The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across
Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the ar ...
. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the
Urals
The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...
at and the
Scandinavian Mountains
The Scandinavian Mountains or the Scandes is a mountain range that runs through the Scandinavian Peninsula. The western sides of the mountains drop precipitously into the North Sea and Norwegian Sea, forming the fjords of Norway, whereas to the ...
at . The range stretches from the far eastern
Czech Republic (3%) and
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
(1%) in the northwest through
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to th ...
(21%),
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
(10%),
Ukraine (10%),
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
(50%) to
Serbia (5%) in the south.
"The Carpathians" European Travel Commission, in The Official Travel Portal of Europe, Retrieved 15 November 2016
The Carpathian Project: Carpathian Mountains in Serbia, Institute for Spatial Planning, Faculty of Geography, University of Belgrade (2008), Retrieved: 15 November 2016
Bulletin of the Natural History Museum, pg. 54, Valuing the geological heritage of Serbia (UDC: 502.171:55(497.11), Aleksandra Maran (2010), Retrieved 15 November 2016 The highest range within the Carpathians is known as the
Tatra Mountains, Tatra mountains in Slovakia and Poland, where the highest peaks exceed . The second-highest range is the
Southern Carpathians
The Southern Carpathians (also known as the Transylvanian Alps; ro, Carpații Meridionali ; hu, Déli-Kárpátok) are a group of mountain ranges located in southern Romania. They cover the part of the Carpathian Mountains located between the ...
in Romania, where the highest peaks range between and .
The
divisions of the Carpathians
Divisions of the Carpathians are a categorization of the Carpathian mountains system.
Below is a detailed overview of the major subdivisions and ranges of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a "subsystem" of a bigger Alps-Himalaya ...
usually involve three major sections:
[About the Carpathians – Carpathian Heritage Society](_blank)
*
Western Carpathians
The Western Carpathians are a mountain range and geomorphological province that forms the western part of the Carpathian Mountains.
The mountain belt stretches from the Low Beskids range of the Eastern Carpathians along the border of Poland wit ...
: Austria, Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia
*
Eastern Carpathians
Divisions of the Carpathians are a categorization of the Carpathian mountains system.
Below is a detailed overview of the major subdivisions and ranges of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a "subsystem" of a bigger Alps-Himalaya ...
: southeastern Poland, eastern Slovakia, Ukraine, and Romania
*
Southern Carpathians
The Southern Carpathians (also known as the Transylvanian Alps; ro, Carpații Meridionali ; hu, Déli-Kárpátok) are a group of mountain ranges located in southern Romania. They cover the part of the Carpathian Mountains located between the ...
: Romania and eastern Serbia
The term
Outer Carpathians
Divisions of the Carpathians are a categorization of the Carpathian mountains system.
Below is a detailed overview of the major subdivisions and ranges of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a "subsystem" of a bigger Alps-Himalaya ...
is frequently used to describe the northern rim of the Western and Eastern Carpathians.
The Carpathians provide habitat for the largest European populations of
brown bear
The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kn ...
s,
wolves
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...
,
chamois
The chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of goat-antelope native to mountains in Europe, from west to east, including the Alps, the Dinarides, the Tatra and the Carpathian Mountains, the Balkan Mountains, the R ...
, and
lynx
A lynx is a type of wild cat.
Lynx may also refer to:
Astronomy
* Lynx (constellation)
* Lynx (Chinese astronomy)
* Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory
Places Canada
* Lynx, O ...
es, with the highest concentration in Romania, as well as over one-third of all European plant species. The mountains and their
foothills
Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topogra ...
also have many
thermal
A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...
and
mineral water
Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. Mineral water may usually be still or sparkling (carbonated/effervescent) according to the presence or absence of added gases.
Tra ...
s, with Romania having one-third of the European total. Romania is likewise home to the second-largest area of
virgin forests
An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...
in Europe after Russia, totaling 250,000 hectares (65%), most of them in the Carpathians, with the
Southern Carpathians
The Southern Carpathians (also known as the Transylvanian Alps; ro, Carpații Meridionali ; hu, Déli-Kárpátok) are a group of mountain ranges located in southern Romania. They cover the part of the Carpathian Mountains located between the ...
constituting Europe's largest unfragmented forest area. Deforestation rates due to illegal logging in the Carpathians are high.
Name
In modern times, the range is called ''Karpaty'' in
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech ...
,
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin scree ...
and
Slovak and ''Карпати'' (''Karpaty'') in
Ukrainian, ''Карпати'' / ''Karpati'' in
Serbian, ''Carpați'' in
Romanian, ''Карпаты'' in
Rusyn, ''Karpaten'' in
German and ''Kárpátok'' in
Hungarian. Although the toponym was recorded already by
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
in the second century AD, the modern form of the name is a
neologism
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
in most languages. For instance, ''Havasok'' ("Snowy Mountains") was its medieval
Hungarian name; Russian chronicles referred to it as "Hungarian Mountains". Later sources, such as
Dimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie or Demetrius Cantemir (, russian: Дмитрий Кантемир; 26 October 1673 – 21 August 1723), also known by other spellings, was a Romanian prince, statesman, and man of letters, regarded as one of the most significant e ...
and the Italian chronicler Giovanandrea Gromo, referred to the range as "Transylvania's Mountains", while the 17th-century historian
Constantin Cantacuzino translated the name of the mountains in an Italian-Romanian glossary to "Rumanian Mountains".
The name "Carpates" is highly associated with the old Dacian tribes called "
Carpes" or "
Carpi" who lived in a large area from the east, northeast of the Black Sea to the
Transylvanian Plain
The Transylvanian Plain ( ro, Câmpia Transilvaniei; hu, Mezőség, ) is an ethnogeographical area in Transylvania, Romania, located between the Someșul Mare and the Someșul Mic rivers to the north and west and the Mureș River to the south and ...
on the present day Romania and Moldova. The name ''Carpates'' may ultimately be from the
Proto Indo-European root ''*sker-''/''*ker-'', which meant mountain, rock, or rugged (cf. Germanic root ''*skerp-'', Old Norse "harrow", Gothic ''skarpo'', Middle Low German ''scharf'' "potsherd", and Modern High German ''Scherbe'' "shard", Old English and English ''sharp'', Lithuanian ''kar~pas'' "cut, hack, notch", Latvian ''cìrpt'' "to shear, clip"). The archaic Polish word ''karpa'' meant 'rugged irregularities, underwater obstacles/rocks, rugged roots, or trunks'. The more common word ''skarpa'' means a sharp cliff or other vertical terrain. The name may instead come from Indo-European * 'to turn', akin to Old English 'to turn, change' (English ''warp'') and Greek 'wrist', perhaps referring to the way the mountain range bends or veers in an L-shape. A presumed association with
Albanian ''karpë'' 'rocky hill with a sharp peak' is dubious.
In late
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
documents, the Eastern Carpathian Mountains were referred to as ''Montes Sarmatici'' (meaning
Sarmatian
The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic peoples of classical antiquity who dominated the Pontic steppe from about the 3rd century BC to the 4th cent ...
Mountains). The Western Carpathians were called ''Carpates'', a name that is first recorded in
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
's ''
Geographia
The ''Geography'' ( grc-gre, Γεωγραφικὴ Ὑφήγησις, ''Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis'', "Geographical Guidance"), also known by its Latin names as the ' and the ', is a gazetteer, an atlas, and a treatise on cartography, com ...
'' (second century AD).
In the Scandinavian ''
Hervarar saga'', which relates ancient Germanic legends about
battles
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
between
Goths and
Huns, the name ''Karpates'' appears in the predictable Germanic form as ''Harvaða fjöllum'' (see
Grimm's law).
"''Inter Alpes Huniae et Oceanum est Polonia''" ("Between the Hunic Alps and the ocean lies Poland") by
Gervase of Tilbury, has described in his ''Otia Imperialia'' ("Recreation for an Emperor") in 1211.
[ Thirteenth- to fifteenth-century Hungarian documents named the mountains ''Thorchal'', ''Tarczal'', or less frequently ''Montes Nivium'' ("Snowy Mountains").]
