The Alpine System is a series of rugged mountain ranges and plateaus that stretch across the southern edge of the European continent from Spain to the Caucasus mountains between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The rough geography is the result of the African tectonic plate pushing north into the Eurasian plate, lifting the Earth's crust upward into irregular shapes. In an area east of the Adriatic, the Aegean Sea Plate and Anatolian Plate are being squeezed between the two larger plates. The African plate is still moving northeast about 2.5 centimeters per year.

Notable Mountain Ranges in the landmass include the Atlas Mountains in North Africa, Pyrenees of Spain and France, the Alps, Apennines in Italy, the Carpathians and the Caucasus. The Gavarnie Cirque in the Pyrenees, Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn in the Alps, Mount Etna and Mount Vesuvius volcanoes in Italy and Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus Mountains of Russia, Europe's highest peak, are impressive landforms in the system. - AsNotedIn