Elz (Westerwald)

Elz
Coat of arms
Elz
Location of Elz within Limburg-Weilburg district
Coordinates: 50°25′N 8°2′E / 50.417°N 8.033°E / 50.417; 8.033Coordinates: 50°25′N 8°2′E / 50.417°N 8.033°E / 50.417; 8.033
Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Admin. region	Gießen
District	Limburg-Weilburg
Government
• Mayor	Horst Kaiser (CDU)
Area
• Total	16.86 km2 (6.51 sq mi)
Elevation	130 m (430 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	8,123
• Density	480/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	65604
Dialling codes	06431
Vehicle registration	LM
Website	www.elz.de

Elz is a community 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 (Limburger Becken) 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).