Geography
The northwestern Carpathians begin in Slovakia and southern Poland. They surround Transcarpathia and Transylvania in a large semicircle, sweeping towards the southeast, and end on the Danube near Orșova
Orșova (; german: Orschowa, hu, Orsova, sr, Оршава/Oršava, bg, Орсово, pl, Orszawa, cs, Oršava, tr, Adakale) is a port city on the Danube river in southwestern Romania's Mehedinți County. It is one of four localities in the ...
in Romania. The total length of the Carpathians is over and the mountain chain's width varies between . The highest altitudes of the Carpathians occur where they are widest. The system attains its greatest breadth in the Transylvanian plateau and in the southern Tatra Mountains
The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak () or in Polish () - ''plurale tantum''), are a series of mountains within the Western Carpathians that form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the high ...
group – the highest range, in which Gerlachovský štít in Slovakia is the highest peak at above sea level. The Carpathians cover an area of , and after the Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
, form the next-most extensive mountain system in Europe.
Although commonly referred to as a mountain chain, the Carpathians do not actually form an uninterrupted chain of mountains. Rather, they consist of several orographically
Orography is the study of the topographic relief of mountains, and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain. Orography (also known as ''oreography'', ''orology'' or ''oreology'') falls within the broader discipl ...
and geologically distinctive groups, presenting as great a structural variety as the Alps. The Carpathians, which attain an altitude over in only a few places, lack the bold peaks, extensive snowfields, large glaciers, high waterfalls, and numerous large lakes that are common in the Alps. It was believed that no area of the Carpathian range was covered in snow all year round and there were no glaciers, but recent research by Polish scientists discovered one permafrost and glacial area in the Tatra Mountains.
The Carpathians at their highest altitude are only as high as the middle region of the Alps, with which they share a common appearance, climate, and flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or ''skin flora''.
...
. The Carpathians are separated from the Alps by the Danube. The two ranges meet at only one point: the Leitha Mountains at Bratislava. The river also separates them from the Balkan Mountains
The Balkan mountain range (, , known locally also as Stara planina) is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe. The range is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border be ...
at Orșova in Romania. The valley of the March and Oder
The Oder ( , ; Czech, Lower Sorbian and ; ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river in total length and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows th ...
separates the Carpathians from the Silesian and Moravian chains, which belong to the middle wing of the great Central Mountain System of Europe. Unlike the other wings of the system, the Carpathians, which form the watershed between the northern seas and the Black Sea, are surrounded on all sides by plains, namely the Pannonian plain
The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense, with only th ...
to the southwest, the Lower Danubian
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
Plain to the south, with the southern part being in Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Maced ...
, and the northern
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a r ...
- in (Romania), and the Galician plain to the northeast.
Cities and towns
Important cities and towns in or near the Carpathians are, in approximate descending order of population:
* Kraków (Poland)
* Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...
(Slovakia)
* Cluj-Napoca
; hu, kincses város)
, official_name=Cluj-Napoca
, native_name=
, image_skyline=
, subdivision_type1 = County
, subdivision_name1 = Cluj County
, subdivision_type2 = Status
, subdivision_name2 = County seat
, settlement_type = City
, le ...
(Romania)
* Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the u ...
(Ukraine)
* Brașov
Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County.
According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a pop ...
(Romania)
* Košice (Slovakia)
* Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukraine)
* Oradea (Romania)
* Bielsko-Biała (Poland)
* Miskolc (Hungary)
* Sibiu (Romania)
* Târgu Mureș (Romania)
* Baia Mare
Baia Mare ( , ; hu, Nagybánya; german: Frauenbach or Groß-Neustadt; la, Rivulus Dominarum) is a municipality along the Săsar River, in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County. The city lies in the region of Maramure� ...
(Romania)
* Uzhhorod
Uzhhorod ( uk, У́жгород, , ; ) is a city and municipality on the river Uzh in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistant from the Baltic, the Adriatic and th ...
(Ukraine)
* Tarnów (Poland)
* Râmnicu Vâlcea
Râmnicu Vâlcea (also spelled ''Rîmnicu Vîlcea'' or, in the past, ''Rîmnic-Vâlcea'', ) (population: 92,573 as per the 2011 Romanian census) is the county capital ( ro, Reședință de județ) and also the largest town of Vâlcea County, centr ...
(Romania)
* Prešov
Prešov (, hu, Eperjes, Rusyn and Ukrainian: Пряшів) is a city in Eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj) and Šariš, as well as the historic Sáros County of the Kingdom of Hungary. Wit ...
