Nördliche Kalkalpen

Northern Limestone Alps, one of the main parts of the Austrian Alps Alps. The Northern Limestone Alps cross Austria from Vorarlberg to the Vienna basin (width: 25-45 km). They are bordered by the Greywacke Zone in the south, which constitutes its original geological substratum; during the process of formation the Northern Limestone Alps were pushed northwards over the central Alpine massif on top of the northern Flysch Zone and the molasse; the only part that remained in the south is the Drauzug mountain range. The Northern Limestone Alps are typical overthrust mountains and mainly consist of rock from the Mesozoic age with remarkable formations from the Alpine Triassic period, Wetterstein Limestone, Lunz Strata, Main Dolomite Rock, Dachstein Limestone).

The Northern Limestone Alps rise from the lower and wooded Limestone Pre-alps in the North (in Upper and Lower Austria) to the rocky and high Limestone Alps; east of the Kitzbüheler Ache river limestone stocks with rather dry tablelands prevail, east of the river steep mountain ranges with large talus slopes are predominant. They are heavily karstified but are hardly glacierized because of their steep crests in the west and their low altitude in the east (alt. of tops: 1,900 m - 2,500 m). Only mountains of the central range such as the Dachstein Massif (alt. 2,995 m), the Hochkönig Mountain (2,941 m) and the Schesaplana Mountain (2,965 m) in the outermost west are covered by glaciers. The highest peak in the Northern Limestone Alps is the Parseierspitze Peak (alt. 3,036 m) in the Lechtal Alps. The climate (especially in the west) is wet and cool; the Northern Limestone Alps are divided up according to provinces from west to east: North Tyrolean Limestone Alps, Salzburg Limestone Alps, Upper Austrian Limestone Alps and Styrian-Lower-Austrian Limestone Alps.