The Kreuzeck Group is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have ari ...

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 ...

. It may be considered either a separate range or part of the larger

High Tauern The High Tauern ( pl.; german: Hohe Tauern, it, Alti Tauri) are a mountain range on the main chain of the Central Eastern Alps, comprising the highest peaks east of the Brenner Pass. The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian states of ...

chain. Administratively, the range belongs to 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 states 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 language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Bavarian group. Carin ...

and, in the westernmost part,

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

(i.e.

East Tyrol East Tyrol, occasionally East Tirol (german: Osttirol), is an exclave of the Austrian state of Tyrol, separated from the main North Tyrol part by the short common border of Salzburg and Italian South Tyrol (''Südtirol'', it, Alto Adige). It i ...

Geography

The Kreuzeck Group is geographically separated from the main chain of the High Tauern in the north by the Möll, a left tributary of the

Drava The Drava or Drave''Utrata Fachwörterbuch ...

, up to the confluence within the

Lurnfeld Lurnfeld is a market town in the district of Spittal an der Drau in the Austrian state of Carinthia. The municipality consists of the two Katastralgemeinden: Möllbrücke and Pusarnitz, comprising several small villages. It is located within th ...

basin in the east. In the south, the Drava forms the border with the Gailtal Alps, part of the

Southern Limestone Alps The Southern Limestone Alps ( it, Alpi Sud-orientali, german: Südliche Kalkalpen), also called the Southern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps south of the Central Eastern Alps mainly located in northern Italy and the adjacen ...

. The

Iselsberg Pass The Iselsberg Pass, at , is a high mountain pass in the Austrian Alps between the states of Tyrol and Carinthia. It separates the mountains of the Kreuzeck group in the south from the Schober group in the north, both parts of the Hohe Tauern ra ...

near

Lienz Lienz (; Southern Bavarian: ''Lianz'') is a medieval town in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative centre of the Lienz district, which covers all of East Tyrol. The municipality also includes the cadastral subdivision of '' ...

, connecting the Drava and Möll valleys, marks the western end. The range is mainly composed of

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...

and

garnet Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. All species of garnets possess similar physical properties and crystal forms, but differ in chemical composition. The different ...

- mica-schists. The mountainous area (approximately 450 km²) is sparsely populated and used mainly for

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

and

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

. However, its tourism industry has improved in recent years. The area of the

Reißeck Reißeck is a municipality in the district of Spittal an der Drau in Carinthia, Austria. Geography Situated within the valley of the Möll river, a tributary to the Drava, Reißeck is located about northwest of the district capital Spittal an ...

municipality in the Möll valley is the site of the ''Reißeck-Kreuzeck''

hydroelectric power plant Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

run by the Austrian Verbund company, whereby water is collected in several

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contr ...

s in the Kreuzeck range. Though named after Mt. Kreuzeck (), the highest peaks of the range are the Mölltaler Polinik (), Striedenkopf (), and Hochkreuz ().

Classification

According to the

Alpine Club classification of the Eastern Alps The Alpine Club classification of the Eastern Alps (german: Alpenvereinseinteilung der Ostalpen, AVE) is a common division of the Eastern Alps into 75 mountain ranges, based on the Moriggl Classification (ME) first published in 1924 by the German ...

, the Kreuzeck group (AVE 43) together with the Rieserferner group, the

Villgraten Mountains The Villgraten Mountains (german: Villgratner Berge) or Deferegg Alps (''Deferegger Alpen''), also called the Defreggen Mountains (''Defreggengebirge'', archaically also with ''"ff"'') are a subgroup of the Austrian Central Alps within the Eastern ...

(''Defereggen'') and the Schober group forms the southern front of the High Tauern ranges, a section of the Alpine divide. According to the 2005

SOIUSA Alps by SOIUSA. SOIUSA (an acronym for - English: ''International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps-ISMSA'') is a proposal for a new classification system of the Alps from the geographic and toponomastic point of view. It was desig ...

(''International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps'') proposal, the Kreuzeck group (II/A-17.IV.) is a subsection of the

Western Tauern Alps The Western Tauern Alps (german: Westliche Tauernalpen, it, Alpi dei Tauri occidentali) are a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps. Geography The range is bound by the Salzach river in the north; in the south the upper Drava and the Rien ...

References

Literature

* Manfred Posch: Reißeck, Kreuzeck. Die schönsten Touren, Klagenfurt 2000, Kärntner Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H., * Rudolf Gritsch : ''Kleiner Führer Kreuzeck-, Reißeck- und Sadniggruppe.'' Rother-Verlag, Munich, 1977,

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kreuzeck Group Mountain ranges of the Alps Mountain ranges of Tyrol (state) Mountain ranges of Carinthia (state)