The Enns is a southern tributary of the Danube River, joining northward at Enns, Austria. The Enns River spans , in a flat-J-shape.
Geography
The Enns has its source in the
Radstädter Tauern mountains in the
Austrian state of
Salzburg. In a valley which developed during the
ice age, it flows at the border between the
Northern Limestone Alps and the
Central Eastern Alps on an eastern trajectory through
Styria, where it passes the
Dachstein group at its southern side. Between
Admont and
Hieflau, it takes a turn to the North and passes through the
Gesäuse, a
gorge of a length of 15 km, where it penetrates the limestone of the
Ennstaler Alpen. Flowing to the north from there on, it reaches the state of
Upper Austria at the mouth of the
Laußabach. North of
Steyr, it forms the border between Upper Austria and
Lower Austria (formerly also known as
Austria above the Enns and
Austria below the Enns). Finally, it meets the Danube at
Mauthausen and the city of
Enns.
The Enns is a typical wild water river and draws its water from an area of more than 6,000 km², which is the fifth largest in Austria. The average outflow at its mouth is 201 m³ per second.
History
In the middle of the 19th century, canals began to be built along the 70 km between
Weißenbach and the
Gesäuse in order to make use of the water for
agriculture and
forestry.
In total, ten power plants with a total generative power of 345 megawatts have been built by the Ennskraftwerke AG.
Towns along the river
in Salzburg
Radstadt
in Styria
Schladming
Gröbming
Liezen
Selzthal
Admont
in Upper Austria
Großraming
Ternberg
Garsten
Steyr
Enns
Power stations
Schönau
Weyer
Großraming
Losenstein
Ternberg
Rosenau
Garsten - St. Ulrich am Waasen
Staning
Mühlrading
St. Pantaleon
Tributaries
The most important inflows are the
Palten, the
Salza and the
Steyr.
Transport
A major transit route connecting
Germany and
Slovenia through
Austria runs through the Enns valley.
The so-called
Eisenstraße runs along the river between Hieflau and Enns, along which
iron ore has been transported from the Styrian
Erzberg (
ore mountain) to the
steel mill in
Linz.
Notes
References
"Karte-Enns" (river map in German), RadTouren.at (Austria), May 2009, webpage:
/media.php/3210/karte-ennsradweg1.jpg RT-map (236kb).
Category:Rivers of Austria
Category:Tributaries of the Danube