DWINGELDERVELD

The Drents Plateau is roughly located between the cities of Coevorden, Groningen, Steenwijk, and Emmen. The plateau is made up of till, which was deposited during the penultimate ice age (Saalien). Till is formed as ground moraine beneath the ice sheets and consists of a mixture of boulders, gravel, sand, and clay. In the last ice age (Weichselien), our country did not receive new ice cover, but there was a subarctic climate which resulted in little to no plant growth. Icy sandstorms covered the till plateau with a layer of cover sand.
Because till is hard to permeate with water, many places developed swamps and localized raised bogs. Human habitation was initially limited to the higher sand ridges.

The Dwingelderveld National Park is part of the Drents Plateau. In the Dwingelderveld, wet depressions and dry sand ridges alternate. Many of the expansive lowlands have a somewhat peaty character. Without management, the heath would be overrun by trees and shrubs and would eventually transform entirely into a forest. In addition to two sheep herds, large grazers are also introduced, particularly cattle and Scottish Highlanders.
One of the charms of the Dwingeloose heath is the large number of ponds: over 40. Most of these are pingo ruins, which have formed as remnants of ice lenses from the ice age.

Biker