March#

March, River (Czech: Morava, derived from the Indogerman word "mori" = water), Lower Austria, northern tributary of the River Danube, 350 km long. Rises in the eastern part of the Sudetic Mountains (Czech Republic). On Austrian territory, long stretches of the river are rather polluted (quality rating 3); at the market town of Angern (Lower Austria) the average rate of flow is 109 m3/sec. From the market town of Hohenau an der March (alt. 155 m), where it unites with the River Thaya, the central line of the river constitutes the natural border between Lower Austria and Slovakia. Until 1918 the river marked the border to the Hungarian part of the Austrian empire. On Austrian territory the river and its surrounding meadowlands were made the Ramsar Wildlife Reserve (for water and wading birds); in Slovakia this reserve extends only to the latitude of the Austrian town of Marchegg.

Literature#