Blautopf

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Blautopf

The Blautopf (German for Bowl of the Blau) is the source of the river Blau in the Karst landscape on the southern edges of the Swabian Alb in southern Germany. It is situated in the city of Blaubeuren, approximately 16 km (10 miles) west of Ulm. It forms the drain for the Blau cave system, feeding the river Blau, which after 14,5 km ( 9 miles) flows into the river Danube within the city of Ulm. Due to its high water pressure, the spring developed a funnel-like shape, which at its deepest point has a depth of 21 metres (69 ft). The water's blue colour is the result of the chemical properties of the densly distributed limestone in the water.

1 Legends
2 Geology
3 Diving in the Blautopf
4 Attractions
5 External links

[edit] Legends

Numerous legends and folk tales relate to the Blautopf . Its characteristic colour was explained by the fact that every day someone would pour a vat of ink into the Blautopf. It is told that others tried to measure the depth of the Blautopf with a leaden sounding line. However, every time this was attempted, a water nix stole the sounding line. Therefore, it was not possible to determine the depth of the Blautopf. Following this tale, there is a rock called Klötzle Blei (little block of lead in the local dialect) in the vicinity of the Blautopf. A well-known tongue-twister in Swabian dialect referringto this rock is told to local children:

Glei bei Blaubeira leit a Kletzle Blei -

´s leit a Kletzle Blei glei bei Blaubeira

Translation:

Near Blaubeuren there lies a block of lead -

There lies a block of lead near Blaubeuren

Blautopf

This folklore and other tales were incoporated into the romantic novella Das Stuttgarter Hutzelmännlein by the novelist and poet Eduard Mörike. He embedded them into the background story of a journeyman, travelling from Stuttgart to Blaubeuren. The story of the Schöne Lau, a mermaid, and her husband, a male water nix from the Black Sea, is told in great detail. The Schöne Lau was banned by her husband and condemned to live in the Blautopf because of her not being able to laugh and only having still-born children. She would only be allowed to return and give birth to a child that would live once she had laughed five times. The landlady of the inn Nonnenhof came to her help. The complete German text is available at Eduard Mörike: Die Schöne Lau.

Another view of the Blautopf

[edit] Geology

The Blautopf is a spring in a Karst environment. One of the charactersitics of a Karst environment is that water, which drains quickly through the limestone in one area, then surfaces in another area. Karst environments only have subterranian drainage. There are no bodies of water above ground. This means that the Blautopf depends very much on the amount of rain falling, even though it never completely dries out. As a spring, the Blautopf is the second largest one in Germany; only the Aachtopf produces more.

Over the centuries, the water has created a huge system of caves. Prominent examples are the Blauhöhle (Blau-cave), discovered by Jochen Hasenmeyer in 1985, and the Apokalypse (Apocalypse), disovered only very recently, on 23 September 2006, by Jochen Malmann and Andy Kücha, members of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Blautopf, a club dedicated to the exploration of the Blautopf's cave system. Whereas the Blauhöhle is completely filled with water for a length of about 1500 metres (approximately 4935 ft), the Apokalypse is dry, and due to its dimensions (length 170 metres, width 50 metres, height 50 metres) represents a special feature in the region.

[edit] Diving in the Blautopf

The entry of the Blauhöhle lies in a depth of about 18 metres (approximately 60 ft). Therefore access is restricted to experienced and well-trained divers. In the 1980s, the authorities were forced to prohibit diving in the Blautopf following several accidents, some of them fatal. Exceptionally, permission to dive in the Blautopf has been granted to only a few organizations, amongst which are the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Blautopf and a group of scientific speleologists lead by Jochen Hasenmayer and, of course, the rescue services. The most recent serious accident happened in 2003, when a member of Hasnemayer's team could only be recovered already being dead.

Blautopf with hammermill on the right

[edit] Attractions

Situated near the Blautopf is a hammermill which is fed by the water of the spring. Furthermore, a film, documenting the exploration of the cave, is shown at the same location.