Central Eastern Alps

The Central Eastern Alps (Template:Langx), also referred to as Austrian Central Alps (Template:Langx) or just Central Alps, comprise the main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacent regions of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy and Slovenia. South of them is the Southern Limestone Alps.

The term "Central Alps" is very common in the Geography of Austria as one of the seven major landscape regions of the country. "Central Eastern Alps" is usually used in connection with the Alpine Club classification of the Eastern Alps (Alpenvereinseinteilung, AVE). The Central Alps form the eastern part of the Alpine divide, its central chain of mountains, as well as those ranges that extend or accompany it to the north and south.

The highest mountain in the Austrian Central Alps is Grossglockner at .

Location

The Central Alps have the highest peaks of the Eastern Alps, and are located between the Northern Limestone Alps and the Southern Limestone Alps, from which they differ in geological composition.

The term "Central Eastern Alps" may also be used more broadly to refer to a larger area of the Eastern Alps, mainly located in Austria, extending from the foot of the Bergamasque Alps at Lake Como and the Bernina Range in the Graubünden canton of eastern Switzerland along the Liechtenstein shore of the Rhine in the west as far as to the lower promontories east of the river Mur including the Hochwechsel in Austrian Styria. The valleys of the rivers Inn, Salzach and Enns mark their northern boundary, the Drau river (roughly corresponding to the Periadriatic Seam) their southern border. In the proposed SOIUSA system, the "Central-eastern Alps" include the Rhaetian Alps, of which the Bernina Range includes the 4,049-meter Piz Bernina in Switzerland, the easternmost 4,000-meter peak of the Alps. In the AVE system, however, the full list of mountain groups in the Alpine Club classification of the Eastern Alps includes the Bernina and neighboring ranges within the Western Limestone Alps, not the Central Eastern Alps as the Alpine Club defines them.

Central Alps as a major landscape region in Austria

In Austria, the Eastern Alps are divided into the Northern Alps, the Greywacke zone, the Central Alps and the Southern Alps. The latter lie partly in South Carinthia, but mainly in Northeast Italy.

The Central and Northern Alps are separated by the Northern Longitudinal Trough (nördliche Längstalfurche), the line Klostertal–Arlberg–Inn Valley–Salzach Valley as far as Lake Zell–Wagrain Heights–Upper Enns Valley–Schober Pass–Mürz Valley Alps–Semmering–southern Vienna Basin. The Central Alps and Southern Alps are separated from one another by the Southern Longitudinal Valley (südlichen Längstalzug) Puster Valley (Rienz Valle–Toblach Field–upper Drava (Drau) Valley)–Drava Valley–Klagenfurt Basin–Meža (Mieß), or the Periadriatic Seam, which is not entirely identical with the Southern Longitudinal Trough.

Geomorphology

The range has the highest summits in the Eastern Alps and is the most glaciated. In the transition zone between the East and West Alps, its peaks clearly dominate the region to the west (Piz d'Err, Piz Roseg). On the perimeter, however, there are also less high, often less rugged mountain chains, like the Gurktal Alps and the eastern foothills.

The Eastern Alps is separated from the Western Alps by a line from Lake Constance to Lake Como along the Alpine Rhine valley and via the Splügen Pass.

Geology

File:Alpengeologie01.png

Geological makeup of the Alps: The Central Alps are formed from the crystalline East Alpine Template:Farbindex
and several windows, regional nappes and islands Template:Farbindex Template:Farbindex Template:Farbindex

The Central Alps consist mainly of the gneiss and slate rocks of the various Austroalpine nappes (Lower and Upper Austroalpine), with the exception of the Hohe Tauern and Engadine windows, where they are composed mostly of Jurassic rock and limestones and, locally, (Bergell and Rieserferner) also of granite. The Austroalpine nappes are thrusted over the Penninic nappe stack. Massifs of autochthonous, crystalline rock, which hardly moved at all during Alpine folding, do not occur in the Central Alps – unlike the case in the Western Alps. The aforementioned granite intruded near the fracture zone of the Periadriatic Seam. The Western Alps do not have this division into the Northern Limestone Alps, Central Alps and Southern Limestone Alps.

The Austroalpine submerges itself at the eastern edge of the Alps under the Tertiary sediments of the Alpine Foreland in the east and the Pannonian Basin. This fracture zone exhibits active volcanism (e.g. in the Styrian thermal region).