(Slovakia)
* Mukachevo
Mukachevo ( uk, Мукачево, ; hu, Munkács; see name section) is a city in the valley of the Latorica river in Zakarpattia Oblast (province), in Western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of Mukachevo Raion (district), the ci ...
(Ukraine)
* Drohobych (Ukraine)
* Piatra Neamț
Piatra Neamț (; german: Kreuzburg an der Bistritz; hu, Karácsonkő) is the capital city of Neamț County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in northeastern Romania. Because of its privileged location in the Eastern Carpathian moun ...
(Romania)
* Nowy Sącz
Nowy Sącz (; hu, Újszandec; yi, Tzanz, צאַנז; sk, Nový Sonč; german: Neu-Sandez) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. It has ...
(Poland)
* Suceava (Romania)
* Vršac (Serbia)
* Târgu Jiu
Târgu Jiu () is the capital of Gorj County in the Oltenia region of Romania. It is situated on the Southern Sub-Carpathians, on the banks of the river Jiu. Eight localities are administered by the city: Bârsești, Drăgoieni, Iezureni, Polat ...
(Romania)
* Drobeta-Turnu Severin
Drobeta-Turnu Severin (), colloquially Severin, is a city in Mehedinți County, Oltenia, Romania, on the northern bank of the Danube, close to the Iron Gates. "Drobeta" is the name of the ancient Dacian and Roman towns at the site, and the modern t ...
(Romania)
* Reșița (Romania)
* Žilina (Slovakia)
* Bistrița
(; german: link=no, Bistritz, archaic , Transylvanian Saxon: , hu, Beszterce) is the capital city of Bistrița-Năsăud County, in northern Transylvania, Romania. It is situated on the Bistrița River. The city has a population of approxima ...
(Romania)
* Banská Bystrica
Banská Bystrica (, also known by other alternative names) is a middle-sized town in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica ...
(Slovakia)
* Zvolen (Slovakia)
* Deva
Deva may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Deva'' (1989 film), a 1989 Kannada film
* ''Deva'' (1995 film), a 1995 Tamil film
* ''Deva'' (2002 film), a 2002 Bengali film
* Deva (2007 Telugu film)
* ''Deva'' (2017 film), a 2017 Marathi film
* Deva ...
(Romania)
* Zlín
Zlín (in 1949–1989 Gottwaldov; ; german: Zlin) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 73,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Zlín Region and it lies on the Dřevnice river. It is known as an industrial centre. The development of the ...
(Czech Republic)
* Hunedoara (Romania)
* Martin (Slovakia)
* Zalău (Romania)
* Przemyśl (Poland)
* Krosno
Krosno (in full ''The Royal Free City of Krosno'', pl, Królewskie Wolne Miasto Krosno) is a historical town and county in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in southeastern Poland. The estimated population of the town is 47,140 inhabitants as of 2 ...
(Poland)
* Sanok (Poland)
* Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia (; german: Karlsburg or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; hu, Gyulafehérvár; la, Apulum) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the Mureș River in the historical ...
(Romania)
* Sfântu Gheorghe
Sfântu Gheorghe (; hu, Sepsiszentgyörgy or ''Szentgyörgy'' ; yi, סנט דזשארדזש; English lit.: ''Saint George'') is the capital city of Covasna County, Romania. Located in the central part of the country and in the historical regio ...
(Romania)
* Turda (Romania)
* Mediaș
Mediaș (; german: Mediasch, Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Medwesch''/''Medveš'', hu, Medgyes) is the second largest municipiu, town in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania.
Geographic location
Mediaș is located in the ...
(Romania)
* Poprad
Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the ten ...
(Slovakia)
* Spišská Nová Ves (Slovakia)
* Petroșani
Petroșani (; Hungarian: ''Petrozsény''; German: ''Petroschen'') is a city in Hunedoara County, Transylvania, Romania, with a population of 34,331 (2011). The city has been associated with mining since the 19th century.
History
"Pietros" mean ...
(Romania)
* Miercurea Ciuc
Miercurea Ciuc (; hu, Csíkszereda, ; german: Szeklerburg) is the county seat of Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, a mainly Hungarian-speaking ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, and is situated in the Olt Rive ...
