The Werse [ German pronunciation: [ˈvɛʁzə] ] (river no. 32) is a 67-kilometre-long (42 mi), left-hand tributary of the River Ems in Münsterland , North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. The catchment area of the Werse is 762.47 km². Its name may be derived from a pre-Indo-European language, Vasconic , from which the Basque language developed. Its water quality is Class II-III and, in places, Class II. Contamination from communal sewage farms, fish ponds, but especially diffuse contamination from agriculture pollutes the mass balance of the Werse and leads to eutrophication along the entire river course, especially in the retention basin areas.
23-747: The Werse rises in the Beckum Hills near Beckum from three headstreams: the Lippbach , Kollenbach and Siechenbach . The name Werse is used from the Osttor and above the Kollenbach. From Beckum the Werse flows westwards. Shortly before Ahlen it turns northwest and, near Drensteinfurt , then via Albersloh it flows northwards. Near Münster-Gelmer near the Haskenau it finally discharges into
46-632: A Germanic camp. North of the hill is another one on a Germanic burial site ( Germanengräber ). The Kollenbach , Lippbach and Siechenbach streams all rise in the Beckum Hills and unite as the Werse , which leaves the hills to the west before turning north and later flowing into the Ems . Streams flowing northwards ( Axtbach ) (north) or eastwards (e. g. the Fortbach, Linzelbach and Bergeler Bach) from
69-435: A gradational continuum. These landforms differ only on the steepness of their backslopes and the relative differences in the inclination of their backslopes and frontslopes. These differences depend upon whether the dip of the strata from which they have been eroded are either nearly vertical, moderately dipping, or gently dipping. Because of their gradational nature, the exact angle of the backslope that separates these landforms
92-572: A long and gentle backslope called a dip slope that conforms with the dip of a resistant stratum or strata, called caprock. The outcrop of the caprock forms a steeper or even cliff-like frontslope (escarpment), cutting through the dipping strata that comprise the cuesta. Cuestas are the expression of extensive outcrops of gently dipping strata, typically sedimentary strata, that consist of alternating beds of weak or loosely cemented strata, i.e. shale , mudstone , and marl and hard, well-lithified strata, i.e. sandstone and limestone . The surfaces of
115-423: Is a hill or ridge with a gentle slope on one side, and a steep slope on the other. In geology, the term is more specifically applied to a ridge where a harder sedimentary rock overlies a softer layer, the whole being tilted somewhat from the horizontal. This results in a long and gentle backslope called a dip slope that conforms with the dip of resistant strata , called caprock . Where erosion has exposed
138-456: Is arbitrary and some differences in the specific angles used to define these landforms occur in the scientific literature. It also can be difficult to sharply distinguish immediately adjacent members of this series of landforms because of their gradational nature. In North America , two well-known cuestas in western/central New York and southern Ontario are the Onondaga escarpment and
161-505: Is in the shape of a horseshoe, open towards the west, surrounding the town of Beckum which lies west of its centre. The northern heights are lower than those to the east and south. The hills frame the Kernmünsterland , lying southeast of its centre, falling gently towards the inside of the horseshoe, but dropping sharply to the surrounding plain on the outside. The Beckum Hills are divided as follows (the smaller subdivisions link to
184-520: Is the Dromberg Scarp ( Drombergstufe ), named after the Dromberg (< 100 m, east of Ennigerloh - Ostenfelde ), which only rises around 20 m over the surrounding area. The steep outward-facing escarpments are often covered by rough pasture , otherwise the natural climax vegetation alternates between beech woods and oak / hornbeam woods. Crops are grown here except on the slopes and in
207-668: Is the most coast-ward cuesta, which has surface expression with the Bordes-Oakville escarpment, on the northwest side and a low ridge on the eastern boundary, called the Reynosa Cuesta, where the deposits dip below later Pliocene - Pleistocene deposits of the Willis and Lissie Formations. Cuestas have less dramatic expression in the United Kingdom, with two notable examples being the northwest-facing escarpment of
230-954: The Cretaceous chalk White Horse Hills and the similarly aligned escarpment of the Jurassic limestones in the Cotswolds , sometimes called the Cotswold Edge. Other examples include the Brecon Beacons, Wenlock Edge, the Chilterns, the North and South Downs and the Greensand Ridge of Kent and Surrey In continental Europe, the Swabian Alb offers particularly good views of cuestas in Jurassic rock. In France ,
253-603: The Ems . The river is regulated by several overflow weirs . The Werse is a popular destination for anglers because of its rich fish stock. Perch , Pike , Catfish , Pikeperch and white fish species such as Carp , Tench , Bream occur here. Moreover, rare animals like the Kingfisher and Grass Snake may also be observed along the river. The Werse is the home river of the Alberslohe Canoe Club ( Albersloher Kanu Club 1989 ), canoe section of TG Münster,
