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Swiss Alps
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Swiss Alps (German: Schweizer Alpen, French: Alpes suisses, Italian: Alpi svizzere, Romansh: Alps svizras) are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position with the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps.
The highest summit in the Swiss Alps is the Dufourspitze (4,634 metres (15,202 ft)) near the Swiss-Italian border. The highest mountain which lies entirely on Swiss territory is the Dom (4,545 metres (14,911 ft)). Other main summits can be found in the list of mountains in Switzerland.
Since the Middle Ages, transit across the Alps played an important role in history. The region north of the St. Gotthard Pass became the birthplace of the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1291.
Geography
The Alps cover 65% of Switzerland's surface area (41,285 km²), making it one of the most alpine countries. Despite the fact that Switzerland covers only 14% of the Alps total area (192,753 km²)[1][2], many alpine four-thousanders (48 of 82) are located in the Swiss Alps and the remaining few are within 20 km of the country's border.
The glaciers of the Swiss Alps cover an area of 1230 km² (3% of the Swiss territory), representing 44% of the total glaciated area in the Alps (2800 km²).
The Swiss Alps are situated south of the Swiss plateau and north of the national border. The limit between the Alps and the plateau runs from Vevey on the shores of Lake Geneva to Rorschach on the shores of Lake Constance, passing close to the cities of Thun and Lucerne.[3]
The countries with which Switzerland shares mountain ranges of the Alps are (from west to east): France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein.
Ranges
The Alps are usually divided into two main parts, the Western Alps and Eastern Alps, whose division is along the Rhine from Lake Constance to the Splügen Pass. The western ranges occupy the greatest part of Switzerland while the more numerous eastern ranges are much smaller and are all situated in the canton of Graubünden. The latter are part of the Central Eastern Alps, except the Ortler Alps which belong to the Southern Limestone Alps. The Pennine, Bernese and Bernina Range are they highest ranges of the country, they contain respectively 38, 9 and 1 summit over 4000 metres. The lowest range is the Appenzell Alps culminating at 2,500 metres.
(*) situated out of the main chain
Western Alps
From west to east, north of Rhone and Rhine
Bernese Alps* Vaud, Fribourg, Valais, Berne Finsteraarhorn, Jungfrau, Eiger Grimsel Pass
Urner Alps* Uri, Bern, Valais, Lucerne, Obwalden, Nidwalden Dammastock, Titlis Reuss river
Glarus Alps* Uri, Glarus, Graubünden Tödi, Glärnisch Seeztal
Appenzell Alps* Appenzell Innerrhoden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, St. Gallen Säntis Rhine
From west to east, south of Rhone and Rhine
Chablais Alps Valais Dents du Midi Arve
Mont Blanc Massif Valais Aiguille d'Argentière Col Ferret
Pennine Alps Valais Dufourspitze, Weisshorn, Matterhorn Simplon Pass
Lepontine Alps Valais, Ticino, Uri Graubünden, Monte Leone, Rheinwaldhorn Splügen Pass
Eastern Alps
From west to east, north of Mera and Inn river
Oberhalbstein Piz Platta
Plessur* Aroser Weisshorn
Albula Piz Kesch, Piz Lunghin
Rätikon* Schesaplana
Silvretta* Piz Linard, Piz Buin
Samnaun Alps* Muttler
From west to east, south of Mera and Inn river
Bregaglia Cima di Castello, Piz Badile
Bernina Piz Bernina, Piz Roseg
Albula Piz Kesch, Piz Lunghin
Livigno Piz Paradisin
Ortler Alps* Piz Murtaröl
Sesvenna Piz Sesvenna
Hydrography
Rivers
The north side of the Swiss Alps is drained by the Rhone, Rhine and Inn river (which is part of the Danube basin) while the south side is mainly drained by the Ticino river (Po basin). The rivers on the north empty into the Mediterranean, North and Black Sea, on the south the Po empty in the Adriatic Sea. The major triple watersheds in the Alps are located within the country, they are: Piz Lunghin, Witenwasserenstock and Monte Forcola. Between the Witenwasserenstock and Piz Lunghin runs the European Watershed separating the basin of the Atlantic (North Sea) and the Mediterranean Sea (Adriatic and Black Sea). The European watershed lies in fact only partially on the main chain. Switzerland possesses 6% of Europe's fresh water, and is sometimes referred to as the "water tower of Europe".
Lakes
Since the highest dams are located in Alpine regions, many large mountain lakes are artificial and are used as hydroelectric reservoirs. Some large artificial lakes can be found above 2,300 m, but natural lakes larger than 1 km² are generally below 1,000 m (with the exceptions of lakes in the Engadin such as Lake Sils, and Oeschinen in the Bernese Oberland). The melting of low-altitude glaciers can generate new lakes, such as the 0.25 km² large Triftsee which formed between 2002–2003.
Land elevation
The following table[4] gives the surface area above 2000 m and 3000 m and the respective percentage on the total area of each canton whose high point is above 2000 metres.
Canton Land above 2000m in km² Land above 2000m in % Land above 3000m in km² Land above 3000m in %Appenzell Ausserrhoden 1 0.4 0 0
Appenzell Innerrhoden 4 2.3 0 0
Berne 887 15 100 1.7
Fribourg 14 0.8 0 0
Glarus 213 31 4 0.6
Graubünden 4296 60 111 1.6
Lucerne 4 0.3 0 0
Nidwalden 20 7 0 0
Obwalden 66 13 1 0.2
Schwyz 69 8 0 0
St. Gallen 184 9 1 0.05
Ticino 781 28 2 0.07
Uri 562 52 19 1.8
Valais 2595 50 697 13
Vaud 92 3 1 0.03
Switzerland 9788 24 936 2.3
Geology
