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coord|47|00|N|25|30|E|region:PL_type:mountain|display=titleUse dmy dates|date=January 2011Other uses2|CarpathianGeobox|Range|name=Carpathians|native_name=|image=Dolina5.jpg|image_size=325px|image_caption=Inner Western Carpathians, High Tatras , Poland |country=Czech Republic|country1=Poland|country2=Slovakia|country3=Hungary|country4=Ukraine|country5=Romania|country6= Serbia http://www.carpathians.pl/carpathians01.html About the Carpathians - Carpathian Heritage Society|state_type=Region|region=|unit=|border=| border1=Alps|geology=| period= | orogeny=|area= | length=| length_orientation=|width= | width_orientation=|highest= Gerlachovský štít |highest_elevation=2655|highest_lat_d=|highest_lat_m=|highest_lat_s=|highest_lat_NS=|highest_long_d=|highest_long_m=|highest_long_s=|highest_long_EW=|map=Carpathians-satellite.jpg | map_caption=Satellite image of the CarpathiansThe Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly convert|1500|km|mi|0|abbr=on long across Central Europe|Central and Eastern Europe , making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe (after the Scandinavian Mountains , convert|1700|km|mi|0|abbr=on). They provide the habitat for the largest European populations of brown bear s, European wolf|wolves , chamois and lynx es, with the highest concentration in Romania ,cite web |url= http://www.human-wildlife.info/images/Europa+Baer.JPG |title=Braunbären (Ursus arctos) in Europa |author=Peter Christoph Sürth |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=10 March 2011 |archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20071008020531/ http://www.human-wildlife.info/images/Europa+Baer.JPG |archivedate= 8 October 2007cite web |url= http://www.human-wildlife.info/images/Europa+Wolf.JPG |title=Wolf (Canis lupus) in Europa |author=Peter Christoph Sürth |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=10 March 2011 |archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20071008020550/ http://www.human-wildlife.info/images/Europa+Wolf.JPG |archivedate= 8 October 2007cite web |url= http://www.human-wildlife.info/images/Europa+Luchs.JPG |title=Eurasischer Luchs (Lynx lynx) in Europa |author=Peter Christoph Sürth |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=10 March 2011 |archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20071008020605/ http://www.human-wildlife.info/images/Europa+Luchs.JPG |archivedate= 8 October 2007 as well as over one third of all European plant species.cite web |url= http://www.eoearth.org/article/Carpathian_montane_conifer_forests |title=Carpathian montane conifer forests - Encyclopedia of Earth |author= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=4 August 2010 The Carpathians and their Foothills|piedmont also concentrate many Hot spring|thermal and mineral water s, with Romania home to over one-third of the European total. http://www.capital.ro/detalii-articole/stiri/bucuresti-statiune-balneara-o-gluma-buna-115796.html Bucuresti, statiune balneara – o gluma buna? in Capital, January 19th, 2009. Retrieved: April 26th, 2011 http://www.zf.ro/ziarul-de-duminica/reportajul-saptamanii-ruinele-de-la-baile-herculane-si-borsec-nu-mai-au-nimic-de-oferit-6092451 Ruinele de la Baile Herculane si Borsec nu mai au nimic de oferit in Ziarul Financiar, May 5th, 2010. Retrieved: April 26th, 2011 Romania is likewise home to the largest surface of virgin forest s in Europe (except Russia), totaling 250,000 hectares (65%), most of them in the Carpathians, http://www.jurnalul.ro/stiri/observator/salvati-padurile-virgine-594667.html Salvati padurile virgine! in Jurnalul Na?ional, October 26th, 2011. Retrieved: October 31st, 2011 with the Southern Carpathians constituting Europe’s largest unfragmented forested area. http://www.globalissues.org/news/2011/05/30/9865 Europe: New Move to Protect Virgin Forests in Global Issues, May 30th, 2011. Retrieved October 31st, 2011.
The Carpathians consist of a chain of mountain ranges that stretch in an arc from the Czech Republic (3%) in the northwest through Slovakia (17%), Poland (10%), Hungary (4%) and Ukraine (11%) to Romania (53%) in the east and on to the Iron Gate (Danube)|Iron Gates on the River Danube between Romania and Serbia (2%) in the south. The highest range within the Carpathians is the Tatra Mountains|Tatras , on the border of Poland and Slovakia , where the highest peaks exceed convert|2600|m|ft|0|abbr=on. The second-highest range is the Eastern Carpathians in Romania, where the highest peaks exceed convert|2500|m|ft|0|abbr=on.
