bay in

1692-438: The name "Eifel" in the following sequence: aquila  > agfla  > aifla  > eifla  > Eifel . Akuella derives from the pre-German and means "land with summits" or "land with peaks". Rhenish Massif The Rhenish Massif , Rhine Massif or Rhenish Uplands ( German : Rheinisches Schiefergebirge , pronounced [ˈʁaɪnɪʃəs ˈʃiːfɐɡəˌbɪʁɡə] : 'Rhenish Slate Uplands')

1739-720: The northern and northwestern foothills of the present Eifel in the eastern half of the Arduenna silva of the Romans. West of the Eifelgau lay the Ardennengau , whose name was derived from Arduenna silva . Following the end of the Frankish Empire the name of the old gaue continued to be used in popular language. Over the centuries an ever-larger region was referred to as the Eifel. Today the whole German-speaking part of

1786-691: The range between the Rhine, Meuse and Moselle is called the Eifel (including several areas outside of Germany, see the →  Belgian Eifel ), while the French-speaking part in Belgium and France is called the Ardennes . 762 Eifflensis pagus , 772 Eiffelnsis pagus , 804 in pago aquilinse , 838 Eifla , 845 Eiflensis pagus , 855 Eiflinsis pagus , 860–886 Agflinse , 975 Aiflensis pagus , 1051 Eiffila , 1105 Eifla , 1121 Eifla Müller/Schnetz (1937) believe that an -n- has dropped out between

1833-635: The south and Koblenz to the east. It descends in the northeast along a line from Aachen via Düren to Bonn into the Lower Rhine Bay . In the east and south it is bounded by the valleys of the Rhine and the Moselle . To the west it transitions in Belgium and Luxembourg into the geologically related Ardennes and the Luxembourg Ösling . In the north it is limited by the Jülich-Zülpicher Börde . Within Germany it lies within

1880-419: The south to the Lower Rhine Bay in the north. Through this zone existed at one time a sea link between north and south Central Europe. The remains of the sediments laid down at this time have survived to a greater extent in the Maubach- Mechernich Triassic Triangle in the north and in the Oberbettingen Triassic Graben in the area around Hillesheim and Oberbettingen . In the Upper Cretaceous and during

1927-443: The states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia; in the Benelux the area of Eupen , St. Vith and Luxembourg. Its highest point is the volcanic cone of the Hohe Acht (746.9 m). Originally the Carolingian Eifelgau only covered the smaller region roughly around the sources of the rivers Ahr , Kyll , Urft and Erft . Its name was more recently transferred to the entire region. The Eifel belongs to that part of

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1974-490: The surface, and partly by melt-ascent at deep fractures in the Earth's crust. Research has shown that the volcanism is still active; the Eifel region is rising by 1–2 mm per year and there are escaping gases, for example, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the Laacher See . The Eifel is in the Atlantic climate zone with its relatively high precipitation; winters that are moderately cold and long with periods of snow; and summers that are often humid and cool. The prevailing wind

2021-402: The volume, Geologie der Eifel ("Geology of the Eifel"), whose fourth, revised, edition is now regarded as the standard work on the geology of the Eifel. The Eifel and its western continuation into Belgium, the Ardennes , are the remains of a Variscan truncated upland , much of it 400 million years old, that is part of the Rhenish Massif ( Rheinisches Schiefergebirge ). In the area of

2068-400: The western Eifel. East Eifel volcanism came to an end with a huge eruption, as a result of which the magma chamber emptied and collapsed, creating a caldera . Today's Laacher See formed in the caldera. The ashes from the eruption can be detected today in deposits all over Central Europe and as far as Bornholm as a thin layer. Volcanism is caused by magma , which either rises directly to

2115-431: Was a book series resulting from a project by the former German Federal Institute for Regional Studies ( Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde ) to determine the division of Germany into natural regions. It was published in several books over the period 1953–1962. Around 400 authors, mostly geographers, took part. This natural region division of Germany is still used, with amendments, today. This German location article

2162-443: Was called Arduenna silva ("high forest"). The oldest record of the name "Eifel" does not occur until the Early Middle Ages . Following the collapse of the West Roman Empire , the Frankish Empire emerged in the territories of present-day France and western Germany. This was divided into gaue (Lat.: pagi ). One of them, the Eifelgau , covered the source regions of the rivers Erft , Urft , Kyll and Ahr , i.e. predominantly

2209-421: Was caught up in the Variscan mountain building process, pushed together and uplifted, and thus formed part of the Variscan mountain system that, in the Upper Carboniferous and early Permian , covered large areas of Europe. The Eifel geological structures like main folds and overthrusts can be traced in a SW-NE direction far beyond the Rhine valley. Since that folding, the Eifel has largely remained part of

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