Editing Neckar (section)

=== River course ===
Drainage area
[[File:Neckar catchment.png|none|thumb|Neckar catchment area]]

==== Sources ====
The [[River source|headwater region]] of the Neckar lies in the [[Schwenninger Moos]] between [[Villingen-Schwenningen|Schwenningen]] and [[Bad Dürrheim]]. The traditionally marked [[Spring (hydrology)|spring]] of the river lies in the city park Möglingshöhe in Schwenningen.

Prior to the [[Landesgartenschau]] Villingen-Schwenningen 2010, the Neckar flowed mostly underground in the city center of Schwenningen. In order to protect the city from the more frequent flooding through overflow of the duct, the river received more space through a new, mostly open riverbed. This riverbed runs largely on the newly constructed horticultural show ground, which was used as the occasion for the remodeling.

'''Headwaters'''

Up to shortly before [[Rottweil]] the Neckar is only a small rivulet on the Baar plateau. In [[Deißlingen]]-Lauffen it has its only, {{convert|4|meters}} high, [[waterfall]] which is drained today. Afterward, the Neckar joins with the [[Eschach (Neckar)|Eschach]] coming from the eastern slopes of the [[Black Forest]] which is much more water bearing. Its main tributary Glasbach, which originates at the Brogen, is [[Hydrography|hydrographically]] seen as the main river of the Neckar river system.

With this junction above Rottweil the Neckar enters a narrow, wooded valley and for the next 80&nbsp;km it bores its way towards north between the ranges of the Black Forest and the [[Swabian Jura]]. It has created two cut-off meander spurs at the Neckarburg which is spanned by the Neckarburgbrücke. Further down the river lies high above the river the old town of [[Oberndorf am Neckar|Oberndorf]] on a [[Calcareous sinter|Calcareous sinter terrace]], which fills one of the bowl-like side valleys. At Horb it turns from the [[Gäu Plateaus|Gäu Plateau]] towards north east and then follows the western side of the Swabian Jura ([[Albtrauf]]). Near Weitingen the valley is traversed by the 127 m high [[Neckar Viaduct, Weitingen|Neckar Viaduct]] of the A 81. At [[Rottenburg am Neckar|Rottenburg]] it enters the wider valley of Tübingen. After [[Tübingen]] the valley narrows again. From here onwards, the surrounding elevated grounds are considerably more densely populated.

'''Middle reaches'''

At [[Plochingen]] the Neckar turns sharply north west at the "Neckarknie" (knee of the Neckar), the mouth of the [[Fils (river)|Fils]] coming down from the east, from the Swabian Jura. Beginning from here the river has been expanded into a canalised waterway. It lies up to Stuttgart in a wide, urbanized meadow, which has been built over with industry and is cut through by transportation structures. Only around the [[Bad Cannstatt|Cannstatter]] valley bend for a short distance it is interspersed by large park areas. Here again the valley sides show limestone-sinter.
Between Stuttgart and Lauffen the Neckar cuts a scenic, meandering, and in many places steep-sided, valley into [[fossil]]iferous [[Triassic]] [[limestones]] and [[Pleistocene]] [[travertine]]. 
After Stuttgart it turns again towards the general northern direction. In a winding and narrow valley section through the [[Ludwigsburg (district)]] the [[Rems (river)|Rems]] enters from the right at [[Remseck]] and then again from the right north of [[Marbach am Neckar|Marbach]] the [[Murr (river)|Murr]]. After passing the [[Hessigheimer Felsengärten]] the water-rich [[Enz]] enters from the left at [[Besigheim]]. The former rapid at the [[Lauffen am Neckar|Lauffener]] avulsion of the meander is today under water due to the canalization. In the [[Lowlands (Württemberg)|Lowlands]] around [[Heilbronn]] the Neckar runs again through a wide meadow. At [[Bad Friedrichshall]] it takes up within only two kilometers the other two of its large tributaries: First its water-richest tributary, the [[Kocher]] and then the officially longest, the [[Jagst]], in total roughly doubling its discharge.

'''Lower reaches'''

Between [[Bad Wimpfen]] with its [[Pfalz (Wimpfen)|Stauferpfalz]] and [[Mosbach]], the Neckar enters the [[Odenwald]], where, again in a gorge-like valley, high, elevated, forested slopes line its riverside and especially on the right side, deeply cut valleys enter. At the last of his distinctive knees at [[Eberbach (Baden)|Eberbach]] it turns west, enters at [[Hirschhorn (Neckar)|Hirschhorn]] for a short distance Hessian territory and is then up to [[Neckarsteinach]] on long parts the border between Baden-Württemberg and Hessen. At [[Neckargemünd]] the [[Elsenz]] enters from the left, its lower reaches using a part of the Neckar's former [[Mauer (Baden)|Maurer]] river loop which extended far south. At the city of [[Heidelberg]], which borders in the north the Odenwald and at the south the [[Königstuhl (Odenwald)]], the Neckar travels through a 400m deep valley between mountains. After passing the Heidelberger historic city, the river enters the wide [[Upper Rhine Plain]] and after about 25 kilometers, it enters the city of Mannheim roughly at its middle, where it enters the [[Rhine]] from the right.