The Gurk (; sl, Krka) is a river in the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n state of Carinthia, a left tributary of the Drava. With a length of it is the longest river running entirely within Carinthia. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is , which covers about 27% of the state's territory. Reichenau Seebach Gurktal 18032011 222

The Gurk rises in the

Nock Mountains The Nock Mountains (german: Nockberge or ''Nockgebirge'') are the westernmost and highest mountain range of the Gurktal Alps in Austria, spread over parts of the federal states of Carinthia, Salzburg and Styria. Their appearance is characterised ...

(Gurktal Alps) range of the

Central Eastern Alps The Central Eastern Alps (german: Zentralalpen or Zentrale Ostalpen), also referred to as Austrian Central Alps (german: Österreichische Zentralalpen) or just Central Alps, comprise the main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacen ...

, near the border with the Austrian state of Styria. Its sources are two small cirque lakes, the Gurksee and the Torersee near Albeck and the

Turracher Höhe Pass Turracher Höhe, also called Turracherhöhe, refers to a village, a pass across the Alps, and a countryside in the Gurktal Alps in Austria. The village and the Turracher Lake at the pass, which both share the same name, are separated by the bor ...

, a protected area since 1981. The Gurksee has an elevation of , an area of , and is deep; the Torersee lies above sea level, has an area of , and is deep. Since both lake are frozen in the winter, they contain no fish. It flows southwest to Ebene Reichenau and then turns eastwards running through

Gnesau Gnesau is a town in the district of Feldkirchen in the Austrian state of Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main l ...

and the Gurktal valley to the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

of Gurk. Near

Straßburg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

it again turns to the south, enters the

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

basin, and flows into the Drava west of

Völkermarkt Völkermarkt (; sl, Velikovec) is a town of about 11,000 inhabitants in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the administrative capital of Völkermarkt District. It is located within the Drava valley east of the Carinthian capital Klagenfurt, north ...

. Its tributaries include the , the

Metnitz Metnitz ( sl, Metnica ) is a town in the district of Sankt Veit an der Glan in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Geography Metnitz lies in the north of Carinthia and includes most of the Metnitz valley and the surrounding Gurktal Alps The Gurkta ...

(left), and the Glan (right).

References

*The information in this article is based on a translation of its German equivalent. *W. Honsig-Erlenburg, G. Wieser: ''Die Gurk und ihre Seitengewässer''. Verlag des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins für Kärnten, Klagenfurt 1997, Rivers of Carinthia (state) Rivers of Austria {{Austria-river-stub