!!!Alpenvorland

Alpine Foreland (Alpine foothills, Alpenvorland), alt. 300-500 m: 
260 km long flatland and hilly area between 10-50 km wide in 
Austria, getting narrower in the east between the northern edge of the 
Alps and the Bohemian massif. Stretches from the lower Salzach valley 
to  Tullnerfeld Plain and covers parts of the provinces of Salzburg, 
Upper Austria and Lower Austria. Geologically, the Alpine Foreland is 
a peripheral sea trough of the Alps ( Molasse Zone) where huge 
sediments of clay ("Schlier", a slate-like, blue-grey stone type), 
sand and scree were deposited up to 5000 m in the Tertiary period. The 
Rivers Inn, Traun, Enns, Ybbs, Erlauf and Traisen flow through this 
plain, which gradually drops off to the north, and so-called "gravel 
plates" extend between these rivers; the largest "plate" is the 
Traun-Enns-Platte. Along the rivers, terraces formed in the Ice Age. 
The highest elevations are in the Hausruck mountains (Goebelsberg, 
804 m) and in the Kobernausserwald hills (752 m). The Alpine 
Foreland is predominantly made up of fertile farmland and pastures, 
home of the "Koerndlbauern" and "Mostbauern" (grain farmers and makers 
of apple and pear cider); because of the availability of water power 
and mineral resources in the nearby Alps, many industrial businesses 
were established in the Alpine Foreland, for instance in the areas of 
St. Poelten, Poechlarn, Ybbs, Amstetten, Steyr, Linz, 
Stadl-Paura, Lenzing and Ranshofen. Schallerbach and Bad Hall are 
health resorts, natural gas is exploited near Wels, oil is exploited 
near Ried im Innkreis, and brown coal in the Hausruck mountain (the 
Salzachtal and Hausruck mines were closed only recently). Grouped 
settlements are predominant east of the Pielach, and to the west there 
are mainly dispersed settlements with Vierkanthoefe in the 
Traunviertel region and Vierseithoefen (types of Austrian farmhouses) 
in the Innviertel region. Several Lower Austrian towns and most Upper 
Austrian towns are in the Alpine Foreland.

!Further reading
L.-W. Hrdina, Die Wirtschaft des westlichen 
Alpenvorl. Oberoesterr., doctoral thesis, Vienna 1966; R. Litschel, 
Zwischen Hausruck und Enns, 1970; H. Traindl, Hydrologie der 
Kalkvoralpen im Raum Waidhofen/Ybbs - Weyer, doctoral thesis, Vienna 
1982.


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