Reference no. DE: 23722 Basin area 52.38 km² | River system Rhine Country Germany | |
Location Wasgau (Palatine Forest, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Main source as the Kröppenbach (headstream of the Buchbach) on the Hoher Kopf
ca. 460 m above sea level (NN) River mouth in Kaltenbach into the Wieslauter
216 m above sea level (NN) Progression Lauter → Rhine → North Sea | ||
The Salzbach, which is initially called the Kröppenbach and then the Buchbach, is around 17 kilometres, making it the longest tributary of the Lauter, which here in its upper reaches is known as the Wieslauter. It flows through the northwestern Wasgau, a hill range which comprises the southern part of the Palatinate Forest in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the northern part of the Vosges in the French departments of Bas-Rhin and Moselle.
Contents
Map of Salzbach, Germany
CourseEdit
Strictly speaking the stream called the Salzbach does not have a spring source because it is formed by the confluence of the 10 kilometre-long Kröppenbach/Buchbach, which hydrologically is the source of the Salzbach, and the Storrbach which empties into it from the right between the villages of Langmühle and Salzwoog below the Devil's Table of Salzwoog. The Kröppenbach/Buchbach rises on the Hoher Kopf (467 m); the good 5-km-long Storrbach on the Großer Spießkopf (414 m).
After this confluence, the Salzbach forms the parish boundary, for the rest of its 7 km course, between Lemberg and Hinterweidenthal, then between Ruppertsweiler and Hinterweidenthal. In the hamlet of Salzwoog it flows through an eponymous pond. At the height of the Hinterweidenthal hamlet of Kaltenbach and below the Devil's Table of Kaltenbach, the Salzbach discharges from the right into the Wieslauter.
TributariesEdit
HistoryEdit
The name of the stream does not refer to its salt (German: Salz) content, but to the old customs station of Salzwoog, where salt traders had to pay a tax on crossing the border between the territories of the Bishopric of Speyer and the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken. The former border post of Salzwoog lay on the bridge above the Salzbach, that now carries the state road, L 487 (Hinterweidenthal–Fischbach) and L 486 (Lemberg–Dahn) over the pond.