Neckar


The Neckar is a river in Germany, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, with a short section through Hesse. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the Rhine. Rising in the Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis near Schwenningen in the Schwenninger Moos conservation area, at a height of above sea level, it passes through Rottweil, Rottenburg am Neckar, Kilchberg, Tübingen, Wernau, Nürtingen, Plochingen, Esslingen, Stuttgart, Ludwigsburg, Marbach, Heilbronn and Heidelberg, before discharging on average of water into the Rhine at Mannheim, at above sea level, making the Neckar its 4th largest tributary, and the 10th largest river in Germany. Since 1968, the Neckar has been navigable for cargo ships via 27 locks for about upstream from Mannheim to the river port of Plochingen, at the confluence with the Fils.
From Plochingen to Stuttgart, the Neckar valley is densely populated and heavily industrialised, with several well-known companies. Between Stuttgart and Lauffen, the Neckar cuts a scenic, meandering, and in many places steep-sided, valley into fossiliferous Triassic limestones and Pleistocene travertine. Along the Neckar's valley in the Odenwald hills many castles can be found, including Hornberg Castle and in Haßmersheim; the decommissioned Obrigheim Nuclear Power Plant and Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant are also located there.
Image:Neckar watershed closer.gif|right|thumb|The Neckar in southwest Germany flows from south to north, and joins the Rhine at Mannheim.
Image:Neckar-Ursprung Schwenninger-Moos.jpg|thumb|Schwenninger Bog, the source of the Neckar
Image:Tübingen - Neckarinsel - Blick entlang Neckar im Herbst.jpg|thumb|right|The Neckar in Tübingen, between the Neckarinsel at the left and the Neckarfront of the old town at the right
Traditionally the fertile plains have been intensively used for agriculture and its steep valley sides as vineyards.

Etymology

The Neckar was known to the Romans as Nicarus, Nicer or Nicerus '','' ultimately from the proto-indo-european *nei̯k meaning 'to rise'. The grammatical gender of the name in German is masculine.

Geography

River course

Drainage area

Tributaries

The largest tributaries of the Neckar are the Enz with the largest drainage area, the Kocher with the highest average water drainage and the longest one, the Jagst. The Kocher tributary Lein is at its end not only longer than the Kocher, but also more water-abundant. Therefore, according to hydrographic convention, the Lein would have to be regarded as the main river of the Kocher water system, making it with then 201 kilometers the longest tributary of the Neckar.

Diagram of the tributaries with 50 plus km length


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from:start till:50 $right text:Eyach
from:start till:63 $right text:Fils
from:start till:78 $right text:Rems
from:start till:52 $right text:Murr
from:start till:106 $left text:Enz
from:start till:169 $right text:Kocher
from:start till:190 $right text:Jagst
from:start till:53 $left text:Elsenz
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Tributaries with 20 km length and more

Named from source to mouth. According to LUBW-BRSWEB, LUBW-FG10, LUBW-GEZG and TK25. Drainage area mostly according to LUBW-GEZG, else measured on the background map. Distances preferably according to the data sets of the LUBW-FG10, rarely measured on the background map. Named preferably according to TK25.
  • Eschach
  • Prim
  • Schlichem
  • Glatt
  • Eyach
  • Starzel
  • Steinlach
  • Ammer
  • Echaz
  • Erms
  • Aich
  • Lauter
  • Fils
  • Körsch
  • Rems
  • Murr
  • Enz
  • Zaber
  • Schozach
  • Lein
  • Sulm
  • Kocher
  • Jagst
  • Elz
  • Itter
  • Laxbach
  • Steinach
  • Elsenz

    Cities and municipalities

The Neckar touches, from the source to the mouth, the following districts, cities and municipalities:
The primal Neckar started off as an escarpment riverlet due to the slow rise of the Black Forest and the connected slow erosive retraction of the South German Scarplands.
For a long time it flowed on the high plains of the different Gäu Plateaus created through the hard chalks of the Muschelkalk. At Horb the river was redirected to the northeast due to the rift structure of the so-called Swabian Lineament, which lies roughly parallel to the escarpment of the Swabian Jura. Following that the Neckar cut into the Muschelkalk plateau between Rottweil and Rottenburg as well as the younger Keuper and Jura layers in the northeast, and created narrow water gaps in the area of the morphologically hard chalks and sandstones.
The river deepening was also caused by the further rise of the Black Forest as well as the retracting erosion of the attacking younger Neckar route. This younger Neckar route tapped the primal Neckar system at Plochingen, which flowed through the primal lone to the primal Danube. Another influence on this river area was the Schurwald, a dissected cuesta of the filder rift, working as a river guideline.
Today's lower reaches used to be those of the primal Enz. Until, through the erosive retraction of a tributary of the primal Enz near Besigheim, the Neckar river network was tapped. That is how the Enz became a tributary of the Neckar. Another trace of the former north western extent of the Danube river network is the Eschach running from north west to south east, hence towards the primal Danube. With the retraction of the escarpment, it was tapped by a Neckar tributary and redirected by about 90° to the east. Considering river history, it was never a headstream of the Neckar.
Until 2000 years ago the Neckar flowed through a pastureland in the Oberrheinische Tiefebene in a tangle of meanders, slings, old waters and cut of arms between the Rhine in the west and the foot of the Odenwald in the east until it finally entered the Rhine only north of Darmstadt at Trebur; roughly 50 km north of today's confluence in Mannheim. On large stretches you can still see it on aerial photos.
In the 13th century, the confluence was south of Mannheim. A great flood changed the course of the Neckar in around 1275. Since then it has entered the Rhine north of the city. The last change here took place in connection with the straightening of the Rhine by the Friesenheimer breakthrough west of today's Friesenheimer Island. Previously the Neckar entered the Rhine in the area of today's industrial port of Mannheim. Its new riverbed was also the reason for the relocation of the Neckar. After the old Neckar was cut off in early 1869, it followed the path of the new Neckar breakthrough, which was finished by 1880.

River landscape

Natural landscape

Narrow and widening valleys alternate along the Neckar's course. The narrows are mostly deepenings into the Muschelkalk plateau and the Buntsandstein below. Widenings developed in the area of morphologically soft clay and marl. Wide valley meadows also developed through the strong backfilling with Aue clay since the start of settlement in the Neolithic and the accompanying deforestation and soil erosion. In the area of the narrows the meander and cut-off meander spurs stand out. The meanders were formed through the primal Neckar, which sluggishly flowed through the almost even Muschelkalk plateau, forming the basic structures during the deepening phases and cutting into the hard Muschelkalk. The best known cut-off meander spur is the one at Lauffen; it cut through in historical times and created a waterfall. At the cutbanks one can find rocks, formed by the limestone of the upper Muschelkalk. For example, the rock gardens at Hessigheim. They lie on the marls and clays of the middle Muschelkalks and can sag in whole stone packages, so-called Schollen, down towards the Neckar. In the Odenwald narrow ravines and gorges lead into the Neckar from both sides, as for example, the Wolfschlucht and the Margarethenschlucht.