Vosges Mountains - encyclopedia article about Vosges Mountains.

Typical landscape in Vosges mountains (Chajoux valley, La Bresse, France)

Waterfall in the eastern Vosges

Lac de Schiessrothried, a glacial lake in the Vosges

The Vosges (IPA: [voːʒ]) or Vosges Mountains are a mountain range in eastern France, stretching along the west side of the Rhine valley in a north-north-east direction, from Belfort to Saverne. Geographically, the Vosges mountains are completely located in France with the Col de Saverne separating it from the Palatinate Forest. Geologically, though, some parts of the Palatinate Forest are considered to belong to the same entity. Vosges, a department of France, is named after the range.

From 1871 to 1918 the eastern part of a line from the Ballon d'Alsace to Mont Donon was occupied by Germany. There is a remarkable similarity between the Vosges and the corresponding range of the Black Forest on the other side of the Rhine: both lie within the same degrees of latitude; have similar geological formations; are characterized by fine forests on their lower slopes, above which are open pastures and rounded summits of a rather uniform altitude; and have a steep fall to the Rhine and a gradual descent on the other side. The Vosges in their southern portion are mainly of granite, with some porphyritic masses and a kind of red sandstone (occasionally 1640 ft. in thickness) that bears the French name of grès Vosgien.

Orographically the range is divided south to north into three sections: the Higher Vosges (Hautes Vosges), extending in the southern part of the range from Belfort to the valley of the Bruche; the Central Vosges (31 miles), between the Bruche and the Col de Saverne; the Lower Vosges (30 miles), between the Col de Saverne and the source of the Lauter. The rounded summits of the Grandes Vosges are called ballons ("balloons").

The highest points are located in the Higher Vosges: the Grand Ballon (also called Ballon de Guebwiller) rises to 1424 m (4,670 ft), the Storckenkopf to 1366 m (4,481 ft), the Hohneck to 1364 m (4,475 ft), and the Ballon d'Alsace to 1247 m (4,091 ft). The Col de Saales, between the Higher and Central Vosges, reaches nearly 1900 ft. high, both lower and narrower than the Higher Vosges, with Mont Donon (3307 ft.) being the highest point of this section.

The railway from Paris to Strasbourg and the Marne-Rhine Canal traverses the Col de Saverne. Only the minor Strasbourg – Saint-Dié rail line crosses the Vosges between Saverne and Belfort, but there are also carriage roads over the passes of the Bussang from Remiremont to Thann, the Schlucht (1135 m / 3723 ft) from Gérardmer to Munster, the Col du Bonhomme from St Dié to Colmar, and the pass from St Dié to Ste Marie-aux-Mines.

The Lower Vosges are a sandstone plateau ranging from 300 to 600 m (1000 to 1850 ft.) and are crossed by the railway from Hagenau to Sarreguemines, defended by the fort of Bitche.

Meteorologically, the difference between the eastern and western versants of the range is very marked, the annual rainfall being much higher and the mean temperature being much lower in the latter than in the former. On the eastern slope the vine ripens to a height of 400 m (1300 ft.); on the other hand, its only rivers are the Ill and other shorter streams. The Moselle, Meurthe and Sarre rivers all rise on the Lorraine side. Moraines, boulders and polished rocks testify the existence of the glaciers which formerly covered the Vosges. The lakes are surrounded by pines, beeches and maples, and green meadows provide pasture for large herds of cattle, with views of the Rhine valley, Black Forest and snow-covered Swiss mountains. On the lower heights and buttresses of the main chain on the Alsatian side are numerous castles, generally in ruins. At several points on the main ridge, especially at St Odile above Ribeauvillé (Rappoltsweiler), are the remains of a wall of unmortared stone with tenons of wood, 6 to 7 ft. thick and 4 to 5 ft. high, called the Mur Païen (Pagan Wall). It was used for defence in the Middle Ages and archaeologists are divided as to whether it was built for this purpose by the Romans, or before their arrival.

