Lake Geneva Lake Geneva Lake Geneva ( or ' /, rarely ' ; ) is a lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône. 59.53% () of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland (cantons of Vaud, Geneva, and Valais), and 40.47% () under France (department of Haute-Savoie). Lake Geneva has been explored by four submarines: the "Auguste Piccard" and the "F.-A. Forel", both built by Jacques Piccard, and the two "Mir" submersibles. The first recorded name of
Geology of the Alps and high peaks in the Pennine Alps and Hohe Tauern . The formation of the Mediterranean Sea is a more recent development and does not mark the northern extent of terranes originating within the African plate. The Alps form a northward convex arc around their southeastern foreland basin, the Po river basin (to be precise the south is in fact their hinterland). Quaternary and Neogene sediments in this basin lie discordant over the southernmost thrust units. In the northeast, southward dipping and internally thrusted Cenozoic foreland deposits (flysch and molasse) are found. This Bavarian and Swiss foreland basin is called