French Prealps

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French Prealps
Prealps — Préalpes (French)
Summits in the Chartreuse Mountains, part of the French Prealps
Highest point
Peak	Haute Cime
Elevation	10,686 ft (3,257 m)
Geography
Ranges of the French Alps, with the Prealps ranges highlighted in orange
Country	France
Regions	Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Range coordinates	43°59′N 6°6.65′E / 43.983°N 6.11083°E / 43.983; 6.11083
Parent range	Alps
Geology
Orogeny	Alpine orogeny
Age of rock	Mesozoic and Tertiary
Type of rock	Sedimentary and Flysch

The French Prealps (French: Préalpes françaises, pronounced [pʁealp fʁɑ̃sɛz]) are a group of subalpine mountain ranges of medium elevation located immediately west of the French Alps. They roughly stretch from Lake Geneva southwest to the rivers Isère and Drôme; east to a line running from Chamonix, to Albertville, to Grenoble, to Gap, to Barcelonette; and south from Grasse to Vence.

In the northern subalpine regions, the various ranges are easily identifiable by geographical separations, such as the Voreppe Gorge between Vercors and Chartreuse, or Chambéry, which sits in a valley between the Bauges and Chartreuse ranges. In the southern subalpine regions, the ranges are generally disorganized and lack the wide, deep valleys that divide them in the north.

Three non-contiguous ranges traditionally comprise the southern French Prealps: the Alpilles, Mont Sainte-Victoire and Sainte-Baume.