Uses of fold mountains

Farming

The steep-sided upland areas are used to farm goats which provide milk, cheese and meat.
Traditionally a system called transhumance (seasonal movement of animals) is used in farming. In the summer cattle is taken high up to graze, which allows crops to be grown on the grassy floor. In the winter the animals return to the farms where they are kept in stalls.
Some sunnier slopes have been terraced to plat vineyards (eg Lavaux, Switzerland)

Tourism

100 million tourists visit the Alps each year, making tourism a huge part of the economy.
70% of the tourist visit the steep, snow covered mountains in the winter for skiing, snowboarding, and ice climbing. In the summer tourists visit for walking mountain biking, paragliding and climbing.
New villages have been built to cater to the quantity of tourists eg Tignes in France
Ski runs, ski lifts, cable cars, holiday chalets and restaurants pepper the landscape.

Hydro-Electric Power (HEP)

Steep slopes, high precipitation and summer melting of the glaciers produce fast flowing rivers that are ideal for generating HEP
The narrow valleys are dammed to generate HEP eg in the Berne area in Switzerland. Switzerland gets 60% of its electricity from HEP stations in the Alps.
The electricity produced is used locally to power homes and businesses. It's also exported to towns and cities further away.

Mining
Salt, iron ore, gold and copper were mined in the Alps, but the mining has declined dramatically due to cheaper foreign sources.

Forestry
Scots Pine is planted all over the Alps because it's more resilient to the munching goats, which kill native tree saplings. The trees are logged and sold to make things like furniture.

	Created by grace evans over 9 years ago

Note on Geography - The Restless Earth - Fold Mountains - The Alps CASE STUDY, created by grace evans on 27/04/2015.