Maars of the volcanic Eifel

The water-filled maars are the trademark of the volcanic Eifel. But what exactly is a maar?

The term maar is derived from the Latin "mare" (= sea) and applies to the funnel-shaped type of volcano created by steam eruptions , which is "blasted" into the landscape and often presents itself as a bowl-like shape.

In the initial formation phase of a maar, rising magma meets water-bearing rock layers, resulting in huge explosions. The surrounding rock is shredded into tiny components together with the magma and hurled out of the explosion funnel.
A cavity forms in the area of the explosion focus, which turns into an explosion vent. As the rock above the resulting cavity collapses, the explosion vent becomes a collapse or maar funnel. After the volcanic activity subsided, the funnels subsequently filled with water.

A total of over 70 maar volcanoes have been counted in the Eifel, only eleven maars are still filled with water today, the rest have already silted up.

Can you swim in the maars?

  • Copyright: Rheinland-Pfalz Tourismus GmbH, Dominik Ketz

    Swimming in the maars

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