Embedded in a magnificent and colorful nature, idyllic, picturesque and almost mystical, the maar lakes reveal little today of their once highly explosive history. Many thousands of years ago, it must habe been extremely dangerous here. The earth was undergoing constant change. The landscape was being shaped by unimaginable forces. A breath of sulfur must have filled the air. As the hot, liquid magma slowly ascended under the earth´s surface till it met a water-bearing earth layer (which almost instantly converted to steam), resulting in an explosion of such enormous proportions that it changed the landscape forever.
These further changed their appearance over many millennia. After completing the volcanic activity, the maar funnel was finally filled with refractory and volcanically ejected material that slid off the tuff walls into the maar crater. A maar lake emerged whenever there was enough groundwater at this level. The "eyes of the Eifel" ´were formed. Some of these marshes silted up again, others stayed dry from start on. Today, there are over 70 (scientifically proven) maars in the Vulkaneifel. Twelve of these are filled with water.