The Glisborn , or Glißborn , is a small, short (3 kilometres (1.9 mi)) stream that rises from a spring of the same name. The spring is located close to the Odenberg hill near Gudensberg in the northern Hessian district of Schwalm-Eder-Kreis . The spring is connected with numerous legends (see below).
22-453: The Glisborn spring is situated 650 metres (2,130 ft) m north of the summit of the Odenberg hill and 1,100 metres (3,600 ft) northwest of Scharfenstein hill, at an elevation of 233 metres (764 ft). The spring water flows directly in to a large pool (see photo) before emptying into the stream. Its very short course of 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) flows through arable land and then into
44-541: A bridge over the autobahn . The hill is the remains of an extinct volcano that belongs to the West Hesse Depression . The volcano was active in the Miocene , i.e. it began 20 million years ago and ended 7 million years ago. The only part of the volcano that is left is the neck or volcanic plug ; the rest has been eroded. The alkali basalt has a silica (SiO 2 ) volume percentage of 45-55%. The main minerals in
66-499: A collection of poems, one of which was entitled 'Althessiche Sage' (English: old hessian legend ). It tells the romantic story of a band of Roman warriors , who, after being defeated in battle by the German barbarians, ask for sanctuary . They are then locked inside the hill and only come out in moonlight. At Scharfenstein, at midnight hour, Are mystic tones revealed, Like tramp of war-steeds, and shield. What clang of armour! Why,
88-477: A long slope of material remains on the opposite side. Such landforms are called crag and tail . If a plug is preserved, erosion may remove the surrounding rock while the erosion-resistant plug remains, producing a distinctive upstanding landform. Near the village of Rhumsiki in the Far North Province of Cameroon , Kapsiki Peak is an example of a volcanic plug and is one of the most photographed parts of
110-484: A number of extinct volcanoes in the West Hesse Depression . Scharfenstein lies ca. 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) north-east of the town centre of Gudensberg , and ca. 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) west-south-west of the village of Dissen. Directly next to it runs the Bundesautobahn 49 , and the hill can be reached from a car park off the autobahn . Alternatively the outcrop can be reached on foot from Dissen by crossing
132-982: A small, uninhabited, remote islet in the North Atlantic Ocean , are also volcanic plugs. In the United Kingdom , two examples of a building on a volcanic plug are the Castle Rock in Edinburgh , Scotland, and Deganwy Castle , Wales . The Law, Dundee , Ailsa Craig , Bass Rock , North Berwick Law and Dumgoyne hill are other examples of volcanic plugs located in Scotland . There are over 30 volcanic plugs in Northern Ireland , including Slemish in Ballymena , Tievebulliagh , Scawt Hill , Carrickarede , Scrabo and Slieve Gallion . There are several volcanic plugs in
154-417: Is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile -charged magma is trapped beneath it, and this can sometimes lead to an explosive eruption. In a plinian eruption the plug is destroyed and ash is ejected. Glacial erosion can lead to exposure of the plug on one side, while
176-568: Is based on an older Chatti legend which states that the god Odin came riding from the Odenberg on his white, eight-legged horse Sleipnir . At every hoof-fall of the horse, a spring arose, such as the Glisborn. For this reason the Chatti held the Glisborn sacred. After the Chatti were Christianised in the 8th Century by Saint Boniface , the legend was changed to the Charlemagne story. Both variants of
198-627: Is situated in the town of Motta Sant'Anastasia in Italy. Saint Michel d'Aiguilhe chapel, whose construction started in 969, near Le Puy-en-Velay in France. The volcanic plug rises about 85 metres (279 ft) above the surroundings. Another building on a volcanic plug is the 14th century Trosky Castle in the Czech Republic . Strombolicchio , the northernmost of the Aeolian Islands , and Rockall ,
220-671: The Caribbean . Pinnacle Rock, Galápagos, Ecuador . There are several volcanic plugs in the North Island of New Zealand , including: In New Zealand's South Island , Onawe Peninsula on Banks Peninsula is a prominent volcanic plug, and erosion of Saddle Hill near Dunedin has also revealed a plug. Dunedin's Mount Cargill displays two plugs: its main summit and the subsidiary summit of Buttar's Peak. In Australia , The Nut in Tasmania are further examples, along with Mount Warning and
242-644: The Mandara Mountains . Spectacular volcanic plugs are present in the center of La Gomera island in the Canary Islands archipelago, within the Garajonay National Park . Sigiriya is an ancient rock fortress near the town of Dambulla in Sri Lanka . Approximately 180m high, it is now a UNESCO listed World Heritage Site . Borgarvirki is a volcanic plug located in north Iceland. A volcanic plug
