The Gurk (; sl, Krka) is a river in the Austrian state of

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

, a left tributary of the

Drava The Drava or Drave''Utrata Fachwörterbuch ...

. With a length of it is the longest river running entirely within Carinthia. Its drainage basin is , which covers about 27% of the state's territory. Reichenau Seebach Gurktal 18032011 222

The Gurk rises in the Nock Mountains (Gurktal Alps) range of the Central Eastern Alps, near the border with 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 ...

. Its sources are two small

cirque A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform ...

lakes, the Gurksee and the Torersee near Albeck and the Turracher Höhe Pass, a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

since 1981. The Gurksee has an elevation of , an area of , and is deep; the Torersee lies above sea level, has an area of , and is deep. Since both lake are frozen in the winter, they contain no fish. It flows southwest to Ebene Reichenau and then turns eastwards running through Gnesau and the Gurktal valley to the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

of Gurk. Near Straßburg it again turns to the south, enters the

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

basin, and flows into the Drava west of Völkermarkt. Its tributaries include the , the Metnitz (left), and the Glan (right).

References

*The information in this article is based on a translation of its German equivalent. *W. Honsig-Erlenburg, G. Wieser: ''Die Gurk und ihre Seitengewässer''. Verlag des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins für Kärnten, Klagenfurt 1997, Rivers of Carinthia (state) Rivers of Austria {{Austria-river-stub