referred to not only have more or less well-marked breaks between
them, but are themselves so notched by passes and cut by transverse
valleys as to present great facilities for crossing in proportion to their
average altitude. The first and second of these points have special
importance with reference to the climate and will accordingly be
considered more fully under that head. The second is also of importance
with reference to the means of communication, to which
the third also refers, and detailed consideration of these points in
that relation will be reserved for that heading. Here, however, it
may be noted that in Europe the distribution of the natural resources
for the maintenance of the inhabitants is such that, if we leave out
of account Russia, which is almost entirely outside of the series
of highlands running east and west, the population north of the mountains
is roughly about 50% greater than that south of the mountains,
whereas in Asia the population north of the east and west highland
barrier is utterly insignificant as compared with that to the south.
From the table given on p. 909 (col. 1) it will be seen that the most extensive of the highland areas of Europe is that of Scandinavia, which has a general trend from south-south-west to north-north-east, and is completely detached by seas and plains from the highland area to the south. There are other completely detached highland areas in Iceland, the British Isles, the Ural Mountains, the small Yaila range in the south of the Crimea, and the Mediterranean islands. The connected series of highlands is that which extends from the Iberian peninsula to the Black Sea stretching in the middle of Germany northwards to about 52° N. In the Iberian peninsula we have the most marked example of the tableland form in Europe, and these tablelands are bounded on the north by the Cantabrian Mountains, which descend to the sea, and the Pyrenees, which, except at their extremities, cut off the Iberian peninsula from the adjoining country more extensively than any other chain in the continent. Between the foot-hills of the Pyrenees, however, and those of the central plateau of France the ground sinks in the Passage of Naurouse or Gap of Carcassonne to a well-marked gap establishing easy communication between the valley of the Garonne and the lower part of that of the Rhone. The highlands in the north spread northwards and then north-eastwards till they join the Vosges, but sink in elevation towards the north-east so as to allow of several easy crossings. East of the Vosges the Rhine valley forms an important trough running north and south through the highlands of western Germany. To the south of the Vosges again undulating country of less than 1500 ft. in elevation, the well-known Burgundy Gate or Gap of Belfort, constitutes a well-marked break between those mountains and the Jura, and establishes easy communication between the Rhine and the Saône-Rhone valleys. The latter valley divides in the clearest manner the highlands of central France from both the Alps and the Jura, while between these last two systems there lies the wedge of the Swiss midlands contracting south-westwards to a narrow but important gap at the outlet of the Lake of Geneva. Between the Alps and the mountains of the Italian and Balkan peninsulas the orographical lines of demarcation are less distinct, but on the north the valley of the Danube mostly forms a wide separation between the Alps and the mountains of the Balkan peninsula on the south and the highlands of Bohemia and Moravia, the Carpathians and the Transylvanian Alps on the north. The valleys of the Eger and the Elbe form distinct breaks in the environment of Bohemia, and the Sudetes on the north-east of Bohemia and Moravia are even more clearly divided from the Carpathians by the valley of the upper Oder, the Moravian Gate, as it is called, which forms the natural line of communication between the south-east of Prussia and Vienna.
An estimate has been made by Strelbitsky of the length and of the area of the basins of all the principal rivers of Europe. In the table on p. 909 all the estimates given without any special authority are based on Strelbitsky’s figures, but it should be mentioned that the estimates of length made by him evidently Rivers. do not take into account minor windings, and are therefore generally less than those given by others. The authorities are separately cited for the originals of all other figures given in the table.[1]
The observations on the temperature of European rivers have been collected and discussed by Dr Adolf E. Forster.[2] He finds that the dominant factor in determining that temperature is the temperature of the air above, but that rivers are divisible into four groups with respect to the relation between these temperatures at different seasons of the year. These groups are rivers flowing from glaciers, in which the temperature is warmer than the air in winter, colder in summer; rivers flowing from lakes, characterized by peculiarly high winter temperatures, in consequence of which the mean temperature for the year is always above that of the air; rivers flowing from springs, which, at least near their source, are more rapidly cooled by low than warmed by high air temperatures; and rivers of the plains, which have a higher mean temperature than the air in all months of the year.
