Sub-Tatra Trench ( Polish: Rów Podtatrzański; Slovakian: Podtatranská brázda) ( 514.14) is a mesoregion located below the Tatra Mountains, part of the Orava-Podhale Depression. The trench divides the Choč and Tatra Mountains from the Spiš–Gubałówka Highlands. The region has an elevation of between 700 and 1000 m.a.s.l. It is formed from

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

marlstone

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

s (Podhalański

Flysch Flysch () is a sequence of sedimentary rock layers that progress from deep-water and turbidity flow deposits to shallow-water shales and sandstones. It is deposited when a deep basin forms rapidly on the continental side of a mountain building ep ...

). In

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, the area has a total length of 20 km and a total surface area of 130 km². The regional

valleys A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over a ve ...

incline in the north, covered with

alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to Semi-arid climate, semiar ...

s, formed via upper course river flow. The

Zakopane Zakopane (Gorals#Language, Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the 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 ...

Valley has three

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

top soil coverings from three separate

glacial periods A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

. The western part and eastern borderlands of the Podtatrzański Trench are

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

ed. The main brooks that drain through the valley are the Czarny Dunajec, as well as the Zakopianka and Poroniec (sources of

Biały Dunajec Biały Dunajec , is a village in southern Poland situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999; it was previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998. It lies approximately north-east of Zakopane and south of the regional capital ...

). The region is characterised by the settlement areas of

, as well as

Kościelisko Kościelisko is a village in Tatra County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland, close to the border with Slovakia. (It was previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998.) It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) cal ...

Małe Ciche Małe Ciche , () is a village and a ski resort, in the administrative district of Gmina Poronin, within Tatra County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It lies approximately south-east of Poronin, east of Zakopane, and south of the ...

and

Murzasichle Murzasichle is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Poronin, within Tatra County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It lies approximately south-east of Poronin, east of Zakopane, and south of the regional capital Krak ...

References

{{Reflist Regions of Poland

See also

References