Fold Mountains - Case Study - The Alps

Fold Mountains - Case Study - The Alps

1. The Alps is a Fold mountain range

   • Location: Central Europe - It stretches across Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstien, Solvenia and Switzerland
   • Formation: The Alps were formed about 30 million years ago by the collision between the African and European plates
   • Tallest Peak: Mount Blanc at 4810 M in the Italian-French Boarder
   • Population: Around 12 million people

2. People Use That Alps For Lots Of Things!

   • Farming
     • The Steep upland areas are used to farm goats, which provide milk, cheese and meat
     • Some sunnier slopes have been terraced to plant vineyards (E.G Lavaux, Switzerlan
   • Tourism
     • 100 million tourists visit the Alps each year making tourism a huge part of the economy
     • 70% of the Tourists visit the steep, snow covered mountains in the winter for Skiing, Snowboarding and Ice climbing.
       • In the summer people go walking, mountain biking, paragliding and climbing.
     • New villages have been build to cater for the quantity of the tourists, E.g Tignes in France
     • Ski runs, ski lifts, cable cars, holiday chalets and restaurants pepper the landscape
   • Hydro-Electric power (HEP)
     • The narrow valleys are dammed to generate HEP, e.g in the Berne area in Switzerland.
       • Switzerland gets 60% of its electricity from HEP stations in the Alps
     • The electricity produced is used locally to power home and businesses. It's also exported to towns and cities further away
   • Mining
     • Salt, iron ore, gold, silver and copper were mined in the Alps, but the mining has declined dramatically due to cheaper foreign sources
   • Forestry
     • Scots Pine is planted all over the Alps because it's more resilient to the munching goats, which kill native tree spalings
     • The trees are logged and soled to make things like furniture

3. People have adapted to the conditions in the Alps

   • STEEP RELIEF: Goats are farmed there because they're well adapted to live on steep mountains.
     • Trees and man-made defences are used to protect against avalanches and rock slides
   • POOR SOILS: Animal are grazed in most high areas as the soil isn't great for growing crops
   • LIMITED COMMUNICATIONS: Roads have been built over passes (lower points between mountains)
     • E.g the Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy
     • It takes a long time to drive over passes and they can be blocked by snow, so tunnels have been built through the mountains to provide fast transport
       • For example, the Lotchberg Base Tunnel has been cut through the Bernese Alps in Switzerland