The Carpathians are usually Divisions of the Carpathians|divided into three major parts : the Western Carpathians (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia), the Central Carpathians (southeastern Poland, eastern Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania), and the Eastern Carpathians (Romania, Serbia).
The most important cities in or near the Carpathians are: Bratislava and Košice in Slovakia; Kraków in Poland; Cluj-Napoca , Sibiu and Brasov in Romania; and Miskolc in Hungary.
Name
The name "Carpathian" may have been derived from Carpians|Carpi , a Dacians|Dacian tribe. According to Zosimus , this tribe lived until 381 on the eastern Carpathian slopes. The word could come from an indo-European word meaning "rock". In the Thracian Greek ?a?p?t?? ???? ( Karpates oros ), means "rocky mountain",cite web |url= http://www.etymonline.com/index.php? term=Carpathian |title=Carpathian |author=Douglas Harper |date= |work= Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher= |accessdate=10 March 2011
The range is called Karpaty in Czech language|Czech , Polish language|Polish , Russian language|Russian , Slovak language|Slovak and Ukrainian language|Ukrainian , Carpa?i IPA-ro|kar'pat?s?|pron in Romanian language|Romanian , Karpaten in German and Dutch language|Dutch , Kárpátok in Hungarian language|Hungarian and Karpati (???????) in Serbian language|Serbian .
The name Carpates may ultimately be from the Proto-Indo-European language|Proto Indo-European root '*sker- / *ker- , from which comes the Albanian language|Albanian word kar' pë (rock), and the Slavic languages|Slavic word skála (rock, cliff), perhaps via a Dacian language|Dacian cognateWhich? |date=March 2011 which meant mountain, rock , or rugged (cf. Germanic root *skerp- , Old Norse harfr "harrow", Middle Low German scharf "potsherd" and Modern High German Scherbe "shard", Old English scearp and English sharp , Lithuanian kar~pas "cut, hack, notch", Latvian cěrpt "to shear, clip"). The archaic Polish word kar pa meant "rugged irregularities, underwater obstacles/rocks, rugged roots or trunks". The more common word skar pa means a sharp cliff or other vertical terrain. Otherwise, the name may instead come from Indo-European * kwerp "to turn", akin to Old English hweorfan "to turn, change" (English warp ) and Greek ?a?p?? karpós "wrist", perhaps referring to the way the mountain range bends or veers in an L-shape.Room, Adrian. Placenames of the World . London: MacFarland and Co., Inc., 1997.
In late Roman Empire|Roman documents, the Eastern Carpathian Mountains were referred to as Montes Sarmatici (meaning Sarmatian Mountains ). The Western Carpathians were called Carpates , a name that is first recorded in Ptolemy 's Geographia (2nd century AD).
In the Scandinavian Hervarar saga , which describes ancient Germanic legends about Hlöđskviđa|battles between Goths and Huns , the name Karpates appears in the predictable Germanic form as Harvađa fjöllum (see Grimm's law ).
13th-15th century Hungarian documents named the mountains Thorchal , Tarczal or less frequently Montes Nivium .
Geography
Unreferenced section|date=March 2011 The Carpathians begin on the Góra Swietego Marcina 384 m. in Tarnów - northern edge of Pogórze Ciezkowickie . They surround Carpathian Ruthenia|Transcarpathia and Transylvania in a large semicircle, sweeping towards the southeast, and end on the Danube near Orsova in Romania. The total length of the Carpathians is over convert|1500|km|mi|0|abbr=on and the mountain chain's width varies between convert|12|and|500|km|mi|0|abbr=on. The highest altitudes of the Carpathians occur where they are widest. The system attains its greatest breadth in the Transylvanian plateau and in the meridian of the Tatra mountains|Tatra group & ndash; the highest range, in which Gerlachovský štít in Slovakia is the highest peak at convert|2655|m|ft|0|abbr=on above sea level. The Carpathians cover an area of convert|190000|km2|sqmi|0|abbr=on and, after the Alps , 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 orography|orographically and geologically distinctive groups, presenting as great a structural variety as the Alps. The Carpathians, which attain an altitude of over convert|2500|m|ft|0|abbr=on 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. No area of the Carpathian range is covered in snow all year round and there are no glaciers. 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 (plants)|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 at Orsova in Romania. The valley of the Morava (river)|March and Oder separates the Carpathians from the Silesia n and Moravia n 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 to the southwest, the plain of the Lower Danube (Romania) to the south, and the Galicia (Central Europe)|Galician plain to the northeast.
