Jura Mountains

Series of parallel mountain ranges running along the French-Swiss frontier between the Rivers Rhône and Rhine, a distance of 250 km/156 mi. The highest peak is Crête de la Neige (1,723 m/5,650 ft). The mountains give their name to the Jura département of France, and in 1979 a Jura canton was established in Switzerland, formed from the French-speaking areas of Berne.

The forested mountains extend from the Franche-Comté region in France in a northeasterly direction through Switzerland, crossing the cantons of Vaud, Neuchâtel, Jura, Solothurn, Basel, and Aargau, to the River Rhine. They are made up of parallel ranges, the other chief peaks of which are the Dole (1,525 m/5,000 ft), Columbier de Gex (1,691 m/5,548 ft), and Mont Tendre (1,682 m/5,518 ft). The ranges consist chiefly of limestone formed mainly during the Jurassic period, from which the mountains get their name.

In the valleys, principal economic activities include forestry, dairying, and tourism; watchmaking is concentrated mainly in Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle. In the French département of Jura, along the Swiss border, the Regional Natural Park of the High Jura also attracts tourists to the area.