oaks

The village of Eichen in the Southern Black Forest is today a district of the town of Schopfheim. It lies on the northern side of the Dinkelberg in the east of Schopfheim.

The old village has settled in a valley niche at the foot of the Dinkelberg in the area of the Lower Muschelkalk. Above the Middle Muschelkalk, which is not exposed anywhere in the area, are the banked or platy limestones of the Upper Muschelkalk, which can be seen in the quarries of the Dinkelberg and form the substrate of the eastern plateau. This part of the area is karst terrain. In the fractured and cleaved Upper Muschelkalk, precipitation seeps away, so there are no permanent flowing waters present here. Only springs emerge over water-retaining layers of the Middle or even the Lower Muschelkalk. Karst phenomena here include sinkholes and dry valleys. The latter were formed by temporary meltwaters during the Ice Age when the substrate was sealed by ice. In a large sinkhole sealed by a thick layer of clay, the Eichener See appears episodically. The karst hydrological conditions are not yet fully clarified. The lake only appears after extensive precipitation or snowmelt and fills with groundwater, with the rising of the karst water accumulating above the Middle Muschelkalk also seeming to play a role.

Wikipedia