The Dauphiné Alps (french: Alpes du Dauphiné) are a group of mountain ranges in Southeastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, west of the main chain of the Alps. Mountain ranges within the Dauphiné Alps include the

Massif des Écrins The mountains of the Massif des Écrins (; Écrins Massif) form the core of Écrins National Park in Hautes-Alpes and Isère in the French Alps.Écrins National Park Écrins National Park (french: parc national des Écrins, ; oc, parc Nacional dels Escrinhs) is a French national park located in the southeastern part of France in the Dauphiné Alps south of Grenoble and north of Gap, shared between the dep ...

, Belledonne,

Le Taillefer Le Taillefer is a mountain in the Dauphiné Alps, culminating at a height of . It is located south-east of Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image si ...

range and the mountains of

Matheysine Matheysine is a French Natural region located in the Alps at the south of the Isère département. Its relief is a plateau surrounded by mountains. Matheysine is also called Plateau Matheysin. Geography The Plateau Matheysin is located in the I ...

Etymology

The ''

Dauphiné The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois. In the 12th centu ...

'' () is a former French province whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of :Isère, :Drôme, and :Hautes-Alpes.

Geography

They are separated from the

Cottian Alps The Cottian Alps (; french: Alpes Cottiennes ; it, Alpi Cozie ) are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between France (Hautes-Alpes and Savoie) and Italy (Piedmont). The Fréjus Road Tunnel and Fréjus Ra ...

in the east by the

Col du Galibier The Col du Galibier (el. ) is a mountain pass in the southern region of the French Dauphiné Alps near Grenoble. It is the eighth highest paved road in the Alps, and recurrently the highest point of the Tour de France. It connects Saint-Mi ...

and the upper

Durance The Durance (; ''Durença'' in the Occitan classical norm or ''Durènço'' in the Mistralian norm) is a major river in Southeastern France. A left tributary of the Rhône, it is long. Its drainage basin is .Graian Alps , it, Alpi Graie , photo = , photo_caption = , country_type = Countries , country = , subdivision1_type = Provinces/Regions , subdivision1 = , parent = Alps , borders_on = ...

( Vanoise Massif) in the north-east by the river Arc; from the lower ranges

Vercors Plateau The Vercors Massif is a range in France consisting of rugged plateaus and mountains straddling the ''départements'' of Isère and Drôme in the French Prealps. It lies west of the Dauphiné Alps, from which it is separated by the rivers Drac ...

and

Chartreuse Mountains The Chartreuse Mountains (french: massif de la Chartreuse ) are a mountain range in southeastern France, stretching from the city of Grenoble in the south to the Lac du Bourget in the north. They are part of the French Prealps, which continue a ...

in the west by the rivers Drac and

Isère Isère ( , ; frp, Isera; oc, Isèra, ) is a landlocked department in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.Barre des Écrins The Barre des Écrins () is a mountain in the French Alps with a peak elevation of . It is the highest peak of the Massif des Écrins and the Dauphiné Alps and the most southerly alpine peak in Europe that is higher than 4,000 metres. It is the ...

(4,102 m) the highest. Administratively the French part of the range belongs to the

French departments In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety-s ...

Isère Isère ( , ; frp, Isera; oc, Isèra, ) is a landlocked department in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.Hautes-Alpes Hautes-Alpes (; oc, Auts Aups; en, Upper Alps) is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. It is located in the heart of the French Alps, after which it is named. Hautes-Alpes had a population of 141,220 ...

and

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population of ...

. The whole range is drained by the Rhone through its

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...

. It has been proposed that the height of mountains in the Dauphiné Alps is limited by the

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

caused by small glaciers, causing a topographic effect called the

glacial buzzsaw The glacial buzzsaw is a hypothesis claiming erosion by warm-based glaciers is key to limit the height of mountains above certain threshold altitude. To this the hypothesis adds that great mountain massifs are leveled towards the equilibrium line a ...

Peaks

The chief peaks of the Dauphiné Alps are:

Passes

The chief passes of the Dauphiné Alps are:

References

Maps

* French official cartography (''

Institut Géographique National An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

'' - IGN); on-line version
www.geoportail.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dauphine Alps Mountain ranges of the Alps Mountain ranges of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Mountain ranges of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur