S.4 Geog Vol. .2 Rhinelands Germany Caltec S.4

33 GERMANY It is th e largest country in the Rhinelands region that became one after the unification of East Germany (communist) and West Germany (capitalist) when the Berlin wall crumbled down. Its located 55° 03' N -8° 24' E to the north, 47° 16' 12.39" N, 10° 10' 41.95" E t o the south, 51° 1' N, 5° 53' E to the West and 51 ° 16' N, 15 ° 2' E to the east. Germany has a land coverage of about 357, 021 sq.km with 349,223 sq.km is land and 7,798 sq.km is water having the highest point of 2 ,962 m at Zugspitze and lowest point of 3.5 4 m at Neuendorf -Sachsenbarde. Having a population of about 81.7 million people. Germany is bordered by the Baltic sea and the North sea in the north, Poland and 34 Czechoslovakia in the east, Austria, Switzerland and France in the south and Luxemburg, Belgi um and Netherlands in the west. Relief Germany is subdivided in three relief regions, that is • Northern lowland • Central highland • Southern highlands Northern lowlands This belongs to the Gre at European plain rising to 210 m above sea level comprising of young quaternary rocks of alluvial and moraine debris like sand, clay, leos, boulders. The lowlands are further subdivided into ; • Marcheland - comprises the coastal zone of land reclaimed from the North sea covering 121,000 hectares made of pasture land and cultivable land with marine silts. • Geestland - comprises of infertile sandy soils with less organic matter established during 35 the quaternary ice period with fluvial -glacial material. Today, the area is covered by heather because the original vegetation was cleared by man • Borderland - stretches southwards to Saverland hills , the Rhine valley as far as Bonn, …