Portal:Alpine Rhine/Alpine Rhine

Near Tamins-Reichenau, the Anterior and Posterior Rhine unite to form the Alpine Rhine. Over a distance of just 86 kilometres the river drops from a height of 599 metres above sea level to 396 metres. The Rhine initially bends sharply to the north near Chur, the capital of Grisons. The Rhine Valley is a broad, glacially-shaped, alpine box valley. Near Sargans, an escarpment only a few metres high prevents the Rhine from flowing through the open Seeztal valley through the Walensee and Lake Zurich towards the River Aare. Below that its western shore is Swiss, to the east it borders on Liechtenstein and then Austria. The Rhine, which is very light in coloured due to suspensoids has filled the upper part of Lake Constance with large amounts of sediment ... « more »