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While smaller groups within the Alps may be easily defined by the passes on either side, defining larger units can be problematic. A traditional divide exists between the Western Alps and the Eastern Alps, which uses the Splügen Pass (Italian: Passo dello Spluga) on the Swiss-Italian border, together with the Rhine to the north and Lake Como in the south as the defining features.
The Alps extend in an arc from France in the south and west to Slovenia in the east, and from Monaco in the south to Germany in the north. The Alps are a crescent shaped geographic feature of central Europe that ranges in an 800 km (500 mi) arc (curved line) from east to west and is 200 km (120 mi) in width.
The Alps are often divided into Eastern, Central and Western Alps, even though the boundaries between these subdivisions are arbitrary.The division between the Eastern and Central Alps is approximately the line between St. Margrethen, Chur and Sondrio; the division between the Central and Western Alps is unclear (Pfiffner 2009, p. 25).
Main chain of the Alps. The main chain of the Alps, also called the Alpine divide is the central line of mountains that forms the drainage divide of the range. Main chains of mountain ranges are traditionally designated in this way, and generally include the highest peaks of a range.
Map of the Aar basin. High Rhine. Aare. Limmat. Linth () . Lake Walen. Seeztal; Klöntal; Sernftal; Reuss. Lake Lucerne. Sarner Aa (Brünig Pass connects to the Aare ...
The Upper Engadin valley near St Moritz.. The Eastern Alps include the eastern parts of Switzerland (mainly Graubünden), all of Liechtenstein, and most of Austria from Vorarlberg to the east, as well as parts of extreme Southern Germany (Upper Bavaria), northwestern Italy (), northeastern Italy (Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia) and a good portion of northern ...
For a list by height, see the list of mountains of the Alps. By descending to 1,500 m of prominence, this list includes all the Ultras of the Alps. Some famous peaks, such as the Matterhorn and Eiger , are not Ultras because they are connected to higher mountains by high cols and therefore do not achieve enough topographic prominence.
The Motagua Fault, which crosses through Guatemala, is a transform boundary between the southern edge of the North American plate and the northern edge of the Caribbean plate. New Zealand's Alpine Fault is another active transform boundary. The Dead Sea Transform (DST) fault which runs through the Jordan River Valley in the Middle East.