Two Become One – The Mulde Rivers Today

 

Equal in Rank: The Confluence of the Zwickauer and Freiberger Mulde

Rivers can converge in various ways: Most often, a smaller river flows into a larger one. It is rare worldwide for two rivers of equal rank to merge to form a new one, as the Zwickauer and Freiberger Mulde do after their confluence near Sermuth to form the (United) Mulde.

  • Caption 1: Confluence of the Zwickauer (left) and Freiberger (right) Mulde to form the (United) Mulde near Sermuth
  • Caption 2: Simplified cross-section through the Mulde Valley near Sermuth
  • Caption 3: Mulde confluence on the first detailed map of Saxony (1804 survey map)

River Gravel: The Mulde River Valley(s) as a Potential Source of Raw Materials

Gravel pits near Pomssen, Naunhof, and Kleinpösna all the way to Leipzig-Thekla—some of which are now used as bathing lakes—bear witness to the course of the Pleistocene Mulde River valley (the so-called main terrace) through their thick deposits of gravel and sand. Since the beginning of the 20th century, drinking water for the city of Leipzig has been extracted from the younger Mulde deposits (the so-called lower terrace) between Wurzen and Eilenburg.

  • Caption 4: Early Pleistocene Mulde gravel near Sermuth with sand martin nesting cavities
  • Caption 5: River bends (meanders) of the (United) Mulde River above the Thallwitz waterworks

The Zwickau Mulde and Porcelain

During the warm, humid periods of Earth’s history (the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods), the reddish-brown porphyry rocks—up to 600 meters thick—weathered on the surface to form white porcelain clay (kaolinite). The valleys carved by both Mulde rivers exposed these kaolinite layers making them accessible to humans. In 1708, the alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger used Colditz porcelain clay to produce the first European hard-paste porcelain, known as Meissen porcelain. The raw material kaolinite made Colditz a major center of the ceramics industry in the 19th and 20th centuries.

  • Caption 6: J. F. Böttger in the laboratory at Albrechtsburg Castle in Meissen (mural by P. Kiessling, 1875)
  • Caption 7: “Rationell” tableware from the Colditz Porcelain Factory

Burgenland: The Mulde Valley(s) from a Cultural-Historical Perspective

Slavs settled in the climatically favorable floodplains of the Mulde Valley (Mulde = Milda, Slavic: “the land of water”) over two thousand years ago. However, stone tools found near Markkleeberg also prove that Palaeolithic humans hunted in the river floodplains. In the early Middle Ages, castles such as Leisnig, Rochlitz, and Colditz were built here, which also served to protect the Mulde fords. Since the late Middle Ages, the Thümmlitzwald area has been a popular hunting ground for the Saxon nobility. Near Rochlitz, porphyry rock (Rochlitz porphyry tuff) has been quarried as a construction stone for 900 years.
The Mulde Rivers flow through porphyry hills and are fed by water-rich tributaries from the Ore Mountains. Both have caused floods many times throughout history. The flood of 1573 is historically documented; the most recent 100 year-floods of 2002 and 2013 remain particularly vivid in people’s memories. Following these events, new technical flood protection measures were implemented along the rivers.
Today, the cultural landscape along the swiftly flowing Mulde River(s) is a popular tourist destination for hikers, cyclists, and paddlers.

  • Caption 8: Renaissance Colditz Castle on the Rochlitz porphyry cliffs above the Zwickau Mulde
  • Caption 9: Mulde flood marks from 1771 to 2013 at the Augustinian Churchyard in Grimma (now the District Museum)


Legal Notice

Concept and text: National Geopark Porphyry Land in collaboration with the City of Colditz;
Photos: Oliver Fox, Marion Geissler, Leipziger Wasserwerke, Frank W. Junge, Stephanie Wittwer, SKOMP46866/GNU 1.3/no changes, Annett Steinert/Geopark Porphyry Land;
geological cross-section: GEOmontan GmbH Freiberg;
Maps: Deutsche Fotothek/Sächsisches Meilenblatt No. 90/Berlin edition, www.blaues-band.de
Table: based on data from https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulde_(Fluss)
Design: