Styrian hill country

Styrian hill country
	The Styrian hill country (foreland), bottom right
Highest peak	Demmerkogel ( 671 m above sea level )
location	Styria
part of	Alpine foothills in the east and southeast
Classification according to	LdSt. V foreland
Coordinates	47 ° 3 ' N , 15 ° 39' E Coordinates: 47 ° 3 ' N , 15 ° 39' E

The Styrian hill country is an undulating landscape in southern and eastern Styria (Austria) with an area of about 70 x 80 km. It consists of the west and east Styrian hill country separated by the Mur . Geologically, one also speaks of Graz Bay or Styrian Basin . The landscape is a marginal basin of the Alps to the Pannonian Plain, filled with sea sediments . In the landscape structure of Styria one speaks simply of foreland .

geography

The hill country is on the Mur , the Raab dehydrated and their tributaries that flow almost all south / southeast and some deep valleys eroded: Between Western and oststeirischem hills lies the Murebene . The eastern part is much larger and continues into neighboring southern Burgenland , Hungary and Slovenia . The western part forms the eastern foot mountains of the Lavanttal Alps . The Styrian hill country is a part of the Alpine foreland in the southeast , which extends into the Small Hungarian Plain (Kisalföld) of the Pannonian Basin .

The geographical boundaries of the extensive hill country (about 6,000 km²) are clockwise:

in the south the Windischen Büheln near Bad Radkersburg and the Poßruck (border with Slovenia)
in the west the Koralpe and parts of the Stubalpe
in the northwest and north the Gleinalm and the Grazer Bergland (with the striking peaks of the Schöckl and Hochlantsch ) ^(a)
Joglland in the northeast

to the east, the hilly country merges into the southern Burgenland hill country and the Goričko in the Slovenian Prekmurje (Übermurgebiet)

There is also some mention of the hill country in East Styria and Burgenland , the two landscapes are largely similar.

The landscape is characterized by gently rolling hills that are increasingly poorly profiled towards the east, here called Riedel , with a fairly uniform direction east to south-east. Therefore one speaks of Riedelland .

Divided by the Graz Basin and Leibnitzer Feld , the Styrian hill country includes:

West Styrian hill country with
- West Styrian Riedelland in the narrower sense, which extends from the Gratwein-Gratkorner Basin of the Mur north of Graz and the Köflach-Voitsberger Basin in the north to the Saggau Valley in the very south of Styria; With
  - Kaiserwald near Graz and Wildoner Berg (Buchkogel 550 m )^(a)
- Sausal , a more concise mountain in the center west of Leibnitz (highest peak Demmerkogel 671 m )
- Windische Bühel in the south-east - which stretch as far as the Drau on the Slovenian-Croatian border, they are therefore partly also in Styria more independent or calculated as templates of the Poßruck (highest peak Kreuzberg 633 m )
Oststeirisches Hügel- / Riedelland with
- Stradner Kogel , Gleichenberger Kögel ( 609 m ) and Klöcher Massif in the southeast ( Vulkanland )
- Southeast Styrian Grabenland , border area with Burgenland and Slovenia

^(a)The Generalkogel - Plabutsch train near Gratkorn and Graz is already part of the alpine Grazer Bergland.

West Styrian Riedelland, from Schöckl via Graz
East Styrian Riedelland, from the Geierwand near Herberstein towards the Riegersburg

geology

The hill country of Styria is an earth-new backfilling of a depression in the eastern edge of the Alpine arc, the Graz Basin . With a number of bays, it encroaches deeply into the Alpine fringe mountains belonging to the Central Alps (which stretch as far as the Slovenian Bacher Mountains). The Central Styrian threshold (Sausal threshold) separates the formation into the western Styrian basin and the much more extensive eastern Styrian basin . The transition to the east to the Pannonian basin is formed by the southern Burgenland threshold , which is largely not on the surface . Geomorphologically, the Styrian hill country already belongs to the southeastern Alpine foothills .

It formed a marginal sea of the Paratethys , which is why the terms Styrian Tertiary basin or Styrian Neogene basin are also used . Lignite is typical of the West Styrian Basin, and the young volcanism of the East Styrian Basin , resources that help shape the Styrian hill country as an economic region.

Economic forms

The area is densely populated. Grains , sugar beets and the well-known pumpkins thrive on its fertile soils , but viticulture and fruit growing also play a role. The Schilcher is a regional specialty . In the southwest (Sulmtal) maize ("Kukuruz") is grown and pigs and poultry are raised .
In terms of industry, there are electrical and metal industries and countless brickworks to be mentioned, as well as the glass and wood industry . The lignite that is mined in the north-west (Köflach / Voitsberg area ) is also important.

An association of 15 municipalities from the Graz-Umgebung and Weiz district is called the “Hügelland Enjoyment Region ” and takes part in the Leader + EU funding program. Special features of this area are the scattered settlements with mixed forest and orchards. Two other initiatives in Eastern Styria are the “Energy Region Weiz - Gleisdorf ” and the “Styrian Vulkanland” . Various health resorts - including Bad Gleichenberg , Bad Radkersburg and Bad Waltersdorf - have come together under the term " Thermenland " to promote preventive medicine.

literature

Lilli Bauer, Werner T. Bauer: Styrian hill country and southern Burgenland. History, nature ... between Schilcherland, thermal region and Graz. ( Falter's fine travel guide ), Verlag Falter, Graz 1997, ISBN 3-85439-185-4
Fritz Ebener, Reinhard F. Sachsenhofer : The history of the development of the Styrian tertiary basin. = Mitt. Dept. Geol. And Paleont. Landesmuseum Joanneum , issue 49, Graz 1991 ( pdf , museum-joanneum.at).
Herbert Paschinger: Styria. Styrian border mountains. Grazer Bergland. Styrian Riedelland. Publishing house Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin-Stuttgart 1974.

Web links

Entry on the Styrian hill country in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
Hill country east of Graz
Styrian Thermenland
Southeast Styrian hill country wine route

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Landscape structure of Styria - overview of the regions and map display : selection foreland , landscape structure of Styria , environment.steiermark.at (with the links to the detailed descriptions of the sub-regions).
↑ Entry on the Styrian Basin in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
↑ Michael Brandl: Silex deposits in Styria. Austrian Academy of Sciences OeAW, Philosophical-Historical Class, Communications of the Prehistoric Commission Volume 69. Presented at the meeting on June 20, 2008. Verlag der OeAW, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-7001-6489-0 , page 14, ISSN 0065-5376 .

[umwelt.steiermark-1] Landscape structure of Styria - overview of the regions and map display : selection foreland , landscape structure of Styria , environment.steiermark.at (with the links to the detailed descriptions of the sub-regions).

[2] Entry on the Styrian Basin in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )

[3] Michael Brandl: Silex deposits in Styria. Austrian Academy of Sciences OeAW, Philosophical-Historical Class, Communications of the Prehistoric Commission Volume 69. Presented at the meeting on June 20, 2008. Verlag der OeAW, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-7001-6489-0 , page 14, ISSN 0065-5376 .