!!!Inn

Inn, River, in Tirol and Upper Austria, (Celtic "Ine" = flowing; Latin 
"Aenus"; Romansh "En"), largest tributary of the upper reaches of 
River Danube, 510 km long (183 km in Austria), catchment 
area 25,700 km%%sup 2/%. The water of the River Inn is only 
moderately polluted upstream of Innsbruck (576 m). Near 
Schaerding River Inn has an average flow rate of 
731 m%%sup 3/%/sec. The Austrian Inn Valley consists of the 
narrow Upper Inn Valley and the wide Lower Inn Valley (downstream of 
Innsbruck). Morphologically, the Inn Valley, shaped by glaciers during 
the Ice Age, is a U-shaped valley with steep slopes (e.g. 
Martinswand); the valley bottom was later filled with young 
sedimentary deposits. Major tributaries: Oetztaler Ache, Sill and 
Ziller in the south; Sanna in the northwest; Gurgl and Brandenberger 
Ache streams in the north. Electric power stations sited on River Inn: 
Prutz, Imst, Sellrain-Silz, Muehlau I, Voldertal, Jenbach, 
Kirchbichl, Oberaudorf-Ebbs, Nussdorf-Innstufe, Braunau-Simbach, 
Ering, Obernberg, Schaerding-Neuhaus and Passau-Ingling. The Inn has 
its source at the Maloja Pass south of St. Moritz in Switzerland and 
enters Austrian territory near Finstermuenz Pass/Nauders (alt. 
1,394 m). In Austria, the river first enters the narrow Upper Inn 
Valley down to its confluence with River Sanna (called "Oberes 
Gericht" in Austrian vernacular); broadens below Landeck downstream of 
Telfs (634 m); fertile terraces ("Tiroler Mittelgebirge", 300-400 
metres above the valley bottom). The Inn is joined by the Sill river 
(Wipptal valley) at Innsbruck, the capital of Tirol. Below Innsbruck 
is the fertile Lower Inn Valley, which was formed by glaciers during 
the Ice Age. Frequent warm foehn winds that blow down the mountain 
slopes cause discomfort in the local population but favours wheat, 
maize, fruit and even wine-growing. Annual precipitation increases 
further downstream. Whereas the northern slopes of the Inn Valley are 
steep and only sparsely forested, the gentler slopes on the southern 
side of the slate mountains are densely wooded. Major economic factors 
in the Lower Inn Valley are glass and paper manufacturing; machine 
construction (vehicle construction, railways and cable-cars); building 
construction and civil engineering. South of Kufstein (499 m) the 
Inn breaks through the northern Limestone Alps and enters Bavarian 
territory. North of Burghausen (Germany), at its confluence with the 
River Salzach, it forms the natural border between Upper Austria and 
Bavaria, and finally merges into the Danube near Passau (313 m); 
it contributes more than half the water carried by the River Danube.

!Literature
G. Pfaundler, Tirol-Lexikon, 1983.


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