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#1732787057900276-670: The Niagara Escarpment . The dip of the Onondaga is about 40 feet per mile (about 7.6 m/km) to the south. In their most populated sections both escarpments edges face north, running roughly parallel to the southern Lake Ontario shoreline and, for the former, the Mohawk River. The Gulf Coastal Plain in Texas is punctuated by a series of cuestas that parallel the coast, as are most coastal plains. The Reynosa Plateau
299-484: The Beckum Hills belong to the Kernmünsterland , being located in the southeast of that region. The Beckum Hills lie in the southeastern part of Münsterland , mainly on the territory of the municipalities of Beckum (west), Wadersloh (southeast), Oelde (northeast) and Ennigerloh (northwest) - all in Warendorf district . Their extreme southwest lies in the municipality of Lippetal ( Soest district ). The ridge
322-657: The Münster Canoe Club 1923 ( Paddelsport Münster von 1923 ) and Münster Canoe Club 1922 ( Kanuverein Münster 1922 ) There are also many boat houses belonging to Studentenverbindungen on the river. Especially in summer the river is heavily used by commercial boat hire organisations.. In April 2007 the Werse Cycleway ( Werseradweg ) was opened. It starts in Rheda-Wiedenbrück and runs along
345-570: The Werse and its surrounding countryside for 122 km. The cycleway ends near the confluence with the Ems near Münster-Gelmer. A small steamer plied the section of river between the Sud and Pleister mills in the 19th century during the summer months several times a day. Beckum Hills The Beckum Hills ( German : Beckumer Berge ), named after the town of Beckum , are a range of low hills, up to 174.4 m above sea level (NN) , in
368-420: The frontslope of this, a steep slope or escarpment occurs. The resulting terrain may be called scarpland . In general usage, a cuesta is a hill or ridge with a gentle slope (backslope) on one side, and a steep slope (frontslope) on the other. The word is from Spanish : "flank or slope of a hill; hill, mount, sloping ground". In geology and geomorphology, cuesta refers specifically to an asymmetric ridge with
391-409: The hard, erosion-resistant rock strata form the caprock of the backslope (dip-slope) of the cuesta, where erosion has preferentially removed the weaker strata. The frontslope of the cuesta consists of an escarpment that cuts across the bedding of the strata comprising it. Because of the gently dipping nature of the strata that forms a cuesta, a significant shift in horizontal location will take place as
414-457: The hill of Höxberg (162.6 m) in the south and climbs up to the Mackenberg (174.4 m) in the east. On the far side of the ridge the land falls abruptly into the plain. Further out is the rather lower Stromberg Scarp ( Strombergstufe ) which falls just as steeply towards the outside and is named after the village of Stromberg northeast of Beckum. In the northeast of the Beckum Hills
437-728: The hills converge on the Ems , whilst those flowing south ( Liese , Biesterbach, Bröggelbach) empty into the Lippe . The larger woods on the Beckum Hills are the Vellerner Brook, der Hohe Hagen near Neubeckum , the Bergeler Wald between Oelde and Stromberg and the woods on the Mackenberg and Diestedder Berg. Amongst the high points on the Beckum Hills are (in order of height in metres (m) above sea level (NN) : Cuesta A cuesta ( Spanish for 'slope')
460-517: The hollows, mainly wheat and oats . The main mineral deposit is limestone , which is quarried in Beckum and Ennigerloh in large quantities and used by the cement industry in the area. Formerly, strontianite was also mined and used as a whitener for the sugar industry. South of Beckum and roughly southeast of the Hermannsberg hill is the cultural monument of Germanenlager , site of
483-422: The landscape is lowered by erosion . Because the slope of a cuesta dips in the same direction as the sedimentary strata, the dip angle of this bedding (θ) can be calculated by ( v / h ) = tan(θ) where v is equal to the vertical distance and h is equal to the horizontal distance perpendicular to the strike of the beds. Cuestas, homoclinal ridges , and hogbacks comprise a sequence of landforms that form
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#1732787057900506-751: The region of Münsterland in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia ( Germany ). Along with the Baumberge and its foothills and the Haltern Hills they are among the few prominent elevations in the otherwise gently rolling Münsterland (which lies at 55 m above NN in the centre), the River Werse passes the ridge at 100 m to the east and the Lippe passing it at a height of 60 m near Hamm - Uentrop at some distance away from their highest point. In terms of natural regions
529-563: The villages after which they are named): The Beckum Hills are a distinctive scarp landscape formed from Cretaceous marine deposits. From the centre of a basin near Beckum, which is open towards the west, the terrain ascends, especially to the south and east, but also to the north, initially gradually up to the highest elevations of the range. On the southern edge of the Beckum Basin the Höxberg Scarp ( Höxbergstufe ) rises to
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