Vosges
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The Vosges (IPA: [voːʒ]) or Vosges Mountains[1] 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, which is partly considered to belong to the massif from a geological point of view. The Vosges in their southern portion are mainly made of granite, with some porphyritic masses and a kind of red sandstone (up to more than 500 metres in thickness) that bears the French name of grès Vosgien. The Lower Vosges are a sandstone plateau ranging from 300 to 600 m (1000 to 1850 ft.) high.
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 Hautes Vosges are called ballons ("balloons").
The highest points are located in the Hautes 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 579 m (1,900 ft), both lower and narrower than the Higher Vosges, with Mont Donon (1008 m, 3307 ft.) being the highest point of this section. 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 and are characterized by forests on their lower slopes, above which are open pastures and rounded summits of a rather uniform altitude; furthermore, both exhibit steeper slopes towards the Rhine and a more gradual descent on the other side. This occurs because both the Vosges and the Black Forest were formed by isostatic uplift, in a response to the opening of the Rhine Graben. The Rhine Graben is a major extensional basin. When such basins form, the thinning of the crust causes uplift immediately adjacent to the basin. The amount of uplift decreases with distance from the basin, causing the highest range of peaks to be immediately adjacent to the basin, and the increasingly lower mountains to stretch away from the basin.
Climate
Meteorologically, the difference between the eastern and western slopes 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 vineyards reach 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 ancient 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 the distant, snow-covered Swiss mountains.
History
On the lower heights and buttresses of the main chain on the Alsatian side are numerous castles, generally in ruins, testifying the importance of this crucial crossroads of Europe, hotly contested for centuries. At several points on the main ridge, especially at St Odile above Ribeauvillé (German: 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 by the Romans, or before their arrival. From 1871 to 1918 the Vosges were the main border line between the French Third Republic and the Prussian-led German Empire. The demarcation line stretched from the Ballon d'Alsace to Mont Donon with the lands east of it being incorporated into Germany as part of Alsace-Lorraine. The range saw relatively limited action during WWI, remaining a largely static front, and was the site of brief but sharp fighting between French-American and German forces during WWII in the fall of 1944. Nowadays Vosges, a department of France, is named after the range.
References and notes
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2007) |
- ^ Also know as Vosgian Mountains in Latin as Vogesus or Vosagus, and German Vogesen
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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