Korab (mountain) in the context of "Dinaric Alps"

Albania is mostly mountainous, with the first alpine regions forming towards the end of the Jurassic period. During the Cenozoic era, the malformation of the Albanides accelerated, causing the subterranean landscape to take its present form. The average altitude of the country is 714 m (2,343 ft), almost three times that of Europe. Its highest summits are situated in the Albanian Alps and the eastern mountain range, with Korab being the highest peak, at 2,764 m (9,068 ft) above sea level.

The country's geography is unique due to its location and varied relief, with landscapes ranging from mediterranean in the west to a more continental influence in the east and mountainous terrain in the interior and east. This combination of plains, hills and mountains has resulted in a diverse range of geographical features, extending horizontally and vertically. However, this complexity has made regionalization challenging, as different authors have used alternating criteria and methods. In the 1920s, Herbert Louis proposed a scheme that divided Albania into two large regions: Inner Albania and Coastal Albania, each with specific subdivisions. His scheme was widely used until 1964, when it was to be replaced by Pandi Geço's proposed scheme which divided the country into four physiographic regions, listed as follows: Albanian Alps, Central Mountain Region, Southern Mountain Region, Albanian Coastal Lowlands and its hills. By 1990, Geço's scheme was improved through further research and consideration of ecological concerns, recapping all regions into 67 constituent subunits.

Dibër County (Albanian pronunciation: [dibəɽ]; Albanian: Qarku i Dibrës) is one of the 12 counties of the Republic of Albania, spanning a surface area of 2,586 square kilometres (998 sq mi) with the capital in Peshkopi. The county borders on the counties of Durrës, Elbasan, Kukës, Lezhë, Tirana and the country of North Macedonia. It is divided into the four municipalities of Bulqizë, Dibër, Klos and Mat. The municipalities are further subdivided into 290 towns and villages in total.

Topographically, the county is dominated by mountainous and high terrain, with a great variety of natural features including valleys, canyons, gorges, rivers, glacial lakes and dense forests. Various mountains ranging between 1,500 and 2,700 metres (4,921 and 8,858 ft) meters above sea level run the length of the county from north to south, including the Korab mountains in the east with Mali i Gramës and Korab at an altitude of 2,764 metres (9,068 ft) being the highest mountain in the county and as well as in Albania. The Dejë mountain 2,245 metres (7,365 ft) rises in the center, while in the east the county is dominated by the Lura mountains. The Skanderbeg mountains on the west separates the Central Mountain Range with the Western Lowlands. The county, marked by a significant biological diversity, is water-rich with a dense river network, a rich aquifer system, and significant karst underground watercourses. It is home to the source of the river Mat which rises in Martanesh. Besides the Mat, the Drin river is an important waterway in the region.

The Korab-Koritnik Nature Park (Albanian: Parku Natyror i Korab-Koritnikut) is a nature park in eastern Albania and forms a section of the European Green Belt, which serves as a retreat for endangered animal and plant species. It encompasses 55,550 hectares (555.5 km) of alpine mountainous terrain, with valleys, rivers, glacial lakes, caves, canyons and dense coniferous and deciduous forest. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the park as Category IV. Koritnik and Korab have each been recognised as an Important Plant Area of international importance by Plantlife.

The Korab-Koritnik Nature Park starts on the frontier with Kosovo in the north along the border with North Macedonia to the Desha Mountains in the south. The nature park is named after the Korab Mountains and Koritnik Mountain. Korab is the highest summit of both Albania and North Macedonia, standing at an elevation of 2,764 metres (9,068 ft). It is also one of only two summits in Europe, which is the highest point for more than one country and as well the 18th-most prominent mountain peak in Europe. The summit is a very rugged mountain massif and consists mainly of shale and limestone of the Paleozoic period with block structures and also severely damaged gypsum rocks of permo Triassic. On the west side, the mountain falls steeply over rock walls, while the north side consists of craggy rocks.

The Dinaric Alps (/dɪˈnærɪk/), also Dinarides, are a mountain range in Southern and South-Central Europe, separating the continental Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic Sea. They stretch from Italy in the northwest through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and North Macedonia to Albania in the southeast.

The Dinaric Alps extend for approximately 645 kilometres (401 mi) along the western Balkan Peninsula from the Julian Alps of northeast Italy and northwest Slovenia, downwards to the Šar and Korab massif, where their direction changes. The Accursed Mountains are the highest section of the entire Dinaric Alps; this section stretches from Albania to Kosovo and eastern Montenegro. Maja Jezercë, standing at 2,694 metres (8,839 ft) above the Adriatic, is the highest peak and is located in Albania.

The southernmost persistent glacial masses in Europe are mainly small glaciers, glacierets, and perennial firn fields and patches, located in the highest mountains of the three big southern European peninsulas - the Balkan, the Apennine, and the Iberian, the southernmost ranges of the Alps and the glaciers on the european northwestern slopes of the Greater Caucasus mountains in Russia. There are summer lasting snow patches in Sierra Nevada (Corral de la Veleta glacier at 37°03′24″ disappeared completely for a first time in 1913), in Mount Olympus (40°05′08″) (Kazania cirque), in Mount Korab (41°47′28″), in Rila Mountain (the cirque of the Seven Rila Lakes, Musala and Malyovitsa (42°10′25″) ridges), in Picos de Europa (43°11′51″) in the Cantabrian Mountains, in Mount Maglić (43°16′52″) and others. However, none of them have both persistency and indications of dynamic motion. In southern direction, some 4000 km away, are the glaciers in Africa in Rwenzori Mountains (00°23′09″N), Mount Kenya (00°09′03″S) and Mount Kilimanjaro (03°04′33″S).

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