PINDUS MOUNTAINS

Modern Greek Oroseir Pndhou, principal range and backbone of mainland Greece, trending north-northwestsouth-southeast from Albania to central Greece north of the Peloponnese. In antiquity, the name Pindus applied to ranges south of the Aracynthus (Zygs) Pass west of Thessaly. Occasionally the Pindus is said to extend into Albania but also to include the Tymphrestos (Timfrists) massif and even the Gina massif north of Amphissa in the noms (department) of Phocis (Foks). The highest point of the range is 8,651 feet (2,637 m) in the Smlikas massif, near the Albanian border. An extension of the calcareous Dinaric range of the Balkans, the core of the Pindus appears to comprise metamorphic and volcanic rocks: schists, serpentines, granite, and jasper. The northern parts, less elevated, have folded Balkan characteristics. Lacking uniformity, the Pindus consists largely of a series of small ranges separated by transverse valleys eroded from limestones that on the eastern slopes often are overlain by geologically younger sandy and marl deposits. The result is often wild, precipitous slopes that afford few passes; the principal one is the Mtsovo (Katra pass; 5,593 feet ), a historic defile that carries the highway from the Epirus to Thessaly. The southern limits of the Pindus are generally considered to be the Tymphrestos Mountains northeast of Karpension. From the Albanian border, the local massifs are the Grmmos and Von, Tmfi, Smolikas, Lingos, Lkmos (the latter rising at Peristri to 7,529 feet ), and the Athamnon, between the rakhthos and Achelous rivers, rising at Tzoumrka to 8,100 feet (2,469 m). Forested with oak, fir, beech, and pine, the Pindus creates a barrier for the westerly weather fronts, which puts the Thessalian plain to the east in a rain shadow. The mountains, snowcapped in winter, receive heavy rainfall that feeds such rivers as the Achelous and Mgdhova on the western slopes and the Pinis and Aliakmon on the eastern.