References

External links

Illustrated article on the Vosges battlefields of WW1 at Battlefields Europe

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IPA for English The
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mountain is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain in a limited area. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill, but there is no universally accepted standard definition for the height of a mountain or a hill although a mountain usually has an identifiable
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Motto
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
Anthem
"La Marseillaise"

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Origin Grisons, Switzerland

Basin countries Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France, Netherlands
Length 1,320 km (820 mi)
Source elevation Vorderrhein: approx. 2,600 m (8,500 ft)
Hinterrhein: approx. 2,500 m (8,200 ft)

Avg.
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Commune of
Belfort

View of the western part of Belfort
Location

Coordinates

Administration
Country France
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Commune of
Saverne

Château des Rohan in Saverne

Location

Coordinates

Administration
Country France
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Geography - (from the Greek words Geo (γη) or Gaea (γαία), both meaning "Earth", and graphein (γράφειν) meaning "to describe" or "to write"
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Motto
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
Anthem
"La Marseillaise"

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The Col de Saverne (Pass of Saverne or Saverne Pass) is a natural pass in the Vosges mountains, near Saverne, which permits travel between Alsace and the Moselle. Alsace is also accessible via the Trouée de Belfort (Belfort Gap).
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The Palatinate Forest (German: Pfälzerwald) is the biggest coherent forest of Europe. It lies in southwestern Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is named after the Palatinate region, in which it lies.
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Oceanic crust 0-20 Ma
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Vosges

Coat of arms of the Vosges department
Location

Administration
Department number: 88
Region: Lorraine
Prefecture: Épinal
Subprefectures: Neufchâteau
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges
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Administrative divisions of France

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(incl. overseas regions)

Departments

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Ballon d'Alsace (el. 1247 m.) is a mountain at the border of Alsace, Lorraine, and Franche-Comté. From its top, views include the Vosges, the Rhine valley, and the Black Forest. Its prominence is 211 m.

A road leads over a pass near the peak at 1171 m.
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Mont Donon (1008m) is the highest peak in the northern Vosges. It is a Category 2 climb in the Tour de France.

Its prominence is 270 m.

Reference

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopdia.

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Anthem
"Das Lied der Deutschen" (third stanza)
also called "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit"
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Black Forest (German Schwarzwald) is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 meters (4,898 feet).
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Granite (IPA: /ˈɡrænɪt/) is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granites are usually medium to coarsely crystalline, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the
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Porphyry is a variety of igneous rock consisting of large-grained crystals, such as feldspar or quartz, dispersed in a fine-grained feldspathic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts.
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Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock grains. Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust.
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Orography is the average height of land, measured in geopotential meters, over a certain domain. In geoscientific models, such as general circulation models, orography defines the lower boundary (except where there is ocean, of course).
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Bruche is a large suburb of Warrington, England.

It forms the old border of Poulton and Warrington.

As of 2005 it is home to the Bruche Police Training Centre, a national police training centre.
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Lauter may refer to:

In towns:

Lauter, Saxony, town in the district of Aue-Schwarzenberg, Saxony, Germany
Lauter, Bavaria, village in the district of Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany

In rivers:

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Le Grand Ballon (German: Großer Belchen; translates as big balloon) is the apex of the Vosges mountains, located 25 kilometres northwest of Mulhouse, France.
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Mont Donon (1008m) is the highest peak in the northern Vosges. It is a Category 2 climb in the Tour de France.

Its prominence is 270 m.

Reference

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopdia.

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Ville de Paris

City flag City coat of arms

Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur
(Latin: "Tossed by the waves, she does not sink")

The Eiffel Tower in Paris, as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro.
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Ville de Strasbourg

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Marne-Rhine Canal (French: Canal de la Marne au Rhin) is a canal in eastern France. It connects the river Marne in Vitry-le-François with the Rhine in Strasbourg. Combined with the canalised part of the Marne, it allows transport between Paris and eastern France.
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