Alpine Club classification

AVE- No.	Name	Map	Country	Highest mountain	Height (m)	Image
Template:Nts			Flag of Austria Austria Flag of Liechtenstein Liechtenstein	Schesaplana	Template:Nts	Schesaplana (2,964 m)
Template:Nts	Silvretta Alps		Flag of Austria Austria		Template:Nts	Piz Linard (3,411 m)
Template:Nts	Samnaun Alps		Flag of Switzerland Switzerland	Muttler	Template:Nts	The Muttler
Template:Nts	Verwall Alps				Template:Nts	Hoher Riffler (3,168 m)
Template:Nts	Sesvenna Alps		Flag of Italy Italy Flag of Austria Austria		Template:Nts	Piz Sesvenna (3,204 m)
Template:Nts			Flag of Italy Italy	Wildspitze	Template:Nts	Wildspitze (3,768 m)
Template:Nts	Stubai Alps		Flag of Italy Italy		Template:Nts	Zuckerhütl (3,507 m)
Template:Nts	Sarntal Alps			Hirzer	Template:Nts	Hirzer (2,781 m, links)
Template:Nts	Tux Alps				Template:Nts	Lizumer Reckner (2,884 m)
Template:Nts	Kitzbühel AlpsTemplate:Efn			Kreuzjoch	Template:Nts	Kreuzjoch (2,558 m)
Template:Nts	Zillertal Alps			Hochfeiler	Template:Nts	Hochfeiler (3,510 m)
Template:Nts	Venediger Group			Großvenediger	Template:Nts	Großvenediger (3,666 m)
Template:Nts	Rieserferner Group		Flag of Austria Austria	Hochgall	Template:Nts	Hochgall (3,436 m)
Template:Nts	Villgraten Mountains		Flag of Italy Italy		Template:Nts	Weiße Spitze (2,962 m, links)
Template:Nts	Granatspitze Group				Template:Nts	Großer Muntanitz (3,232 m)
Template:Nts	Glockner Group				Template:Nts	Großglockner (3,798 m)
Template:Nts	Schober Group			Petzeck	Template:Nts	Petzeck (3,283 m)
Template:Nts	Goldberg Group			Hocharn	Template:Nts	Hocharn (3,254 m)
Template:Nts	Kreuzeck Group				Template:Nts	Mölltaler Polinik (2,784 m)
Template:Nts	Ankogel Group			Hochalmspitze	Template:Nts	Hochalmspitze (3,360 m)
Template:Ntsa					Template:Nts	Weißeck (2,711 m)
Template:Ntsb	Schladming Tauern			Hochgolling	Template:Nts	Hochgolling (2,862 m)
Template:Ntsc				Rettlkirchspitze	Template:Nts	Rettlkirchspitze (2,475 m)
Template:Ntsd	Seckau Tauern			Geierhaupt	Template:Nts	Geierhaupt (2,417 m)
Template:Ntsa	Gurktal Alps			Eisenhut	Template:Nts	Schwarzsee with Eisenhut (2,441 m) in the background
Template:Ntsb	Lavanttal Alps		Flag of Slovenia Slovenia	Zirbitzkogel	Template:Nts	Zirbitzkogel (2,396 m)
Template:Nts	Prealps East of the Mur			Stuhleck	Template:Nts	Summit cross on the Stuhleck (1,782 m)

The Central Eastern Alps also comprise the following ranges of the West Eastern Alps according to AVE classification, which geologically belong to the Southern Alps and are also subsumed under the Western Limestone Alps division.:

AVE- No.	Name	Map	Country	Highest mountain	Height (m)	Image
Template:Nts	Plessur Alps				Template:Nts	Aroser Rothorn (2,980 m)
Template:Nts	Oberhalbstein Alps		Flag of Italy Italy		Template:Nts	Piz Platta (3,392 m)
Template:Nts	Albula Alps				Template:Nts	Piz Kesch (3,418 m)
Template:Nts	Bernina Group		Flag of Switzerland Switzerland		Template:Nts	Piz Bernina (4,049 m)
Template:Nts	Livigno Alps		Flag of Switzerland Switzerland		Template:Nts	Cima de’ Piazzi (3,439 m)
Template:Nts	Bergamasque AlpsTemplate:Efn				Template:Nts	Pizzo di Coca (3,052 m)

Template:Notelist The Ortler Alps as well as the Sobretta-Gavia Group are also sometimes classified with the Central Alps, because they lie north of the geological fault of the Periadriatic Seam; in a general regional geographic sense, however, they are seen as part of the Southern Limestone Alps, because they are found south of the longitudinal trough Veltlin (Adda)–Vintschgau (Etsch). Also in terms of rock, the Ortler main crest is part of the Southern Limestone Alps.

See also

• Geography of the Alps