The Alps - Fold mountains case study

Location: Central Euripe

Formation: Formed about 30 million years ago by the colision between African and European plates

Tallest peak: Mont Blanc 4810m on the Italian-French border

population: Around 12 million

Uses:

farming : The steep upland areas are used to farm goats which provide milk, cheese and meat, Some sunnier slopes have been taraced to plant vinyards (eg. Lavaux, Switserland)

Hydro-Electric power - The narrow valleys are dammed to generate HEP eg. in the Berne area in switzerland 60% of electisity comes from HEP. The electricity produced is used locally to power homes and buisnesses. Its also exported to towns and cities further away

Tourism: 100 million tourists visit the alps each year making tourism a huge part of the economy, 70% of tourists visit the steep snow covered mountins in the winter for skiing, snowboarding and ice climbing. In the summer they come for walking, mountain biking, paragliding and climbing. New villages have been built to cater for the quantity of tourists (eg. tignes, france.)

Mining: Salt, iron ore, gold, silver and copper were mined in the alps, but the mining has declined dramaticly due to cheaper foreign sorces.

Forestry: Scots Pine is planted all over the alps because it is more resiliant to the goats that kill native tree saplings. The trees are logged and sold to make things like furniture