The Mürzsteg Alps or Mürztal Alps (german: Mürztaler or Mürzsteger Alpen) are a mountain range in the Eastern Alps ( Northern Limestone Alps), which lie in 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 ...

, with a small part of the range in

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

. The highest peak is the Hohe Veitsch () in the centre of the group, while largest massif is the

Schneealpe The Schneealpe or Schneealm is a limestone massif in the Northern Limestone Alps on the Styrian-Lower Austrian border. Its highest point is the Windberg at 1,903 metres above sea level. Other peaks are the ''Ameisbühel'' (also Amaißbichl, 1 ...

() in the northwest, near the

Rax The Rax is a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps on the border of the Austrian federal provinces of Lower Austria and Styria. Its highest peak is the ''Heukuppe'' (2,007 m). The Rax, together with the nearby Schneeberg, are a tradition ...

. The following ranges border on the Mürzsteg Alps: to the north the

Türnitz Alps The Türnitz Alps (german: Türnitzer Alpen) is a mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps in southern Lower Austria and the adjacent state of Styria. It stretches from the Erlauf (river), Erlauf valley in the west to the valleys of the Trai ...

, to the northeast the

Gutenstein Alps The Gutenstein Alps (german: Gutensteiner Alpen) are a mountain range in the Eastern Alps in Central Europe, and the northeasternmost part of the Northern Limestone Alps, reaching heights over 1,000 m. Topography Die Gutenstein Alps are ...

, to the east the

Rax-Schneeberg Group The Rax-Schneeberg Group (german: Rax-Schneeberg-Gruppe) is a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps on the Styrian-Lower Austrian border in Austria. Location According to the official classification of the Eastern Alps by the Alpine Cl ...

, to the southeast the Prealps east of the Mur (specifically the

Fischbach Alps The Fischbach Alps (german: Fischbacher Alpen) are part of the Prealps East of the Mur. Location and countryside The Fischbach Alps are a gentle, elongated mountain range in the Alps, with the character of a low mountain range and covered in fo ...

) and to the west the

Hochschwab Mountains The Hochschwab, Hochschwab Mountains, Hochschwab Alps or Hochschwab Group (german: Hochschwabgruppe) is a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps of Austria. The range is in the Styria. The highest peak is also called Hochschwab and is 2,2 ...

Geology

The range is part of the Styrian-Lower Austrian Limestone Alps and is separated from its neighbouring groups by the Mürz valley (part of the tectonically active Mur-Mürz Furrow), the upper reaches of the Mürz (main settlement:

Mürzsteg Mürzsteg is a former municipality in the district of Bruck-Mürzzuschlag in the Austrian state of Styria. Since the 2015 Styria municipal structural reform, it is part of the municipality Neuberg an der Mürz. Culture and sightseeing Museums ...

) and the road over the Styrian Seeberg Pass. It is described by geologists as a ridge-and-basin

facies In geology, a facies ( , ; same pronunciation and spelling in the plural) is a body of rock with specified characteristics, which can be any observable attribute of rocks (such as their overall appearance, composition, or condition of formatio ...

. The majority of its rocks date to the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

period and include

Wetterstein Dolomite The Wetterstein Formation is a regional geologic formation of the Northern Limestone Alps and Western Carpathians extending from southern Bavaria, Germany in the west, through northern Austria to northern Hungary and western Slovakia in the east. ...

Hallstatt Hallstatt ( , , ) is a small town in the district of Gmunden, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Situated between the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See and the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif, the town lies in the Salzkammergut ...

Limestone and Mürztal strata (dark, hornstein-dominated

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

s and

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part o ...

s with

foraminifer Foraminifera (; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm for catching food and other uses; and commonly an ...

s, brachiopods and other

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s).
The south of the range belong to the

greywacke zone The greywacke zone is a band of Paleozoic metamorphosed sedimentary rocks that forms an east-west band through the Austrian Alps. The greywacke zone crops out between the Mesozoic rocks of the Northern Calcareous Alps and the Austroalpine and Pe ...

(rocks from the New

Palaeozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and '' ...

and the Lower Triassic).

Mountain huts

* Graf-Meran House ( ÖTK, , on the highlands of the Hohe Veitsch) * Schneealpen House (ÖAV, , on the Schauerkogel/Schneealpe) * Hinteralm House ( ÖAV, , north of the

) * Kutatsch Hut (, open shelter belonging to the ÖAV on the Schneealpe) * Lurgbauer Hut (private, , on the upper slopes of the Schneealpe) * Michlbauer Hut (private, , on the upper slopes Schneealpe) * Tonion Hut ( Friends of Nature, , on the Tonion) * Kaarl Hut (private, , west of Mürzzuschlag) {{DEFAULTSORT:Murzsteg Alps Mountain ranges of the Alps Northern Limestone Alps Greywacke zone Mountain ranges of Styria Mountain ranges of Lower Austria