RELIEF FORMS OF THE CONTINENTS. 49

 

[NS
regions. The great low plain lies on the north, and the
predominant mountain-system on the south. The coun-
try north of this line is sometimes called Low Europe, and
that south of it, High Europe.

123. The Predominant Mountain-System of Eu-
rope is composed of a highly complex series of
mountain-systems extending along the northern
shores of the Mediterranean in a curve, from the
Straits of Gibraltar to the shores of Asia Minor.
The system is highest in the centre, where the
Alps form the culminating point of the continent.

The average elevation of the Alps ranges from
10,000 to 12,000 feet.
Blane, 15,787 feet, is the culminating point of the
European continent. Matterhorn and Monte Rosa
are but little inferior in height. On the south-
west the system is continued to the Atlantic by
the Cevennes and adjoining ranges in France, and
the Pyrenees and Cantabrian in the northern part
of the Spanish peninsula. The Pyrenees are an
elevated range, with peaks over 11,000 feet high.
On the east the system extends in two curves to
the Black Sea by the Carpathian and Transylva-
nian Mountains on the north, and the Dinaric
Alps and the Balkan Mountains on the south.

124. Divisions of Predominant System.—The
predominant mountain-system of Europe may be
conveniently regarded as consisting of a central
body or axis, the Alps, with six projections or
limbs—three on the north, and three on the south.

The three divisions on the north include—

The Western Division, or the mountains of
France, including the mountains lying west of
the valleys of the Rhine and the Rhone;

The Central Division, or the mountains of Ger-
many, situated between the Western Division and
the upper valleys of the Oder and the Danube ;

The Eastern Division, or the mountains of
Austria-Hungary, situated between the Central
Division and the Black Sea.

These divisions contain a highly complicated system of
minor elevations. Their complexity is' due to the fre-
quent intersection of the north-eastern and north-western
trends. Basin-shaped~ plateaus, like the Bohemian and
Transylvanian, are thus formed. :

The Western Division includes most of the mountains
of France, as the Cevennes, the mountains of Auvergne,
and the Vosges Mountains. i

The Central Division includes the Jura Mountains in
Switzerland, the Swiss and the Bavarian plateaus, the
Black Forest Mountains, the Hartz Mountains, and the
Bohemian plateau.

The Eastern Division includes most of the mountains

of Austria, as the Carpathians, the Hungarian Forest, and
the Transylvanian Mountains.

125, The three projections on the south are the

  

The highest peak, Mont

three mountainous peninsulas of Southern Eu-
rope:

The Iberian Peninsula, including Spain and
Portugal ;

The Italian Peninsula ; :

The Turco-Grecian Peninsula.

The Iberian Peninsula.The principal mountains are
the Sierra Estrella, the mountains of Castile, and the
Sierra Nevada. The Pyrenees separate the Peninsula from
France. The Cantabrian Mountains extend along the
northern coast.

The Italian Peninsula contains the Apennines, ex-
tending mainly in the direction of the north-western
trend.

The Turco-Grecian Peninsula.—The Dinaric Alps
extend along the coast of the Adriatic; the Balkan Moun-
tains extend from east to west, through Turkey; and the
Pindus from north to south, through Turkey and Greece.

126. The Secondary Mountain-Systems of Eu-
rope comprise the system of the Scandinavian
peninsula, the Ural Mountains, and the Cauca-
sus Mountains.

The System of the Scandinavian Peninsula
includes the elevations of Norway and Sweden.
With the exception of the Kiolen Mountains in
the north, the system does not embrace distinct
mountain-ridges, but consists mainly of a series

 

Fig. 48, Fiord on Norway Coast,

of broad plateaus that descend abruptly on the
west in numerous deeply-cut valleys called fiords,
through which the sea penetrates nearly to the
heart of the plateaus. Fiords are valleys that
were deeply eroded by slowly moving masses of