The Graz Basin
The Mur River system of the Graz Basin also opens towards a foreign country, Slovenia. Relatively low elevation gives rise to a fairly warm climate and to more intensive agriculture than in any other Alpine region. The value of the basin for Austria, however, lies in the existence of mineral resources, especially iron ore, as well as of sources of power in the form of lignite and water. These make the capital, Graz, not only a rural market and universal city, but also the center of industrial development.
The Alpine Foreland
South of the Austrian Danube the Alpine Foreland continues eastward from Bavaria. Glacial lakes and beautiful scenery along the base of the mountains give rise to numerous summer resorts. A cover of loess makes for great fertility in the hilly section with its entrenched river valleys, and widespread grain fields distinguish this Foreland as Austria's best farming region aside from the Vienna Basin.
The Bohemian Plateau
North of the Danube lies the southern part of the Bohemian Plateau. In places it even extends south of the river, for instead of everywhere following the edge of the Alpine Foreland, the Danube has in some places cut its way into the plateau. The old erosion surface rises gently toward the divide between the Danube and the Elbe, which the present boundary more or less follows. Part of this upland, especially the eastern section, is of good fertility and is devoted to crops, but on the poorer parts forests prevail.
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