!!!Gletscher

Glacier (called "Kees" in the provinces of Salzburg, Carinthia and 
East Tirol, "Ferner" in North Tirol), large mass of ice accumulating 
above the snowline (in Austria at an altitude of approximately 
2,900m), moving slowly downhill and ending in a snout below the 
snowline (at about 2,100m), where it melts away as fast as it arrives. 
Most glaciers in Austria are found in the Central Alps, their number 
decreasing from West to East. Today, 925 glaciers cover a total 
surface about 540 km%%sup 2/% in Austria. The highest concentration of 
glaciers is found in the Oetztal Alps (213 glaciers, 173 km%%sup 2/%) 
and in the Venediger massif, which is part of the Hohe Tauern Mountain 
range (101 glaciers, 90 km%%sup 2/%. Since 1850, glaciers in Austria 
have been melting away steadily and rapidly. The largest and best 
known Austrian glacier is Pasterze glacier in the Grossglockner 
mountain range in the province of Carinthia (about 19 km%%sup 2/%). 
Gepatsch glacier in the Oetztal Alps in the province of Tirol is 
slightly smaller (17 km%%sup 2/%). The glaciers situated furthest to 
the north and east of Austria are the glaciers of the Dachstein 
mountains. The abundance of topographic features in the Austrian 
landscape is the result of glaciation during the  Ice Age when 
glaciers shaped the wide valleys, cirques, and basins of mountain 
lakes, moraine ridges etc. through erosion and transportation of rock 
debris. Apart from attracting many tourists, glaciers are important 
water reservoirs. Numerous mountain rivers and reservoirs of 
hydroelectric power stations are fed by the melt-water of glaciers. 
However, glaciers have also caused severe flooding in periods of bad 
climatic conditions (e.g. in the Oetztal valley) and severely affected 
medieval gold mining, e.g. around Sonnblick mountain. Austrian 
scientists have greatly contributed to the development of glaciology 
and are still considered leading experts in this field.

!Literature
G. Gross, Der Flaechenverlust der Gletscher in 
Oesterreich, in: Zeitschrift fuer Gletscher-Kunde und 
Glazialgeologie 23, 1987.


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