The Alpine Foreland, [1] less commonly called the Bavarian Foreland, [1] Bavarian Plateau [1] or Bavarian Alpine Foreland (German : Bayerisches Alpenvorland), refers to a triangular region of plateau and rolling foothills in Southern Germany, stretching from Lake Constance in the west to beyond Linz on the Danube in the east, with the Bavarian Alps forming its south boundary and the Danube its northern extent. [1]
The Alpine Foreland has been shaped under the influence of the ice ages and has a rich variety of landforms. A molasse basin of extensive Tertiary and Quaternary sediments —silt and clay, sand and sedimentary rocks from Alpine erosion— overlay the Alpine nappes. Features such as the morainic hills, gravel sandar and lakes have left a record of various glaciation stages in this region.
The Alpine Foreland is crossed by the rivers Iller, Wertach, Lech, Isar and Inn, its western boundary roughly being formed by the border of the Bavarian administrative district of Swabia with the State of Baden-Württemberg, and its eastern boundary being the Salzach river on the border with Austria. The numerous lakes include Lake Constance, Lake Starnberg and Chiemsee. The largest cities of the region are Munich, located in the centre of the Alpine Foreland on the River Isar, and Augsburg, located in the very centre of Southern Germany on the river Lech.
According to the Handbook of Natural Region Divisions of Germany , the Alpine Foreland is commonly subdivided into three natural regions:
In the west, the Alpine Foreland stretches along the Danube up to its sources in the Black Forest and beyond Lake Constance continues as the Swiss Plateau. In the east, the Austrian Alpine Foreland comprises the Flachgau region of Salzburg, the adjacent Innviertel, Hausruckviertel and Traunviertel of Upper Austria, as well as the Mostviertel region of Lower Austria up to the Tulln Basin.
The geography of Switzerland features a mountainous and landlocked country located in Western and Central Europe. Switzerland's natural landscape is marked by its numerous lakes and mountains. It is surrounded by five countries: Austria and Liechtenstein to the east, France to the west, Italy to the south and Germany to the north. Switzerland has a maximum north–south length of 220 kilometres (140 mi) and an east–west length of about 350 kilometres (220 mi).
Austria is a predominantly mountainous country in Central Europe, approximately between Germany, Italy and Hungary. It has a total area of 83,871 square kilometres (32,383 sq mi).
Württemberg, a hilly rather than a mountainous region, forms part of the South German tableland, also referred to as the Swiss plateau. The undulating fertile terraces of Upper and Lower Swabia typify this agricultural region. Estimates of land form proportions count a quarter of the entire area as plain, less than one-third as mountainous, and nearly one-half as hill-country.
The Lech is a river in Austria and Germany. It is a right tributary of the Danube 255 kilometres (158 mi) in length with a drainage basin of 3,919 square kilometres (1,513 sq mi). Its average discharge at the mouth is 115 m3/s (4,100 cu ft/s). Its source is located in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, where the river rises from lake Formarinsee in the Alps at an altitude of 1,870 metres (6,120 ft). It flows in a north-north-easterly direction and crosses the German border, forming the Lechfall, a 12-metre-high (39 ft) waterfall; afterwards the river enters a narrow gorge. Leaving the Alps, it enters the plains of the Allgäu at Füssen at an elevation of 790 metres (2,580 ft) in the German state of Bavaria, where it used to be the location of the boundary with Swabia. The river runs through the city of Füssen and through the Forggensee, a man-made lake which is drained in winter. Here, it forms rapids and a waterfall.
The Central Eastern Alps, also referred to as Austrian Central Alps 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 Riss glaciation, Riss Glaciation, Riss ice age, Riss Ice Age, Riss glacial or Riss Glacial is the second youngest glaciation of the Pleistocene epoch in the traditional, quadripartite glacial classification of the Alps. The literature variously dates it to between about 300,000 to 130,000 years ago and 347,000 to 128,000 years ago. It coincides with the Saale glaciation of North Germany. The name goes back to Albrecht Penck and Eduard Brückner who named this cold period after the river Riss in Upper Swabia in their three-volume work Die Alpen im Eiszeitalter published between 1901 and 1909.
