Limburg Basin


The Limburg Basin is one of the two large intramontane lowland areas within the Rhenish Massif in Germany, the other being the Middle Rhine Basin. It forms the central part of the natural region of the Gießen-Koblenz Lahn Valley between the Weilburg Lahn Valley Region and the Lower Lahn Valley on both sides of the Lahn around the town of Limburg.

Description

The Limburg basin, which measures about 20 by 14 kilometres across and is almost treeless, is a tectonic intrusion field and connects the more deeply incised valley sections in the Weilburg Lahn Valley area with those of the Lower Lahn Valley. It is divided into the North and South Limburg Basin Hills and the almost level Inner Limburg Basin, including the Villmar Bay and Linter Plateau, in whose bottom the winding course of the course of the Lahn has sunk about 50 metres deep. The hills that rise at the edges of the basin or within it form landmarks that are visible from a long distance away, dominating the landscape. These include the Heidenhäuschen north of Steinbach, the Mensfelder Kopf and the hill ridge of Galgenberg on the far side of the eastern rim of the basin in the Langhecken Lahn Taunus near Villmar.
The bedrock consists mainly of rocks from the geological Lahn Depression, which outcrop at the edges and on the steep slopes of the valleys. Of particular importance here are three beds of Middle Devonian Corallian Limestone which are embedded in the predominantly volcanic rocks of the Lahn Depression. In the north, the terrain is shaped by the younger volcanism of the Westerwald with individual basalt deposits - the Galgenberg at Hadamar, the Großer Berg (Wide image|2016 Panorama vom Mensfelder Kopf.jpg|3000px|View from the Mensfelder Kopf of the Limburg Basin with Limburg in the centre