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#1733086288678264-608: The Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province gives rise to several confirmed and suspected plugs. Chief among these is Castle Rock , located in British Columbia , which last erupted during the Pleistocene . The southern coast of Saint Lucia is dominated by the iconic Pitons , a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The twin peaks, Gros Piton and Petit Piton, steeply rise more than 770 metres (2,530 ft) above
286-852: The Pilgerbach stream near Edermünde -Holzhausen at an elevation of 182 metres (597 ft). This gives an average gradient of 1.7%. The first written versions of legends about the Glisborn were recorded by the Brothers Grimm . Karl der Große .... Die Krieger schmachteten vor Durst, der König saß auf schnee-weißem Schimmel; da trat das Pferd mit dem Huf auf den Boden und schlug einen Stein vom Felsen, aus der Öfnung sprudelte die Quelle mächtig. Das ganze Heer wurde getränkt. Diese Quelle heißt Glisborn, ihrer kühlen, klaren Flut mißt das Landvolk größere Reinigungskraft bei als gewöhnlichem Wasser, und aus umliegenden Dörfern gehen die Weiber dahin ihr Leinen zu waschen. Charlemagne .... His warriors pined with thirst,
308-863: The United States , including Morro Rock in California , Devils Elbow located in the Heceta Head Lighthouse Scenic State Park on the Oregon coast, Thumb Butte in the Sierra Prieta of Arizona, and Shiprock in New Mexico . Devils Tower in Wyoming and Little Devils Postpile in Yosemite National Park , California, are also believed, by many geologists , to be volcanic plugs. In Canada,
330-424: The basalt slumped back to produce the outcrop features at Scharfenstein. The fresh broken edges of basalt are as sharp as a knife edge, which gives Scharfenstein (English: sharp stone ) its name. Between the 21 and 22 March 1865, as the result of weathering, especially repeated freezing and cracking , the original outcrop broke apart and was reduced in height by a half. In 1838, Franz von Dingelstedt published
352-506: The St. Margarethen church in Gudensberg, where it can be still seen today. In 2010, the water at Glisborn was found to have a total nitrate content above 50 mg/L, which is the maximum value that is allowed in drink water by German law (Trinkwasserschutzverordnung) and European drinking water quality standards . The Hessian Water Authority have stated that in a study from 1994 it was found that
374-576: The doors Assail tumultuously, Till Scharfenstein moves circling round, And caverns open fly? Ludwig Emil Grimm (14 March 1790 –– 4 April 1863), the third brother of the more famous Brothers Grimm , Jacob and Wilhelm , painted Scharfenstein in watercolours (see figure right) in 1835, i.e., before it broke apart. It is said that a beautiful virgin keeps a treasure chest within the hill. On every seventh year she comes out and sneezes seven times. Whoever, at this time, calls out "Gott helf!" (English: lit - so help me God!, or bless you! ) will receive
396-451: The king sat on a snow-white steed; then the horse stomped with his hoof on the ground and broke away a piece of rock; out of the opening gushed a bubbling spring and the whole army was watered. Glisborn is the name of the spring, to whose clear cold flood the country-folk impute a higher cleansing power than to common water, and women from surrounding villages come to wash their linen there. It is, however, most probable that this legend
418-593: The legend are "supported" by a stone with the imprint of a horse's hoof that was embedded in the wall of a church (Karlskirche) in Karlskirchen, a long abandoned village nearby. During the Protestant Reformation in the Landgraviate of Hesse in the year 1526, the church was destroyed because it was also still used for certain pagan practices. Many years later this stone was cemented into the wall that surrounds
440-411: The rock are plagioclase , augite and olivine . Peculiar to Scharfenstein, compared to other basalt outcrops in the area, are the very well-developed basalt columns , which are for the most part horizontal or slightly inclined. Basalt in columnar form is due to cooling, in which the long axis of the column is in the direction of the slowest cooling. It is likely that after eruption or intrusion ,
462-461: The soil around Glisborn is composed of thick loess deposits in various states of weathering . The high nitrate values are caused by natural loess decomposition and are not due to farming practice. Scharfenstein (Hesse) Scharfenstein is a 304 metres (997 ft) hill composed of basalt in the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis district of North Hesse , Germany . It is the remains of one of
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#1733086288678484-405: The treasure and girl. Once a coach driver heard the sneezing, and called out six times "Gott helf!". But instead, on the seventh time, he cursed loudly and the girl disappeared. She was never seen again. Scharfenstein is a well-known target for climbers . There are over 85 climbing routes on the basalt hill. Volcanic neck A volcanic plug , also called a volcanic neck or lava neck ,
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