Editing Geology of the Alps (section)

==Geomorphology==
The formation of the Alpine landscape seen today is a recent development – only some two million years old. Since then, [[Quaternary glaciation|five known ice ages]] have done much to remodel the region. The tremendous [[glacier]]s that flowed out of the mountain valleys repeatedly covered all of the Swiss plain and shoved the [[topsoil]] into the low rolling hills seen today. They scooped out the lakes and rounded off the limestone hills along the northern border.

The last great glacier advance in the Alps ended some 10,000&nbsp;years ago, leaving the large lake now known as [[Lake Neuchatel]]. The ice in this region reached some 1,000&nbsp;m (0.6&nbsp;mi) in depth and flowed out of the region behind [[Lake Geneva]] some 100&nbsp;km (60&nbsp;mi) to the South. Today large granite boulders are found scattered in the forests in the region. These were carried and pushed by the glaciers that filled this part of the western plain for some 80,000&nbsp;years during the [[Last glacial period|last ice age]]. From their composition it has been possible to determine the precise area from which they began their journey. As the last ice age ended, it is believed that the [[climate]] changed so rapidly that the glaciers retreated back into the mountains in only some 200 to 300&nbsp;years time.

Besides leaving an Arctic-like wasteland of barren rock and gravel, the huge [[moraine]] of material that was dropped at the front of the glaciers blocked huge masses of melt water that poured onto the central plain during this period. A huge lake resulted, flooding the region to a depth of several hundred meters for many years. The old shoreline can be seen in some places along the low hills at the foot of the mountains – the hills actually being glacial side-moraines. As the [[Aare]], which now drains western Switzerland into the [[Rhine]], eventually opened the natural dam, the water levels in the plain fell to near the present levels .

In the last 150&nbsp;years humans have changed the flow and levels of all the rivers and most of the extensive wetlands and small lakes have disappeared under the effects of farming and other development.

It has been proposed that the height of mountains in the [[Dauphiné Alps]] is limited by [[glacier erosion]], an effect referred to as the [[glacial buzzsaw]].<ref name=Evans>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Glacial landsforms, erosional features |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science|author-last=Evans|author-first=I.S.|editor-last=Elias|editor-first=Scott A.|editor-last2=Mock|editor-first2=Cary J.|edition=2nd |year=2013 |publisher=Elsevier |pages=861|isbn=978-0-444-53643-3}}</ref>