Cities and towns
Important cities and towns in or near the Carpathians are, in approximate descending order of population:
col-begincol-break
Bratislava (Slovakia)
Cluj-Napoca (Romania)
Brasov (Romania)
Košice (Slovakia)
Oradea (Romania)
Miskolc (Hungary)
Sibiu (Romania)
Târgu Mures (Romania)
Baia Mare (Romania)
Tarnów (Poland)
Râmnicu Vâlcea (Romania)
Uzhhorod (Ukraine)
Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukraine) nb5
Piatra Neamt (Romania)
Suceava (Romania)
col-break
Drobeta-Turnu Severin (Romania) nb5
Resita (Romania)
Žilina (Slovakia)
Bistrita (Romania)
Banská Bystrica (Slovakia)
Deva, Romania|Deva (Romania)
Zlín (Czech Republic)
Hunedoara (Romania)
Zalau (Romania)
Przemysl (Poland)
Alba Iulia (Romania)
Zajecar (Serbia)
Sfântu Gheorghe (Romania)
Turda (Romania)
Bor, Serbia|Bor (Serbia)
col-break
Medias (Romania)
Poprad (Slovakia)
Petrosani (Romania)
Negotin (Serbia)
Miercurea Ciuc (Romania)
Fagaras (Romania)
Odorheiu Secuiesc (Romania)
Petrila (Romania)
Sighisoara (Romania)
Zakopane (Poland)
Câmpulung Moldovenesc (Romania)
Gheorgheni (Romania)
Vatra Dornei (Romania)
Rakhiv (Ukraine)
col-end
Highest peaks
This is an (incomplete) list of the highest peaks of the Carpathians (limited to summits over 2,500 m), their heights, geologic divisions, and locations.
Peak
Geologic divisions
County (Counties)
Height (m)
Gerlachovský štít
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia
Prešov Region
2,655
Gerlachovská veža
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia
Prešov Region
2,642
Lomnický štít
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia
Prešov Region
2,633
Ladový štít
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia
Prešov Region
2,627
Pyšný štít
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia
Prešov Region
2,623
Zadný Gerlach
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia
Prešov Region
2,616
Lavínový štít
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia
Prešov Region
2,606
Malý Ladový štít
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia
Prešov Region
2,602
Kotlový štít
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia
Prešov Region
2,601
Lavínová veža
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia
Prešov Region
2,600
Malý Pyšný štít
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia
Prešov Region
2,591
Velká Litvorová veža
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia
Prešov Region
2,581
Strapatá veža
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia
Prešov Region
2,565
Kežmarský štít
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia
Prešov Region
2,556
Vysoká
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia
Prešov Region
2,547
Moldoveanu
Fagaras Mountains
Romania
Arges
2,544
Negoiu
Fagaras Mountains
Romania
Arges , --> Arges County
2,535
Vistea Mare
Fagaras Mountains
Romania
Arges ,--> Brasov County
2,527
Lespezi
Fagaras Mountains
Romania
Arges ,--> Sibiu County
2,522
Parângu Mare
Parâng Mountains
Romania
Alba , Gorj County
2,519
Peleaga
Retezat Mountains
Romania
Hunedoara
2,509
Papusa
Retezat Mountains
Romania
Hunedoara
2,508
Vânatoarea lui Buteanu
Fagaras Mountains
Romania
Arges , --> Arges County
2,507
Omu (mountain)
Bucegi Mountains
Romania
Prahova , Brasov County
2,505
Cornul Caltunului
Fagaras Mountains
Romania
Arges , --> Sibiu County
2,505
Bucura Dumbrava
Bucegi Mountains
Romania
Prahova , Brasov County
2,503
Rysy
Fatra-Tatra Area
Slovakia , Poland
tbd
2,503
Dara
Fagaras Mountains
Romania
Arges , --> Sibiu County
2,500
Mountain passes
In the Romanian part of the main chain of the Carpathians, the most important mountain pass es are (starting from the Ukrainian border): the Prislop Pass , Rodna Pass , Tihuta Pass (also known as Borgo Pass), Tulghes Pass , Bicaz Canyon , Ghimes Pass , Uz Pass and Oituz Pass , Buzau Pass , Predeal Pass (crossed by the railway from Brasov to Bucharest ), Turnu Rosu Pass (1,115& nbsp;ft., running through the narrow gorge of the Olt River and crossed by the railway from Sibiu to Bucharest), Vulcan Pass , Teregova Pass and the Iron Gate (Danube)|Iron Gate (both crossed by the railway from Timisoara to Craiova ).
