Schalkenmehrener Maar

Schalkenmehren

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Especially if you visit the GesundLand Vulkaneifel in summer, a detour to the Schalkenmehren Maar is a must. Located directly at the village of the same name and opposite the Weinfelder Maar, the Schalkenmehrener Maar is one of the three Dauner Maars and offers a wonderful backdrop for an extended walk or an extensive hike.

In high summer, the Schalkenmehren Maar is a popular place to go for families with children and anyone who wants to refresh themselves in the cool water. Swimming in the Schalkenmehrener Maar open-air natural pool, boating and surfing are then possible. After an extensive day of swimming, Schalkenmehren's restaurants and cafés invite you for coffee and cake or a hearty snack.

If you look closely, you can see that the Schalkenmehren Maar was once a double maar, formed by volcanic activity around 20,000 to 30,000 years ago. But the tuffs of the western maar filled up the eastern maar funnel, so that nothing can be seen of the second maar today, except for the fen vegetation that has spread in this area. Take a little discovery tour and observe numerous animal and plant species along the way!

What is a maar?
The term maar is derived from the Latin "mare" (=sea). It is a type of funnel-shaped volcano formed by eruptions of water vapour, which is "blasted" into the landscape and often presents itself as a bowl-like shape. A maar is formed when rising magma meets water-bearing rock layers. Violent explosions occur and the surrounding rock is shredded together with the magma into its smallest components and thrown out of the explosion funnel. A cavity forms in the area of the explosion hearth, which merges into an explosion vent. As the rock above the cavity collapses, the explosion vent becomes a collapse or maar funnel. After the volcanic activity subsided, the funnels subsequently filled with water. A total of over 70 maar volcanoes have been counted in the Eifel, twelve maars are still filled with water today, the rest have already silted up.

Castles of Manderscheid

Today, the Manderscheider forts lie quietly and peacefully hidden in the Lieser Valley. But appearances are deceptive: once upon a time, the upper and lower forts, which stand only a stone's throw apart, were the backdrop of a fierce struggle for power and dominance. Old battles still flare up today at the annual fortress festival with its jousting matches.