Austria Morphology

According to programingplease, the Austrian territory is 70% made up of reliefs; its southern part is occupied by the north-eastern section of the Alps, with the exception of the extreme eastern edge of the country ( northern Burgenland) which belongs to the Pannonian plain; the northern part includes the Danube plateau and, to the NW, the southern reliefs of the Bohemian Massif. Alpine Austria consists of three major alignments: that of the crystalline belt of the Eastern Alps and, for a small part, of the Central (Rhaetian Alps); a northern sedimentary one, which longitudinally affects the whole country; a southern sedimentary one, present only in the eastern section. These alignments are separated by wide valley furrows, which represent the true axes of the population and economic life of Austria. In the crystalline belt, two sections can be further distinguished: a western one, shared with Italy, between the Resia pass and the Tre Signori peak (Dreiherrnspitze, 3499 m), and an eastern one, entirely in Austrian territory, which includes the Alti and the Low Tauern, the Alps (or Prealps) of Styria and the Leitha mountains. In the western section run the watershed line between the Danube and Adige basins and the political border with Italy, so that only the northern side belongs to Austria, where the Ötz Alps (Ötztaler Alpen) rise. Stubai (Stubaier Alpen) and the Zillertal (Zillertaler Alpen); the highest peaks exceed 3500 m asl, such as the Wildspitze (3774 m) and the Palla Bianca (Weisskugel, 3736 m), while the more pronounced saddle is the Brenner pass (1375 m), between the Isarco valleys and the Sill, which is the main communication route between Italy and Central Europe. The eastern section acts as a watershedbetween the Danube and its tributary Drava. In the High Tauern (Hohe Tauern) rise the massifs of Grossglockner (3797 m), the highest elevation in the country, and of Grossvenediger (3674 m); the main pass of the chain is that of the Grossglockner (2505 m), which connects Carinthia with the Salzburger Land. Instead in the Low Tauern (Niedere Tauern), where the passes are lower and more numerous, no peak exceeds 3000 m above sea level and the altitude decreases further, to the S of the Mur furrow in the reliefs that slope down towards the undulating planes of Burgenland and towards the rolling hills of Graz (Grazer Hügelland). The central-western section of the crystalline Alps features large and long glaciers, including the Pasterze (24 km²), in the Grossglockner massif. The southern sedimentary Alps, separated from the crystalline belt by the groove of the Drava, are made up of limestone rocks from the Paleozoic era; everywhere the altitudes are moderate. The northern slope of the Carnic and Karawanken Alps belongs to Austria, along which the border with Italy and Slovenia runs. Parallel to the Carnic Alps, the Gail Alps (Gailtaler Alpen) extend to the N of the river Gail, formed by Dolomite rocks from the Mesozoic era, easily surmountable at the Gailberg Pass (982 m). The northern limestone Alps, consisting mostly of Mesozoic dolomites, are separated from the crystalline belt by a series of valley furrows engraved by the rivers Inn, Enns and Salzach, which flow towards the Danube cutting the orographic axis of the chain and thus favoring communications between N and S. This mountain range begins at the Swiss border, in Vorarlberg, with the northern slope of the Reticone and Silvretta groups (3399 m in the Fluchthorn); it continues with the Allgäu Alps (Allgäuer Alpen), the Lech Alps (Lechtaler Alpen) and the Bavarian Alps which in the Zugspitze, on the border with Germany, reach 2963 m asl. Further to the E are the Salzburg Alps (or Prealps) which culminate in the Dachstein (2995 m) and the Austrian Alps (or Prealps), considerably lower, where sandstones prevail.which give rise to a sweeter morphology. AN of the Salzburg and Austrian Alps slopes down towards the Danube an undulating plateau which, due to the morphology and nature of the soils, offers good conditions for human settlement. The main region of subalpine Austria is therefore the Danube valley, bounded to the N by the extreme offshoots of the Bohemian Massif and open to the E towards the Pannonian plain; made up of Miocene sediments, it presents a gentle hilly landscape. The Danube flows close to the southern edge of the Bohemian Massif, due to the thrust of the Alpine tributaries and cuts the reliefs in various locations forming deep and picturesque gorges while elsewhere it widens into alluvial plains, such as the Tullner Feld (downstream of Krems) and the basin of Vienna. This extends between the Little Carpathians, the Vienna Woods (Wienerwald) and the Leitha mountains. Downstream of the Vienna basin a strip of the Hungarian plain, the northern section of Burgenland, constitutes the eastern peripheral region of Austria, where the Austrian territory reaches its lowest altitudes, descending to 115 m above sea level in Lake Neusiedl.