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Image of the Swiss Alps, covered in snow during the daytime. The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, [1] represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main physiographic regions.
The Helvetic zone, Helvetic system or the Helveticum is a geologic subdivision of the Alps. The Helvetic zone crops out mainly in Switzerland, hence the name (derived from Helveticus: Latin for Swiss). Rocks in the Helvetic zone are sedimentary and were originally deposited at the southern margin of the European plate.
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.
Tectonic map of the Alps, the Engadine Line is marked with "L.E." The Engadine Line is an over 50 kilometres (30 mi) long [1] northeast-trending fault in southeastern Switzerland. [2] It was originally discovered in 1896 and named "Engadiner Spalte". [3]
However, the Siegfried Map offered greater precision than the Dufour Map, by using a scale of 1:25,000 for the Swiss Plateau, the French Prealps, the Jura Mountains and southern Ticino, and a scale of 1:50,000 for other mountain regions and the Swiss Alps.
Most of the 26 canton high points are located in the Swiss Alps. Others (with lower altitudes), are located in the Jura Mountains. The 14 lower summits (up to the Säntis) are within the hiking trail network. The ascent of the 11 higher summits involves rock climbing or glacier touring. Canton high points are shown as red dots.
Satellite image of the Alps, March 2007 Folded rock layers exposed in the Swiss Alps. The Alps form part of a Cenozoic orogenic belt of mountain chains, called the Alpide belt, that stretches through southern Europe and Asia from the Atlantic all the way to the Himalayas. This belt of mountain chains was formed during the Alpine orogeny.
The Aarmassif crops out in the eastern part of the Bernese Alps and the Lepontine Alps, roughly form Leukerbad in the west to the Tödi in the east. Further east the massif only appears in small windows like the Vättner window between Gigerwald and Vättis in Sankt Gallen and at the Limmerensee in the same canton.