In various parts of Europe, more particularly in calcareous regions, such as the Jura, the Causses in the south-east of France, and the Karst in the north-west of the Balkan peninsula, there are numerous subterranean or partly subterranean rivers. Several of the more important rivers are of very irregular flow, and some are subject to really formidable floods. This is particularly the case with rivers a large part of whose basin is made up of crystalline or other impervious rocks with steep slopes, like those of the Loire in France and the Ebro in Spain. The Danube and its tributaries, the great rivers of Germany, above all eastern Germany, and those of Italy, are also notorious for their inundations. In southern Europe, where the summers are nearly rainless, most of the rivers disappear altogether in that season.
| Name of Lake and Country. | Height above Sea. |
Area. | Greatest Depth. |
Mean Depth. |
Volume. Millions of Cub. Ft. |
| Ft. | Sq. m. | Ft. | Ft. | ||
| Ladoga, Russia | 15 | 7004 | 730 | .. | .. |
| Onega, Russia | 115 | 3765 | About 1200 | .. | .. |
| Vener, Sweden | 145 | 2149 | 280 | .. | .. |
| Chudskoye or Peipus, Russia | 100 | 1357[3] | 90 | .. | .. |
| Vetter, Sweden | 290 | 733 | 415 | .. | .. |
| Saima, Russia | 255 | 680 | 185 | .. | .. |
| Päjäne, Russia | 255 | 608 | .. | .. | .. |
| Enare, Russia | 490 | 549 | .. | .. | .. |
| Segozero, Russia | 481 | 140 | .. | .. | .. |
| Mälar, Sweden | 1.6 | 449 | 170 | .. | .. |
| Byelo-Ozero, Russia | 400 | 434 | 35 | .. | .. |
| Pielis, Russia | 305 | 422 | .. | .. | .. |
| Topozero, Russia | .. | 411 | .. | .. | .. |
| Uleå, Russia | 375 | 380 | 60 | .. | .. |
| Ilmen, Russia | 107 | 358 | .. | .. | .. |
| Vigozero, Russia | .. | 332 | .. | .. | .. |
| Imandra, Russia | .. | 329 | .. | .. | .. |
| Balaton, Hungary | 350 | 266 | 13 | .. | .. |
| Geneva, France and Switzerland | 1220 | 225 | 1015 | 500 | 3,140,000 |
| Kovdozero, Russia | .. | 225 | .. | .. | .. |
| Constance, Germany and Switzerland | 1295 | 208 | 825 | 295 | 1,711,000 |
| Hjelmar, Sweden | 79 | 187 | 60 | .. | .. |
| Neagh, Ireland | 48 | 153 | 113 | .. | .. |
| Kubinskoye, Russia | .. | 152 | .. | .. | .. |
| Mjösen, Norway | 395 | 152 | 1485 | .. | .. |
| Garda, Italy and Austria | 215 | 143 | 1135 | 445 | 1,757,000 |
| Torne-träsk, Sweden | 1140 | 139 | .. | .. | .. |
| Neusiedler-see, Hungary | 370 | 137 | 13 | .. | .. |
| Scutari, Turkey | 20 | About 130 | 33 | 12½ | 45,900 |
| Siljan, Sweden | .. | 123 | .. | .. | .. |
| Virzjärvi, Russia | 115 | 107 | 24 | .. | .. |
| Seliger, Russia | 825 | 100 | 105 | .. | .. |
| Stor Afvan, Sweden | 1370 | 92 | 925 | .. | .. |
| Yalpukh, Russia | .. | 89 | .. | .. | .. |
| Neuchâtel, Switzerland | 1415 | 85 | 500 | 210 | 500,000 |
| Ylikitkakärvi, Russia | 680 | 85 | 30 | .. | .. |
| Maggiore, Italy and Switzerland | 645 | 82 | 1220 | 575 | 1,316,000 |
| Corrib, Ireland | 30 | 71 | 152 | .. | .. |
| Como, Italy | 655 | 56 | 1360 | .. | .. |
For many European lakes, especially the smaller ones, estimates have been made of the mean depth and the volume. A list of all the European lakes for which the altitude, extent, and greatest depth could be ascertained, compiled by Dr K. Peucker, is published in the Geog. Zeitschrift (1896), pp. Lakes and marshes. 606-616, where estimates of the mean depth and the volume are also given where procurable. The table given above, comprising only the larger lakes, is mainly based on this list, where the original authorities are mentioned. The figures entered in the table not taken
- ↑ In other parts of this work areas of river-basins and lakes, and other measurements, may be observed to conflict in some degree with those given here. Various authorities naturally differ, both in methods of estimating and in standards of precision.
- ↑ Penck’s Geographische Abhandlungen, vol. v. pt. iv. (Vienna, 1894); noticed in Geog. Journ. vol. vi. p. 264.
- ↑ Including L. Pskov as well as the connecting arm known as Teploye.