(Romania)
* Făgăraș
Făgăraș (; german: Fogarasch, Fugreschmarkt, hu, Fogaras) is a city in central Romania, located in Brașov County. It lies on the Olt River and has a population of 28,330 as of 2011. It is situated in the historical region of Transylvania, and ...
(Romania)
* Odorheiu Secuiesc (Romania)
* Boryslav
Boryslav ( uk, Борислав; pl, Borysław) is a city located on the Tysmenytsia (a tributary of the Dniester), in Drohobych Raion, Lviv Oblast (region) of western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Boryslav urban hromada, one of t ...
(Ukraine)
* Jasło
Jasło is a county town in south-eastern Poland with 36,641 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2012. It is situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (since 1999), and it was previously part of Krosno Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is located in Le ...
(Poland)
* Cieszyn
Cieszyn ( , ; cs, Těšín ; german: Teschen; la, Tessin; szl, Ćeszyn) is a border town in southern Poland on the east bank of the Olza River, and the administrative seat of Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship. The town has 33,500 inhabitants ...
(Poland)
* Nowy Targ
Nowy Targ (Officially: ''Royal Free city of Nowy Targ'', Yiddish: ''Naymark'', Goral Dialect: ''Miasto'') is a town in southern Poland, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is located in the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin at the foot of the Gorce Moun ...
(Poland)
* Żywiec
Żywiec () (german: Saybusch) is a town in southern Poland with 31,194 inhabitants (2019). Between 1975 and 1998, it was located within the Bielsko-Biała Voivodeship, but has since become part of the Silesian Voivodeship.It is the capital of � ...
(Poland)
* Zakopane
Zakopane ( Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has been p ...
(Poland)
* Petrila (Romania)
* Cugir
Cugir (; German: ''Kudsir, Kudschir'', Hungarian: ''Kudzsir'') is a town in Alba County, Romania. Declared a town in 1968, it administers seven villages: Bocșitura (Hungarian ''Boksiturahavas'', German ''Potschitur''), Bucuru (''Bukuruhavas''/ ...
(Romania)
* Târgu Neamț (Romania)
* Câmpulung Moldovenesc
Câmpulung Moldovenesc (; formerly spelled ''Cîmpulung Moldovenesc'') is a town in Suceava County, northeastern Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Bukovina.
Câmpulung Moldovenesc is the fourth largest urban settlement in the ...
(Romania)
* Gheorgheni
Gheorgheni (; hu, Gyergyószentmiklós ) is a municipality in Harghita County, Romania.
It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania. The city administers four villages:
* Covacipeter / Kovácspéter
* Lacu Roș ...
(Romania)
* Rakhiv (Ukraine)
* Vatra Dornei (Romania)
* Rabka-Zdrój (Poland)
* Bor (Serbia)
Highest peaks
This is an (incomplete) list of the peaks of the Carpathians having summits over , with their heights, geologic divisions, and locations.
Highest peaks by country
This is a list of the highest national peaks of the Carpathians, their heights, geologic divisions, and locations. Excluding mountains located in two countries (on the border).
Mountain passes
In the Romanian part of the main chain of the Carpathians, mountain passes include Prislop Pass
Prislop Pass ( ro, Pasul Prislop), is a mountain pass in northern Romania, connecting the historical regions of Maramureş and Bukovina over the Rodna Mountains, in the Eastern Carpathians.
The Prislop Pass is situated at an elevation of 1,416 ...
, Tihuța Pass
Tihuța Pass ( ro, Pasul Tihuța, also called ''Pasul Bârgău''; hu, Borgói-hágó or ''Burgó'') is a high mountain pass in the Romanian Bârgău Mountains (Eastern Carpathian Mountains) connecting Bistrița (Transylvania) with Vatra Dornei ...
, Bicaz Canyon
The Bicaz Gorge ( Romanian: ''Cheile Bicazului'', Hungarian: ''Békás-szoros'') is a gorge in Romania, located in the north-east part of the country, in Neamț and Harghita counties. It is situated in the central part of the Hășmaș Mo ...
, Ghimeș Pass, Buzău Pass
Buzău Pass () is a mountain pass that follows the Buzău River and connects Brașov with Buzău over the Buzău Mountains, in the Divisions of the Carpathians, Eastern Carpathians in Romania.
Geography
The pass is traversed by Roads in Romani ...
