The Nock Mountains (german: Nockberge or ''Nockgebirge'') are the westernmost and highest mountain range of the

Gurktal Alps The Gurktal Alps (german: Gurktaler Alpen, sl, Krške Alpe) is a mountain range located in the Central Eastern Alps in Austria, named after the valley of the Gurk river. The range stretches west to Lake Millstatt and east to Neumarkter Sattel ...

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 ...

, spread over parts of the federal 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 ...

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

and

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered ...

. Their appearance is characterised by numerous dome-like and grass-covered summits (''Nocken''). Their highest peak is the Eisenhut in Styria which reaches an elevation of AA. In July 2012 the Nock Mountains and the adjacent

Lungau Bezirk Tamsweg is an administrative district (''Bezirk'') in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria. It is congruent with the Lungau region (). The administrative centre of the district is Tamsweg. Geography The area of the Lungau plateau is 1, ...

region were designated a

biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

. They were largely unglaciated in the Ice Age and were a

glacial refugium A glacial refugium (''plural refugia'') is a geographic region which made possible the survival of flora and fauna in times of ice ages and allowed for post-glacial re-colonization. Different types of glacial refugia can be distinguished, namely nun ...

Geography

As westernmost part of the Gurktal Alps, the Nock Mountains are separated from the

Low Tauern The Lower TauernThe New Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. 1, 2003, p. 86. or Niedere Tauern () are a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps, in the Austrian states of Salzburg and Styria. For the etymology of the name, see Tauern. Geograp ...

in the north, stretching as far as the

Katschberg Pass Katschberg Pass (el. ) is a high mountain pass in the Central Eastern Alps in Austria between Rennweg am Katschberg in the state of Carinthia and Sankt Michael im Lungau in Salzburg. Geography It connects the Carinthian Katsch Valley in the s ...

() in the west, by the Mur River. In the west, the rivers Lieser and

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

separate the Nock Mountains from the Ankogel Group of the

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 ...

and from the Gailtal Alps. South of Lake Ossiach they are adjoined by the lower Sattnitz range and 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, another part of the Gurktal Alps. To the east, within the Gurktal Alps they are bounded by a line from Gurk via Flattnitz Pass () to the Paalbach stream. The Nock Mountains may be divided into eight subgroups. South of Bad Kleinkirchheim are the

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a compan ...

s of the Mirnock massif () with a significant

topographic prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

of 1,343 m, the Wöllaner Nock () and the Gerlitzen () high above Lake Ossiach. The central region of the Nock Mountains is formed by the Millstätter Alpe () and the Rosennock (), the highest summit in Carinthia. In the north are the stocks of the Schwarzwand (), the Königstuhl () in Salzburg, which is also a

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

, and the Eisenhut (). The range has also been referred to in German language tourist brochures as the "Nocky Mountains", an

allusion Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...

to the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

.For example
www.merian.dewww.nockalmstrasse.atwww.speick.de
/ref>

National park

The central area formed the Nock Mountains

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

established by the Carinthian state government on 1 January 1987. The remote area had already been developed with the construction of the scenic Nockalm Road from 1979. Further plans for a

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee ( ...

region were averted by a citizens' initiative and a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

in 1980, whereby 94% of the voters declared themselves against the project. Despite its name, the ''Nationalpark Nockberge'' was designated a

protected landscape Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although t ...

(Category V) according to

IUCN protected area categories IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

. The territory of was entirely located within the Carinthian part of the range, along the border with Salzburg and Styria, stretching from Krems and the Lieser Valley in the west to Reichenau in the east, and down to Bad Kleinkirchheim and Radenthein in the south.

References

External links

{{commons category, Nockberge
Nock Mountains Biosphere Park
Mountain ranges of the Alps Mountain ranges of Carinthia (state) Mountain ranges of Salzburg (state) Mountain ranges of Styria Protected areas of the Alps