The East Styrian Hill Country or East Styrian Hills (german: Oststeirisches Hügelland or ''Oststeirisches Riedelland''), is a rolling, hill country region, known as ''

Hügelland ''Hügelland'' is a type of landscape consisting of low rolling hills whose topography or surface structure lies between that of a lowland region (plains or river terraces) and that of a more rugged hill range or low mountain range. The term is ...

'', in the southeast of the Austrian state of

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 to ...

Geography

The East Styrian Hill Country is part of the ''

Alpine Foreland The Alpine Foreland, less commonly called the Bavarian Foreland,Dickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, pp. 585-586. . Bavarian Plateau or Bavarian Alpine Foreland (german: Bayerisches ...

in the East and Southeast'' and extend over large parts of East Styria and Southeast Styria. They are characterised by elongated

hill ridge A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...

s or

interfluve An interfluve is a narrow, elongated and plateau-like or ridge-like landform between two valleys.Leser, Hartmut, ed. (2005). ''Wörterbuch Allgemeine Geographie'', 13th ed., dtv, Munich, p. 766, . More generally, an interfluve is defined as an ar ...

s (''Riedel''). They are bounded in the west and south by the River Mur and in the north by the

Prealps East of the Mur The Prealps East of the Mur (german: Randgebirge östlich der Mur) are the easternmost mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps. They comprise the eastern foothills of the Alpine crest beyond the Mur river and the adjacent southeastern Alpine F ...

, especially the eastern

Graz Uplands The Graz Highlands or Graz Mountains (german: Grazer Bergland) are a low mountain range north of the Styrian state capital of Graz in Austria. It is part of the Central Alps and forms the start of the Prealps East of the Mur. From a geological p ...

, the prominent Kulm massif and the

Joglland The Joglland is a heavily forested low mountain region in northeastern Styria in the districts of Hartberg-Fürstenfeld and Weiz. Today it forms the tourist region of ''Joglland–Waldheimat (Kraftspendedörfer Joglland)''. Its name is probably d ...

with its peak, the Masenberg. To the east it is bounded by the Lafnitz river. The East Styrian Hills cover an area of about 50 x 80 km, but continue as a landscape type

geologically Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...

and morphologically: * in the west as the smaller West Styrian Hills (''Weststeirisches Hügelland''), its boundary being formed by the Mur and both landscapes being called the ''

Styrian Hills Styrian may refer to: * Adjective for Styria * Styrian dialect group The Styrian dialect group (''štajerska narečna skupina'', ''štajerščina''Logar, Tine. 1996. ''Dialektološke in jezikovnozgodovinske razprave''. Ljubljana: SAZU, p. 52.) ...

'' * and in the east in the narrow

South Burgenland Burgenland (; hu, Őrvidék; hr, Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland;'' Slovene: ''Gradiščanska'') is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. It consists of two statutory cities and seven rural districts, with a total of ...

and towards

West Hungary West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

, where it is bounded in the north by the South Burgenland Hills (''Südburgenländische Schwelle'') and in the east by the

Pannonian Basin The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large Sedimentary basin, basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The Geomorphology, geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewh ...

*in a southerly direction (

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

) the hills continue - rather differently divided - as the

Slovene Hills The Slovene Hills or the Slovenian Hills ( sl, Slovenske gorice, german: Windische Bühel or ) is the largest hilly region of Slovenia, a smaller part is located in the Austrian province of Styria. It is situated in the northeast of the country and ...

(german: Windische Bühel, sl, Slovenske gorice) in

Lower Styria Styria ( sl, Štajerska), also Slovenian Styria (''Slovenska Štajerska'') or Lower Styria (''Spodnja Štajerska''; german: Untersteiermark), is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy o ...

(''Spodnja Štajerska'') and '' Goričko'' in the

Prekmurje Prekmurje (; dialectically: ''Prèkmürsko'' or ''Prèkmüre''; hu, Muravidék) is a geographically, linguistically, culturally and ethnically defined region of Slovenia, settled by Slovenes and a Hungarian minority, lying between the Mur Ri ...

(Upper Mur region) for another 30 km or so. AvI Grätzer Kreis, nördliche Untersteiermark

Most of the valleys in the entire region run southwards to southeastwards, which gives the

orography Orography is the study of the topographic relief of mountains, and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain. Orography (also known as ''oreography'', ''orology'' or ''oreology'') falls within the broader discipl ...

its typical divisions. The region is drained by the Mur as well as the waters of the

Raab Raab is a market town (''Marktgemeinde'') in the district of Schärding in Upper Austria in Austria. History The village historically belonged to the Duchy of Bavaria until the Treaty of Teschen transferred the area to Austria in 1780. During t ...

and , and the valley of the

Lafnitz Lafnitz () is a municipality in the district of Hartberg-Fürstenfeld in Styria, Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps ...

forms the boundary.

Literature

* Peter Krenn: ''Die Oststeiermark. Ihre Kunstwerke, Historischen Lebens- und Siedlungsformen.'' Erweiterte Neuauflage, Reihe Styria regional, Verlag Styria, Graz, 1997, .

External links

Hill country east of Graz

Webseite of East Styria

{{Authority control Geography of Styria Prealps East of the Mur