, Predeal Pass (crossed by the railway from Brașov to Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
), Turnu Roșu Pass (1,115 ft., running through the narrow gorge of the Olt River and crossed by the railway from Sibiu to Bucharest), Vulcan Pass
Vulcan Pass ( ro, Pasul Vulcan, hu, Vulkán-szoros) is a mountain pass in the Hunedoara county of Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulg ...
, and the Iron Gate (both crossed by the railway from Timișoara
), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor)
, image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg
, map_caption = Location in Timiș County
, pushpin_map = Romania#Europe
, pushpin_ ...
to Craiova
)
, official_name = Craiova
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = From left: Dolj County Prefecture • Constantin Mihail Palace • Bibescu Manor House • Carol I National College • Museum of Oltenia • University of Craio ...
).
Geology
The area now occupied by the Carpathians was once occupied by smaller ocean basins. The Carpathian mountains were formed during the Alpine orogeny in the Mesozoic and Tertiary
Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago.
The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
by moving the ALCAPA (Alpine-Carpathian-Pannonian), Tisza and Dacia plates over subducting
Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...
oceanic crust
Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the tectonic plates. It is composed of the upper oceanic crust, with pillow lavas and a dike complex, and the lower oceanic crust, composed of troctolite, gabbro and ultramafic c ...
.
The mountains take the form of a fold and thrust belt
A fold and thrust belt (FTB) is a series of mountainous foothills adjacent to an orogenic belt, which forms due to contractional tectonics. Fold and thrust belts commonly form in the forelands adjacent to major orogens as deformation propagates ou ...
with generally north vergence in the western segment, northeast to east vergence in the eastern portion and southeast vergence in the southern portion. Currently, the area is the most seismically active in Central Europe.
The external, generally northern, portion of the orogenic belt is a Tertiary accretionary wedge
An accretionary wedge or accretionary prism forms from sediments accreted onto the non- subducting tectonic plate at a convergent plate boundary. Most of the material in the accretionary wedge consists of marine sediments scraped off from the ...
of a so-called Flysch belt (the Carpathian Flysch Belt) created by rocks scraped off the sea bottom and thrust over the North-European plate. The Carpathian accretionary wedge is made of several thin skinned nappe
In geology, a nappe or thrust sheet is a large sheetlike body of rock that has been moved more than or above a thrust fault from its original position. Nappes form in compressional tectonic settings like continental collision zones or on the ...
s composed of Cretaceous to Paleogene turbidite
A turbidite is the geologic deposit of a turbidity current, which is a type of amalgamation of fluidal and sediment gravity flow responsible for distributing vast amounts of clastic sediment into the deep ocean.
Sequencing
Turbidites were ...
s. Thrusting of the Flysch nappes over the Carpathian foreland caused the formation of the Carpathian foreland basin
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
. The boundary between the Flysch belt and internal zones of the orogenic belt in the western segment of the mountain range is marked by the Pieniny Klippen Belt, a narrow complicated zone of polyphase compressional deformation, later involved in a supposed strike-slip zone. Internal zones in western and eastern segments contain older Variscan
The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea.
Nomenclature
The name ''Variscan'', come ...
igneous massifs reworked in Mesozoic thick and thin-skinned nappes. During the Middle Miocene this zone was affected by intensive calc-alkaline
The calc-alkaline magma series is one of two main subdivisions of the subalkaline magma series, the other subalkaline magma series being the tholeiitic series. A magma series is a series of compositions that describes the evolution of a mafic ma ...
[Pácskay, Z., Lexa, J., Szákacs, A., 2006, ''Geochronology of Neogene magmatism in the Carpathian arc and intra-Carpathian area.'' Geologica Carpathica, 57, 6, pp. 511 - 530] arc volcanism
A volcanic arc (also known as a magmatic arc) is a belt of volcanoes formed above a subducting oceanic tectonic plate,
with the belt arranged in an arc shape as seen from above. Volcanic arcs typically parallel an oceanic trench, with the arc l ...
that developed over the subduction zone of the flysch basins. At the same time, the internal zones of the orogenic belt were affected by large extensional structure of the back-arc
A back-arc basin is a type of geologic basin, found at some convergent plate boundaries. Presently all back-arc basins are submarine features associated with island arcs and subduction zones, with many found in the western Pacific Ocean. Most of ...
