Elz, Hesse

Elz (German: [ˈɛlts] ^ⓘ) is a municipality in Limburg-Weilburg district in western Hesse, Germany, on the boundary with Rhineland-Palatinate.

Elz lies at an elevation of 110 to 291 m north of the Lahn in the Limburg Basin with the municipal area reaching into the heights on its western edge and thereby into the area of the Lower Westerwald (Elzer Wald). From north to south the municipal area is crossed by the flat-bottomed Elbbach valley, whose resident stream rises in the High Westerwald and flows south from Elz, emptying into the Lahn.

The Elbbach's broad lower reaches follow a tectonically created fault (Elzer Graben) which stretches northwards into the community of Dornburg. The Devonian bedrock here is, especially west of the Elbbach, overlain with thick sedimentary fill from the Tertiary (clays, sands, gravels) of which especially the quartz sand has afforded the region some economic importance. Overlying these in turn are layers of Ice Age loess deposits, which have laid the basis for fruitful agriculture.

Elz borders in the north on the community of Hundsangen (in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate) and the town of Hadamar, in the east and south on the town of Limburg (both in Limburg-Weilburg), and in the west on the communities of Hambach (in the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate), Görgeshausen, Niedererbach and Obererbach (all three in the Westerwaldkreis).

Elz's Ortsteile are, with population figures as at 31 December 2007, Elz (7,949) and Malmeneich (344).

All together, the community has 8,293 inhabitants. Elz's main centre, also called Elz, is, after Limburg an der Lahn's main centre the second biggest place in Limburg-Weilburg.

The yearly average temperature in Elz is 8.5 °C and in Malmeneich 7.9 °C.

The average yearly precipitation ranges from 600 to 650 mm in Elz and in Malmeneich is 720 mm.