Geography of Germany

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This article describes the geography of Germany.

Location

Central Europe on North European Plain and along the entrance to the Baltic Sea, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark and north of Austria and Switzerland.

Geographic coordinates:

[51°00′N 9°00′E]

Map references: Europe

Area

* Total: 357,021 km²

* Land: 349,223 km²

* Water: 7,798 km²

Temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm föhn wind. The greater part of Germany lies in the cool/temperate climatic zone in which humid westerly winds predominate. In the north-west and the north the climate is extremely oceanic and rain falls all the year round. Winters there are relatively mild and summers comparatively cool. In the east the climate shows clear continental features; winters can be very cold for long periods, and summers can become very warm. Here too, long dry periods are often recorded. In the centre and the south there is a transitional climate which may be predominantly oceanic or continental, according to the general weather situation.

Altitude levels

Terrain

The northern third of the country lies in the North European Plain, with flat terrain crossed by northward-flowing watercourses (Elbe, Ems, Weser, Oder). Wetlands and marshy conditions are found close to the Dutch border and along the Frisian coast. Sandy Mecklenburg in the northeast has many glacier-formed lakes dating to the last ice age.

Moving south, central Germany features rough and somewhat unpatterned hilly and mountainous countryside, some of it formed by ancient volcanic activity. The Rhine valley cuts through the western part of this region. The central uplands continue east and north as far as the Saale and merge with the Ore Mountains on the border with the Czech Republic. Upland regions include the Eifel and Hunsrück west of the Rhine, the Taunus hills north of Frankfurt, the Vogelsberg massif, the Rhön, and the Thüringer Wald. South of Berlin, the east-central part of the country is more like the low northern areas, with sandy soil and river wetlands such as the Spreewald region.

Southern Germany's landforms are defined by various linear hill and mountain ranges. The Alps on the southern border are the largest, but relatively little Alpine terrain lies within Germany compared with Switzerland and Austria. The Black Forest, on the southwestern border with France, separates the Rhine from the headwaters of the Danube on its eastern slopes. The Danube cuts across central Bavaria, relatively flat land, before curving to the southeast around the southern tip of the Bavarian Forest -- another range on the border between Bavaria and the Czech Republic.

Elevation extremes:

• Lowest point: Wilstermarsch (near Itzehoe) - 3.5 m below sea level
• Highest point: Zugspitze (in Bavarian Alps) - 2962 m

Land boundaries

• Total: 3,621 km
• Border countries: Austria 784 km, Belgium 167 km, Czech Republic 646 km, Denmark 68 km, France 451 km, Luxembourg 138 km, Netherlands 577 km, Poland 456 km, Switzerland 334 km

Coastline

• length 2,389 km

Maritime claims

• Continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation
• Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
• Territorial sea: 12 nm

Rivers

See list of rivers in Germany

• major rivers are
• *Rhine (Rhein in German) with a German part of 865 km drains into the North Sea, main tributaries: Neckar, the Main and the Moselle (Mosel).
• *Elbe with a German part of 727 km drains into the North Sea
• *Danube (Donau in German) with a German part of 687 km drains into the Black Sea

• Major lakes are
• *Bodensee - 536 km² (with a German part of the coastline of 62%, the German part of the area is not fixed)
• *Müritz - 117 km²
• *Chiemsee - 79,9 km²

Land use

• Arable land: 33%
• Permanent crops: 1%
• Permanent pastures: 15%
• Forests and woodland: 31%
• Other: 20% (1993 est.)

Natural resources

• Iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, nickel, arable land

Irrigated land

4,750 km² (2007 est.)

Natural hazards

• Flooding

Environment--Current issues

• Emissions from coal-burning utilities and industries contribute to air pollution; acid rain, resulting from sulphur dioxide emissions, is damaging forests; pollution in the Baltic Sea from raw sewage and industrial effluents from rivers in eastern Germany; hazardous waste disposal; government (under Chancellor Schröder, SPD) announced intent to end the use of nuclear power for producing electricity; government working to meet EU commitment to identify nature preservation areas in line with the EU's Flora, Fauna, and Habitat directive.

• Party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
• Signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants

Extreme points

This is a list of the extreme points of Germany, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.

• Northernmost Point: List, Sylt, Schleswig-Holstein
• Southernmost Point: Oberstdorf, Bavaria
• Westernmost Point: Millen, North Rhine-Westphalia
• Easternmost Point: Deschka, Saxony

The northernmost point in mainland Germany lies near Aventoft, Schleswig-Holstein

The extreme points of the German Confederation are mentioned in the first stanza of Das Lied der Deutschen, of which the third stanza is today the national anthem of Germany. They were accurate when the song was penned in 1841, but are no longer accurate today. The limits mentioned are the rivers

~ Maas which crosses France, Belgium and the Netherlands and formed the border of the Duchy of Limburg, then part of the German Confederation and today the Dutch Province of Limburg.

~ Memel, which runs through Belarus and Lithuania but previously formed part of the border of East Prussia

~ Etsch, beginning in German-speaking South Tyrol (then in [Austria]) which was transferred from the Habsburg Empire to Italy after World War I

~ and the Belt which is a part of the Baltic Sea between Germany and Denmark.

See also

• Germany
• National parks (Germany)
• Geography of Europe
• Administrative Divisions of Germany

 

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