Pannonian Basin. The last volcanic activity occurred at Ciomadul
Ciomadul is a volcano in Romania, and is known as in Hungarian. It is in the Carpathians, close to the towns of Băile Tușnad and Bixad. It is part of a volcanic chain known as the Călimani (Kelemen) – Gurghiu (Görgényi) – Harghita (Ha ...
about 30,000 years ago.
The mountains started to gain their current shape from the latest Miocene onward. The slopes of the Carphartian contain at some locations solifluction deposits.[
Iron, gold and silver were found in great quantities in the ]Western Carpathians
The Western Carpathians are a mountain range and geomorphological province that forms the western part of the Carpathian Mountains.
The mountain belt stretches from the Low Beskids range of the Eastern Carpathians along the border of Poland wit ...
. After the Roman emperor Trajan's conquest of Dacia, he brought back to Rome over 165 tons of gold and 330 tons of silver.
Ecology
The ecology of the Carpathians varies with altitude, ranging from lowland forests to alpine meadows. Foothill forests are primarily of broadleaf deciduous trees, including oak, hornbeam, and linden. European beech
''Fagus sylvatica'', the European beech or common beech is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae.
Description
''Fagus sylvatica'' is a large tree, capable of reaching heights of up to tall and trunk diameter, though more ...
is characteristic of the montane forest zone. Higher-elevation subalpine forests are characterized by Norway spruce
''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe.
It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. It is very clo ...
(''Picea abies''). Krummholtz and alpine meadows occur above the treeline.
Wildlife in the Carpathians includes brown bear
The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kn ...
(''Ursus arctos''), wolf (''Canis lupus''), Eurasian lynx
The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is a medium-sized wild cat widely distributed from Northern, Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia and Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. It inhabits temperate and boreal forests up to an elev ...
(''Lynx lynx''), European wildcat (''Felis silvestris''), Tatra chamois
The Tatra chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica''; sk, Kamzík vrchovský tatranský; pl, Kozica tatrzańska) is a subspecies of the chamois of the genus '' Rupicapra''. Tatra chamois live in the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia and Poland.
Populat ...
(''Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica''), European bison (''Bison bonasus''), and golden eagle
The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known birds ...
(''Aquila chrysaetos'').[
]
Divisions of the Carpathians
The largest range is the Tatras
The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak () or in Polish () - ''plurale tantum''), are a series of mountains within the Western Carpathians that form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the high ...
in Slovakia and Poland. A major part of the western and northeastern Outer Eastern Carpathians
Divisions of the Carpathians are a categorization of the Carpathian mountains system.
Below is a detailed overview of the major subdivisions and ranges of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a "subsystem" of a bigger Alps-Himalaya ...
in Poland, Ukraine, and Slovakia is traditionally called the Eastern Beskids.
The geological border between the Western and Eastern Carpathians runs approximately along the line (south to north) between the towns of Michalovce
Michalovce (; hu, Nagymihály, german: Großmichel, Romani: ''Mihalya'', Yiddish: ''Mikhaylovets'' or ''Mykhaylovyts''; uk, Михайлівці) is a town on the Laborec river in eastern Slovakia. Originally named after the Archangel St Mich ...
, Bardejov
Bardejov (; hu, Bártfa, german: Bartfeld, rue, Бардеёв, uk, Бардіїв) is a town in North-Eastern Slovakia. It is situated in the Šariš region on a floodplain terrace of the Topľa River, in the hills of the Beskyd Mountains. It ...
, Nowy Sącz
Nowy Sącz (; hu, Újszandec; yi, Tzanz, צאַנז; sk, Nový Sonč; german: Neu-Sandez) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. It has ...
and Tarnów. In older systems the border runs more in the east, along the line (north to south) along the rivers San and Osława
The Osława (Czech: ''Oslava'', german: Oslawa, Ukrainian: ''Ослава'') is a river in South-Eastern Poland. Its name comes from the ancient west Slavic dialect word ''osła'', meaning "stone". It begins in the Bieszczady mountains and flow ...
(Poland), the town of Snina
Snina ( hu, Szinna, rue, Снина) is a town in Slovakia located at the confluence of the Cirocha river and the small river Pčolinka in the valley between the Bukovec Mountains foothills and the Vihorlat Mountains. It is the closest town wi ...
