Urdonautal

 valley, geology, invisible, draw only border

Urdonautal, the valley the Danube some 300 000 years ago used on its way to the Black Sea. Today a little river, the "Schutter" flows through the village in the opposite direction (north-south vs. south-north. In the Pleistocene, the Rhine started at the southwestern tip of the Black Forest, while the waters from the Alps that today feed the Rhine were carried east by the Urdonau (original Danube). Parts of this ancient river's bed, which was much larger than today's Danube, can still be seen in (now waterless) canyons in today's landscape of the Swabian Alb. After the Upper Rhine valley had been eroded, most waters from the Alps changed their direction and began feeding the Rhine. Today's upper Danube is but a meek reflection of the ancient one.