The Möll (; presumably from sl, Mel, "rubble") is a river in northwestern

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 ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, a left

tributary 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 ...

of the

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

. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

is .

Course

The river rises in the High Tauern range of the Central Eastern Alps on the

Pasterze Glacier The Pasterze, at approximately 8.4 kilometres (5.2 mi) in length, is the longest glacier in Austria and in the Eastern Alps. It lies within the Glockner Group of the High Tauern mountain range in Carinthia, directly beneath Austria's hig ...

at the foot of the

Grossglockner The Grossglockner (german: Großglockner ; or just ''Glockner'') is, at 3,798 metres above the Adriatic (12,461 ft), the highest mountain in Austria and the highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass. It is part of the larger Glock ...

, the highest mountain in Austria. It discharges after near

Möllbrücke Lurnfeld is a market town in the district of Spittal an der Drau in the Austrian state of Carinthia. The municipality consists of the two Katastralgemeinden: Möllbrücke and Pusarnitz, comprising several small villages. It is located within the ...

into the Drava. At the beginning of its course, at the southeastern end of the

, it is impounded to form the Margaritze Reservoir, from where part of the water is diverted via pressure tunnels across the Alpine crest and Mt. Wiesbachhorn to the reservoirs of the Verbund hydroelectric power plant in Kaprun,

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

Himmelbauer Obervellach Mölltal 2013 08j

The Möll then runs down to Heiligenblut, parallel to the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, and further southwards separating the mountains of the Schober Group in the west from the

Goldberg Group The Goldberg Group is a sub-group of the Hohe Tauern mountain range within the Central Eastern Alps. It is located in Austria, in the states of Salzburg and Carinthia. Its highest peak is the Hocharn, . Other well known summits are the Hoher Sonn ...

in the east. In the municipality of

Winklern Winklern is a town in the district of Spittal an der Drau in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Geography The municipality lies at the foot of the Großglockner massif between the Schober, Goldberg, and Kreuzeck groups in the upper Möll valley T ...

, near the border with

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

( East Tyrol) at

Iselsberg Pass The Iselsberg Pass, at , is a high mountain pass in the Austrian Alps between the States of Austria, states of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and Carinthia (state), Carinthia. It separates the mountains of the Kreuzeck group in the south from the Schober g ...

, it turns eastwards running through the broad lower part of the Möll Valley (german: Mölltal) along the northern rim of the Kreuzeck Group. Downstream near Stall the Möll waters are again impounded into the Gößnitz Reservoir. At Obervellach the river course is joined by the parallel Tauern Railway line descending from Mallnitz and the southern Tauern Tunnel portal. Near Kolbnitz and its confluence with the Drava the Möll is once again dammed up to create the Rottau

equalizing basin An equalizing basin (german: Ausgleichsbecken) or equalizing reservoir regulates the flow of water below an intermittently operated hydropower station or peaking power plant. This could be a part-load power station (''Teillast-Durchfluss-Kraftwer ...

. From here some of the water is diverted to the lower stage of the Malta-Reisseck Power Plant in Möllbrücke. The Möll is a popular

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...

white water river and one of the preferred rafting rivers in Carinthia.

Gallery

File:Goessnitzer stausee.jpg, Gößnitz Reservoir File:Moell Penk seen from Zwenberg.jpg, Möll near Penk, seen from the Zwenberg File: Rafting Moell.jpg, Rafting near Napplach File:Reservoir rottau.jpg, Rottau equalizing basin. Right: the Oberwasser channel, that leads to Möll Valley Power Station. Left: the natural river bed though which only a fraction of the water flows. File:Malta Unterstufe and Drau.jpg, Möll Valley Power Station. The water now empties into the Drau before the actual mouth of the Möll (left).

References

External links

Hydrographic service in Carinthia - online survey data
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moll Rivers of Carinthia (state) Rivers of Austria