(Slovakia) and river Tur'ia (Ukraine). Biologists shift the border even further to the east.
The border between the eastern and southern Carpathians is formed by the Predeal Pass, south of Brașov and the Prahova Valley.
In geopolitical terms, Carpathian Mountains are often grouped and labeled according to national or regional borders, but such division has turned out to be relative, since it was, and still is dependent on frequent historical, political and administrative changes of national or regional borders. According to modern geopolitical division, Carpathians can be grouped as: Serbian, Romanian, Ukrainian, Polish, Slovakian, Czech and Austrian. Within each nation, specific classifications of the Carpathians have been developing, often reflecting local traditions, and thus creating terminological diversity, that produces various challenges in the fields of comparative classification and international systematization.
The section of the Carpathians within the borders of Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
is commonly known as the Romanian Carpathians. In local use, Romanians sometimes denote as "Eastern Carpathians" only the Romanian part of the Eastern Carpathians, which lies on their territory (i.e., from the Ukrainian border or from the Prislop Pass to the south), which they subdivide into three simplified geographical groups (northern, central, southern), instead of Outer and Inner Eastern Carpathians. These groups are:
* Maramureș-Bukovinian Carpathians (Romanian: ''Carpații Maramureșului și ai Bucovinei'')
* Moldavian-Transylvanian Carpathians (Romanian: ''Carpații Moldo-Transilvani'')
* Curvature Carpathians
The Sub Carpathians of Curvature, ''Ciucaș'', or Curvature Carpathians ( ro, Carpații de Curbură, hu, Kárpátkanyar), are located between the Trotuș and Slănic rivers in Romania. They are a range of high hills (800–900 m), with knolls ...
(Romanian: ''Carpații Curburii, Carpații de Curbură'')
The section of the Carpathians within the borders of Ukraine is commonly known as the Ukrainian Carpathians
The Ukrainian Carpathians ( uk, Українські Карпати) are a section of the Eastern Carpathians, within the borders of modern Ukraine. They are located in the southwestern corner of Western Ukraine, within administrative territori ...
. Classification of eastern sections of the Carpathians is particularly complex, since it was influenced by several overlapping traditions. Terms like
Wooded Carpathians, Poloniny Mountains or Eastern Beskids are often used in varying scopes by authors belonging to different traditions.
See also
*
*
*
* Tourism in Poland
Poland is a part of the global tourism market with constantly increasing number of visitors. Tourism in Poland contributes to the country's overall economy. The most popular cities are Kraków, Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Poznań, Szczecin, Lu ...
* Tourism in Serbia
* Tourism in Romania
* Tourism in Slovakia
Tourism in Slovakia offers natural landscapes, mountains, caves, medieval castles and towns, folk architecture, spas and ski resorts.
More than 5.0 million people visited Slovakia in 2017, and the most attractive destinations are the capital of ...
* Tourism in Ukraine
Ukraine used to attract more than 20 million foreign citizens every year (23 million in 2012). But since 2014 this has lowered to about 10 million. Visitors primarily come from Eastern Europe, but also from Western Europe as well as Turk ...
* Sudetes
* ''The Living Fire''
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 — Carpathian Mountains
by Volodymyr Kubijovyč
Volodymyr Kubijovyč, also spelled Kubiiovych or Kubiyovych ( uk, Володи́мир Миха́йлович Кубійо́вич, translit=Volodymyr Mykhailovych Kubiiovych; 23 September 1900, Nowy Sącz, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria – 2 ...
(1984).
Carpathianconvention.org: The Framework Convention for the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians
Alpinet.org: Romanian mountain guide
Carpati.org: Romanian mountain guide
Pgi.gov.pl: Oil and Gas Fields in the Carpathians
Video: Beautiful mountains Carpathians, Ukraine
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Mountain ranges of Europe
Mountain ranges of the Czech Republic
Mountain ranges of Hungary
Mountain ranges of Poland
Mountain ranges of Romania
Mountain ranges of Slovakia
Mountain ranges of Ukraine
Geography of Central Europe
Geography of Eastern Europe
Geography of Southeastern Europe
Saga locations
Physiographic provinces