The European watershed at the Zeinisjoch

The Zeinisjoch, situated at an altitude of 1,809 metres, not only marks an important mountain pass between the Kops Alps and the Vallüla Alps, but is also part of the European Atlantic-Black Sea watershed, which separates the catchment areas of the major Rhine and Danube river systems. The water flows here either via the Rhine into the North Sea or via the Danube into the Black Sea.

A special hydrological phenomenon is the bifurcation of the Zeinisbach, where the watercourse forks. The Zeinisbach splits visibly, whereby the two arms of the watercourse do not flow together again. In the west, the water flows via the Verbellabach stream into the Ill, the Alpine Rhine, Lake Constance and finally into the Rhine to the North Sea. In the east, the watercourse follows the Vermuntbach, which flows via the Trisanna, Sanna and Inn rivers into the Danube, which flows into the Black Sea.

The watershed continues within Austria along the border between Tyrol and Vorarlberg. It runs from the Bielerhöhe over several important peaks in the Silvretta group, including the Hohe Rad, the Haagspitze and the Tiroler Kopf, to the Dreiländerspitz, which forms the border between the Swiss canton of Graubünden and the Austrian federal states of Vorarlberg and Tyrol. From there, the watershed continues westwards over the Piz Buin (3,312 m, the highest mountain in Vorarlberg) to the Signalhorn (3,207 m), where it leaves Austria and continues into Switzerland.