Nagold (river)

Nagold
The Nagold in its middle reaches between Nagold and Calw
Country	Germany
States	Baden-Württemberg
Basin features
Main source	Urnagold 814 m 48°36′18″N 8°26′12.5″E / 48.60500°N 8.436806°E / 48.60500; 8.436806
River mouth	Enz in Pforzheim 247 m 48°53′19″N 8°42′16″E / 48.88861°N 8.70444°E / 48.88861; 8.70444Coordinates: 48°53′19″N 8°42′16″E / 48.88861°N 8.70444°E / 48.88861; 8.70444
Progression	Enz//Neckar//Rhine//North Sea
River system	Rhine
Basin size	1,144 km2 (442 sq mi)
Tributaries	Left: Teinach Right: Waldach, Würm
Physical characteristics
Length	90.7 km (56.4 mi)
Discharge	Average rate: Calw: lowest ever: 1.17 m³/s (2003), lowest average: 2.0 m³/s, average: 7.82 m³/s

The Nagold is a river, 90 kilometres long, in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. A tributary of the Enz, it gave its name to the town of Nagold. It merges with the smaller Enz in the town centre of Pforzheim.

The Nagold is 90.7 kilometres in length and has its source in Urnagold in the municipality of Seewald in the Northern Black Forest and flows in an easterly direction past Nagold, Calw and Liebenzell and joins the Enz in Pforzheim, near what is now the Parkhotel Pforzheim.

The Nagold flows mainly through the Black Forest. Around the town of Nagold (between Rohrdorf and Pfrondorf) it flows through the Heckengäu region. At the Pforzheimer Kupferhammer, it enters the Pforzheim Enz Valley, which, like the Heckengäu, also belongs to the natural region of the Gäu.

The Nagold is regarded by convention as a tributary of Enz. However, it carries more water than the upper course of the Enz at their confluence, is longer by a factor of about 2, and has a larger catchment by a factor of 3.5. Hydrographically, therefore, the main line of the Enz-Nagold-river system runs along it them. The upper Enz, however, has the wider valley and maintains its direction of flow.

The upper reaches of Nagold run predominantly east and southeast as far as the town of Nagold, where it swings almost completely around, to head to Pforzheim, mainly in a northerly direction. The Nagold has formed numerous loops and 'meander hills' (Umlaufberge), for example at Pfrondorf (Bettenberg), in Wildberg, at Hof Waldeck (Schlossberg hill and Waldeck Castle), near Tannenberg (Rudersberg, with hillfort) and in Weißenstein.