Murg (Northern Black Forest)

Murg
River
256px The river Murg at Gaggenau-Hörden
Country	Germany
State	Baden-Württemberg
Tributaries
- left	Tonbach, Schönmünz, Raumünzach, Oos River (North channel)
- right	Forbach
Source	Murgursprung
- elevation	875 m (2,871 ft)
Source confluence	Rechtmurg and Rotmurg
- location	Obertal, Baiersbronn, Freudenstadt District
- elevation	602 m (1,975 ft)
- coordinates
Mouth	Rhine
- location	Steinmauern, Rastatt District
- elevation	110 m (361 ft)
- coordinates
Length	79.267 km (49 mi)
Basin	617 km2 (238 sq mi)
Discharge
- average	18.44 m3/s (651 cu ft/s)
Location of the mouth of the Murg in Baden-Württemberg

The Murg is an 80.2-kilometre-long river (including its headstream, the Rechtmurg) and a right tributary of the Rhine in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It flows through the Northern Black Forest into the Upper Rhine Plain, crossing the counties of Freudenstadt and Rastatt.

Sources

The river has numerous tributaries and is known as the Murg only from the point of confluence of the rivers Rechtmurg ("Right Murg") and Rotmurg ("Red Murg") in the community of Obertal, a part (Ortsteil) of Baiersbronn. The main source river is the Rechtmurg that rises on the Schliffkopf hill at an elevation of 875 metres (2,871 ft). One of the other many tributaries is called Murgursprung ("Source of the Murg"), but the tributary watercourses have lengths that vary with rainfall. The Rotmurg also has many tributaries, the most important of which rises on the Ruhestein hill near Baiersbronn. The length figure of 79.267 kilometres (49.254 mi) given by the Ministry of the Environment for Baden-Württemberg should, as a result, be taken as an approximate figure.

Course

From the confluence of the Rotmurg and Rechtmurg, the Murg flows east to Baiersbronn, then north through Forbach, Gernsbach and Gaggenau. It then turns northwest through Rastatt and reaches the Rhine at kilometre 344.5 at the community of Steinmauern.

Watershed

The Murg flows through one of the largest valleys of the Black Forest, the Murg Valley in the west of the Northern Black Forest, then through the Upper Rhine Plain, primarily north and northwest. Its drainage basin covers 617 square kilometres (238 sq mi).

River modifications

The mouth of the Murg was shifted 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi) northwest when the course of the Rhine was straightened in the 19th century by engineer Johann Gottfried Tulla.

History

The Murg historically was important for timber rafting. Wood was rafted first as far as Steinmauern, where it was dried and combined into bigger rafts. From Steinmauern the larger rafts were floated down to Mannheim and onward to the Netherlands.

Economy

Transport

The Murg Valley Railway and the Black Forest Valley Highway (Bundesstraße 462) follow the Murg Valley. Both are amongst the most notable transportation routes in Germany for civil engineering and natural beauty.

Gallery

• Murgtalbahn Raumuenzach Murgbruecke.jpg

  Light rail near Raumünzach

• Murgtal, Sasbachtal near Forbach, Northern Black Forest.jpg

  The Murg Valley

• Holzbrücke Forbach.jpg

  Wooden bridge in Forbach

• Murgtalbahn Tennetschluchtbruecke Stadtbahn.jpg

  Light rail on the Tennetschlucht bridge

• Germany loffenau.jpg

  Overlooking Loffenau, Gaggenau in the Murg valley, and the Rhine valley near Rastatt

• Murgmuendung II.jpg

  The mouth of the Murg near Steinmauern

See also

• List of rivers of Baden-Württemberg