Austria is a mountainous country situated in central Europe.  Just over 60%
of the country is occupied by the Alpine Mountains, with much of the rest of
the country occupied by rolling hills.  In the north the Bohemian Forest
granite formations occupy about 10% of the country.  Less than 30% of the
country is lowland, including both rolling hills and plains.

A simplified map of land/topography type.

Austria shares borders with Germany, the Czech republic, Slovakia, Hungary,
Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy and Slovenia.

Alpine Austria is a well known and very popular winter sports destination.
The area has many ski slopes as well as walking and mountain biking routes
of varying degrees of difficulty.  Almost all Austrians know how to ski and
downhill skiing is the main recreational activity in the country.  Cross-country
skiing and snow boarding are also practised.

Alpine Austria has some very impressive mountain scenery and geological
features.  The mountains themselves contain extremely complex sequences
of super-imposed folding and multiple stacked thrust sheets.  The Alpine
Mountain Belt forms an arc stretching from the South Coast of France through
Italy, Switzerland and Austria.  The range is the result of the Alpine Orogeny;
the collision of the African plate with the European plate.  The Alpine mountains
have been forming since Mesozoic time (about 95 million years ago), but have
continued to develop since that time.  Having been much eroded by the Pliocene,
renewed uplift occurred more recently, just prior to the Pleistocene glaciation.
The Pleistocene glaciation played an important part in shaping the Austrian
Alps to their present from.  Many of the peaks display corrie/aret features
and there are some spectacular U-shaped valleys.

A glacial U-shaped valley behind the resort of Pertisau on the Achensee lake.  /  Achensee lake.  A U-shaped valley?
Compare with Glen Sannox, Arran.

There is much evidence of past glaciation in the area, including terminal
moraines and glacial lakes, but the most impressive features are the active
present day glaciers.  The Pasterze glacier is the largest glacier in the eastern
Alps at 9 km long.  The Pasterze glacier and the Großglockner (Austria's highest
mountain) jointly form one of Austria's most popular tourist attractions, with
1.5 million visitors a year.

The proglacial meltwater pond.

Meltwater from the glacier pools up here in the area between the glacier
snout and morraine ridges previously left by the glacier during retreat.
The water has a milky appearance dur to the presence of suspended
mud grade particles termed rock flour.

Pasterze from Franze-Josefs Höhe Observation area.
Gross Glockner on left hidden by cloud.

The Pasterze glacier & Johannisberg Mountain (3460m).  /  Pasterze Glacier and funicular rail system.

The Pasterze Glacier is 9km long, 300 metres deep and has a surface area of about 20 square kilometers.
This glacier is monitored and markers painted on the valley rock bed show that it has receded some 50
meters in the last few years.  The past extent of many of the glaciers in this area can be mapped out by
interpreting the moraine ridges they left behind as they retreated.

© 1998 Nick Sandru.  This picture was taken in July 1998 from the Franze Joseph visitor center.
This is a very detailed picture taken in very clear conditions.  The Johannisberg mountain peak
(3400m) above the end of the glacier is about 10 km away.  Click to enlarge.

Some clues to a glacier's history can be contained within the glacier itself.  The Pasterze Glacier yeilded
an Arolla Pine stump in 1990.  The stump was dated a over 9000 years old and showed that at that
time the area was heavily forested and the climate was warmer than today.

Gross Glockner in cloud / Gross Glockner & Pasterze Glacier.

A satelite image of Gross Glockner.  Click to enlarge.
© 1995 SSTL.

The car of the Funicular rail system leaving the station and going
down to the Pasterze glacier.

When it was constructed decades ago, the funicular went all the way
down to the glacier surface.  The retreat of the glacier over the years
since years has been such that the funicular now only reaches just past
the half-way point and you have to travel the rest of the distance by foot.

The glacier looses about 20 meters in length and 5 metres in height each year.

The Margaritzen-Strausee, a dammed artificial lake below the Pasterze glacier.

The local marmots are very friendly... allegedly.

Krimml Waterfalls.  /  Waterfall on main road between Kirchdorf and Erpfendorf.

Waterfall at Ferleiten.

Continued...

Go to page 2

Back to Top