The Swiss Plateau or Central Plateau is one of the three major landscapes in Switzerland, lying between the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Alps. It covers about 30% of the Swiss surface area, and is partly flat but mostly hilly. The average height is between 400 metres (1,300 ft) and 700 metres (2,300 ft) AMSL. It is by far the most densely populated region of Switzerland, the center of economy and important transportation.
The Alps form a large mountain range dominating Central Europe, including parts of Italy, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovenia, Germany and Hungary.
The Molasse basin is a foreland basin north of the Alps which formed during the Oligocene and Miocene epochs. The basin formed as a result of the flexure of the European plate under the weight of the orogenic wedge of the Alps that was forming to the south.
The Allgäu Alps are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps, located on the Austria–Germany border, which covers parts of the German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg and the Austrian states of Tyrol and Vorarlberg. The range lies directly east of Lake Constance.
A Mittelgebirge is a type of relatively low mountain range or highland area typical of the geography of central Europe, especially central and southern Germany; it refers to something between rolling low hill country or Hügelland and a proper mountain range like the High Alps.
The Lower Bavarian Upland, Lower Bavarian Hill Country or Lower Bavarian Hills, are part of the tertiary Hügelland or hill country south of the River Danube and cover much of the land within the Bavarian province of Lower Bavaria in southern Germany. To the north it is bordered by the Gäuboden region and the Bavarian Forest; to the south by Upper Bavaria, to the east by the Lower Inn Valley and to the west by the Franconian Jura. In the western part of the Lower Bavarian Hills lies the Hallertau, the world's largest hop-growing region. It belongs to two of officially defined natural regions in Germany: the eponymous Lower Bavarian hills and the Isar-Inn Gravel Beds (Isar-Inn-Schotterplatten) and is sub-divided into the Danube-Isar Hills (Donau-Isar-Hügelland) and the Isar-Inn Upland (Isar-Inn-Hügelland) with the River Isar as the boundary. The hills continue over the border into Austria as the Upper Austrian Hills.
This division of Germany into major natural regions takes account primarily of geomorphological, geological, hydrological, and pedological criteria in order to divide the country into large, physical units with a common geographical basis. Political boundaries play no part in this, apart from defining the national border.
The Iller-Lech Plateau, also known as the Upper Swabian Plateau, is one of the natural regions of Germany.
The Bavarian Prealps are a mountain range within the Northern Limestone Alps along the Austria–Germany border. They include the Bavarian Prealp region between the river Loisach to the west and the river Inn to the east; the range is about 80 kilometres (50 mi) long and 20–30 kilometres (12–19 mi) wide. The term is not defined politically, but alpine-geographically because, although the range is mostly located in Bavaria, southeast Germany, small areas of the Bavarian Prealps lie in the state of Tyrol, Austria.
The Ammergau Alps are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps in the states of Bavaria (Germany) and Tyrol (Austria). They cover an area of about 30 x 30 km and begin at the outer edge of the Alps. The highest summit is the Daniel which has a height of 2,340 metres (7,680 ft).
An alpentor in geology is the point where an entire glacier forced its way through to the Alpine Foreland from the Alps during the ice age.
The border between the modern states of Austria and Germany has a length of 815.9 km (507.0 mi), or 815.0 km (506.4 mi) respectively. It is the longest international border of Austria and the second longest border of Germany with another country.
The Tertiary Hill Country, also called the Tertiary Hills, is an upland area with a moderate climate in the northern Alpine Foreland, which extends northwards as far as the River Danube. It is divided into two simple contiguous regions that are separated by the valley of the Lower Inn which itself is not usually counted as part of the Tertiary Hills. In Germany (Bavaria), the Lower Bavarian Upland is its larger northwestern element; in Upper Austria it forms the Hausruckviertl Mountain and Hill Country. From a natural regional perspective, depending on the definition, it forms one or two 3rd level natural regions.
