CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS

Regional division of the Carpathian Mountains (top) and a geologic cross section of the Western a geologically young European mountain chain forming the eastward continuation of the Alps. From the Danube Gap, near Bratislava, Slovakia, they swing in a wide crescent-shaped arc some 900 miles (1,450 kilometres) long to near Orsova, Romania, at the portion of the Danube River valley called the Iron Gate. These are the conventional boundaries of these arcuate ranges, although, in fact, certain structural units of the Carpathians extend southward across the Danube at both sites mentioned. The true geologic limits of the Carpathians are, in the west, the Vienna Basin and the structural hollow of the Leitha Gate in Austria and, to the south, the structural depression of the Timok River in Yugoslavia. To the northwest, north, northeast, and south the geologic structures of the Carpathians are surrounded by the sub-Carpathian structural depression separating the range from other basic geologic elements of Europe, such as the old Bohemian Massif and the Russian, or East European, Platform. Within the arc formed by the Carpathians are found the depressed Pannonian Basin, composed of the Little and the Great Alfolds of Hungary, and also the relatively lower mountain-and-hill zone of Transdanubia, which separates these two plains. Thus defined, the Carpathians cover some 80,000 square miles (200,000 square kilometres). Although a counterpart of the Alps, the Carpathians differ considerably from them. Their structure is less compact, and they are split up into a number of mountain blocks separated by basins. The highest peaks, Gerlachovsk tt (Gerlach) in the Carpathians (8,711 feet [2,655 metres]) and Mont Blanc in the Alps (15,771 feet), differ greatly in altitude, and in average elevation the Carpathian mountain chains are also very much lower than those of the Alps. Structural elements also differ. The sandstoneshale band known as flysch, which flanks the northern margin of the Alps in a narrow strip, widens considerably in the Carpathians, forming the main component of their outer zone, whereas the limestone rocks that form a wide band in the Alps are of secondary importance in the Carpathians. On the other hand, crystalline and metamorphic (heat-altered) rocks, which represent powerfully developed chains in the central part of the Alps, appear in the Carpathians as isolated blocks of smaller size surrounded by depressed areas. In addition to these features, the Carpathians contain a rugged chain of volcanic rocks. Similar differences can be observed in the relief of these two mountain systems, notably in the way that the processes of erosion have occurred. The relief forms of the Alps today result for the most part from the glaciations of the last Ice Age. These affected practically all mountain valleys and gave them their specific relief character. In the Carpathians, glaciation affected only the highest peaks, and the relief forms of today have been shaped by the action of running water. crescent-shaped mountain range in east-central Europe. It extends approximately 900 miles (1,450 km) in a system of parallel structural ranges eastward from the Danube Gap near Bratislava, Slovakia, southward to Brasov, Romania, and southwestward to the portion of the Danube River valley called the Iron Gate, near Orsova, Romania. The Carpathians include portions of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Ukraine. The true geologic limits of the Carpathians extend into Austria in the west and Yugoslavia in the south. Although they are the eastward continuation of the Alps, the Carpathians differ considerably from them; their structure is less compact, their summits are lower, and they are split up into a number of mountain blocks separated by basins. Gerlachovsk tt (Mount Gerlach), the highest peak, rises to 8,711 feet (2,655 m). Three ranges make up the Carpathian Mountains. The Outer Carpathians, made up of rocks composed of flysch (a sequence of shales interbedded with sandstones), run from near Vienna through Moravia, along the Polish-Czech frontier and through western Ukraine into Romania, ending in an abrupt bend of the Carpathian arc north of Bucharest. The Inner Carpathians are composed of numerous separate blocks of ancient crystalline and metamorphic cores onto which younger sedimentary rocks have been overthrust. In the west lies the Central Slovakian block, in the southeast lies the East Carpathian block, and the isolated Bihor Massif occupies the centre. The third and innermost range of the Carpathians is built of young Tertiary volcanic rocks formed less than 50 million years ago, differing in extent in the western and eastern sections. In the western section the mountains extend in the shape of an arc enclosing, to the south and east, the Central Slovakian block. The eastern section runs nearly in a straight line from northwest to southeast. Between this volcanic range and the South Carpathian block (also called Transylvanian Alps), the Transylvanian Plateau spreads out, filled with loose rock formations of young Tertiary age. Water runoff from the Carpathians escapes for the most part into the Black Sea by way of the Danube and Dniester rivers. Agriculture, forestry, and tourism are economically important in the Carpathians. Additional reading Thorough, though sometimes brief, treatments of the Carpathians are found in Emmanuel de Martonne, Europe centrale, 2 vol. (193031); Mrton Pcsi and Bla Srfalvi, The Geography of Hungary (1964); Tiberiu Morariu, Vasile Cucu, and Ion Velcea, The Geography of Romania, 2nd ed. (1969); Jaromr Demek et al., Geography of Czechoslovakia, trans. from Czech (1971); and Irena Kostrowicka and Jerzy Kostrowicki, Poland: Landscape and Architecture (1980; originally published in Polish, 1969). G.Z. Fldvary, Geology of the Carpathian Region (1988), is informative and detailed, though technical. The Carpathian region is one of the three mountain regions discussed in P. Skalnik, Uneven and Combined Development in European Mountain Communities, in David C. Pitt (ed.), Society and Environment, the Crisis in the Mountains (1978), pp. 123154. Jerzy A. Kondracki