Halle, officially Halle (Westf.) or Halle Westfalen (i.e. Westphalia) to distinguish it from the larger Halle (Saale), is a town in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, 15 km west of Bielefeld. It belongs to the district of Gütersloh in the region of Detmold. Geography Location Halle is situated on the sandy plain of the river Ems on the southern slopes of the Teutoburg Forest, which crosses the town territory from northwest to southeast. This mountain range delimits the eastern part of the Münsterland and the Westphalian Basin and is the drainage divide between the rivers Ems and Weser here. The highest points are the Hengeberg (316 m) and the Eggeberg (312 m). The lowest point, at 70 m, is at the south-western outskirts of the borough. There three streams, the Hessel, Rhedaer Bach and Ruthebach, leave the town's territory, while the Ruthebach joins the Lodenbach. All of the streams have their source in the Teutoburg Forest and ultimately join the River Ems. The territory of Halle is essentially characterized by agriculture, but has also a substantial amount of forest areas, namely the Teutoburg Forest and the Tatenhausen Forest as well as of municipal forest. The 52nd line of latitude crosses the southern part of the town area in its southern part. Geology The northern part of the town area of Halle is situated in the Teutoburg Forest mountain range, with the town limits running on the ridge in large parts. Towards the south the borough levels off into the sandy plains of the river Ems. Halle is part of the north-eastern rim of the Westphalian Bay, that has approximately the shape of a bowl. Here the stones of the subsoil are steeply erected. They consist of marlstone with a high share of clay, marlstone with a high share of limestone, as well as limestone and marl themselves, but also of sandstone and sandy marl of the Mesozoic era (Cretaceous). These stones lie above a base of folded stones of the Paleozoic era (Devonian, Carboniferous). In the transition area towards the Münsterland the cretaceous layers are increasingly covered by a slim and mostly sandy layer of loose stones from the ice age (Quaternary), that consist of sedimentation of the river Ems and of deposits like ground moraines or meltwater sands. With respect to soil, the Halle territory can be geomorphologically structured into three sections. The soils of the ditches, dells