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 Plašienka, D., 2002, http://www.geologicacarpathica.sk/special/P/Plasienka.pdf Origin and growth of the Western Carpathian orogenetic wedge during the mesozoic. (PDF) in Geologica Carpathica Special Issues 53 Proceedings of XVII. Congress of Carpathian-Balkan Geological Association Bratislava, September 1st - 4th 2002 and Tertiary by moving the ALCAPA , Tisza Plate|Tisza and Dacia Plate|Dacia plates over subduction|subducting oceanic crust ( http://books.google.co.uk/books? id=rCzu3YsGshAC& lpg=PA18& dq=alcapa%20tisza& pg=PA18#v=onepage& q& f=false see maps).Mantovani, E., Viti, M., Babbucci, D., Tamburelli, C., Albarello, D., 2006, Geodynamic connection between the indentation of Arabia and the Neogene tectonics of the central–eastern Mediterranean region. GSA Special Papers, v. 409, p. 15-41 The mountains take the form of a fold and thrust belt with generally north Vergence (geology)|vergence in the western segment, northeast to east vergence in the eastern portion and southeast vergence in the southern portion.
The external, generally northern, portion of the orogenic belt is a Tertiary accretionary prism of a so called Flysch|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 s composed of Cretaceous to Paleogene turbidite s. Thrusting of the Flysch nappes over the Carpathian foreland caused the formation of the Carpathian foreland basin .Nehyba, S., Šikula, J., 2007, Depositional architecture, sequence stratigraphy and geodynamic development of the Carpathian Foredeep (Czech Republic). Geologica Carpathica, 58, 1, pp. 53-69 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.Mišík, M., 1997, The Slovak Part of the Pieniny Klippen Belt After the Pioneering Works of D. Andrusov. Geologica Carpathica, 48, 4, pp. 209-220 Internal zones in western and eastern segments contain older Variscan igneous massifs reworked in Mesozoic Thick-skinned deformation|thick and thin-skinned nappes. During the Middle Miocene this zone was affected by intensive calc-alkaline 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 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 structureDolton, G.L., 2006, Pannonian Basin Province, Central Europe (Province 4808)—Petroleum geology, total petroleum systems, and petroleum resource assessment. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2204–B, 47 p. of the back-arc Pannonian Basin .Royden, L.H., Horváth, F., Rumpler, J., 1983, Evolution of the Pannonian basin system. 1. Tectionics. Tectonics, 2, pp. 61-90
Iron, gold and silver were found in great quantities in the Western Carpathians . After the Roman emperor Trajan 's conquest of Dacia, he brought back to Rome over 165 tons of gold and 330 tons of silver.cite web|title=Dacia-Province of the Roman Empire|publisher =United Nations of Roma Victor|url = http://www.unrv.com/province/dacia.php|accessdate=2010-11-14
Divisions of the Carpathians
1. Outer Western Carpathians
2. Inner Western Carpathians
3. Outer Eastern Carpathians
4. Inner Eastern Carpathians
5. Southern Carpathians
6. Apuseni Mountains|Western Romanian Carpathians
7. Transylvanian Plateau
8. Serbian Carpathians main|Divisions of the CarpathiansThe largest range is the Tatra Mountains|Tatras .
A major part of the western and northeastern Outer Carpathians in Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia is traditionally called the Beskids .
The geological border between the Western and Eastern Carpathians runs approximately along the line (south to north) between the towns of Michalovce , Bardejov , Nowy Sacz and Tarnów . In older systems the border runs more in the east, along the line (north to south) along the rivers San River|San and Oslawa (Poland), the town of Snina (Slovakia) and river River Turia|Tur'ia (Ukraine). Biologists, however, shift the border even further to the east.
The border between the eastern and southern Carpathians is formed by the Predeal Pass, south of Brasov and the Prahova Valley .
Ukrainians sometimes denote as "Eastern Carpathians" only the Ukrainian Carpathians (or Wooded Carpathians), meaning the part situated largely on their territory (i.e., to the north of the Prislop Pass ), while Romanians sometimes denote as "Eastern Carpathians" only the part 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 (north, center, south), instead of Outer and Inner Eastern Carpathians. These are:
Carpathians of Maramures and Bukovina (Romanian: Carpatii Maramuresului si ai Bucovinei )
http://www.alpinet.org/ Alpinet - Romanian mountain guide
http://www.carpati.org/ Carpati.org - Romanian mountain guide
Carpathian Mountains
Category:Landforms of Europe Category:Mountain ranges of Europe Category:Carpathians Category:Mountain ranges of the Czech Republic Category:Mountain ranges of Serbia Category:Mountain ranges of Slovakia Category:Mountain ranges of Poland Category:Mountain ranges of Romania Category:Physiographic provinces Category:Saga locations
