Southern Carpathians
Romanian: Carpații Meridionali
Negoiu Peak 2,535 metres (8,317 ft)
Highest point
PeakMoldoveanu
Elevation2,544 m (8,346 ft)
Coordinates45°30′N 24°15′E / 45.500°N 24.250°E / 45.500; 24.250
Geography
Location of the Southern Carpathians in Romania
CountryRomania
Parent rangeCarpathians
Geology
OrogenyAlpine orogeny
Age of rockMostly Triassic

The Southern Carpathians (also known as the Transylvanian Alps;[1][2] Romanian: Carpații Meridionali [karˈpatsij ˌmeridi.oˈnalʲ]; Hungarian: Déli-Kárpátok) are a group of mountain ranges located in southern Romania.[3] They cover the part of the Carpathian Mountains located between the Prahova River in the east and the Timiș and Cerna Rivers in the west. To the south they are bounded by the Balkan mountain range in eastern Serbia.

Heights

Lake Vidraru in the Făgăraș Mountains

The Southern Carpathians are the second highest group of mountains in the Carpathian Mountain range (after Tatra), reaching heights of over 2,500 meters. Although considerably smaller than the Alps, they are classified as having an alpine landscape. Their high mountain character, combined with great accessibility, makes them popular with tourists and scientists.

The highest peaks are:


Despite the heights, some of the most accessible passages in the Carpathians in Romania are along the rivers, which cross the mountain range (the Olt River) or form wide valleys (along the Prahova River Valley or along the Jiu River Valley).

Geology

The South Carpathians represent an intricate pile of tectonic nappes, overthrusted from west eastwards during the Austrian (Middle Cretaceous) and Laramian paroxysmal phases, corresponding to various plate fragments. The napes are (from west eastwards): the Supragetic, Getic, Severin and Danubian Units. The Getic Nappe was identified by Murgoci (1905),[4] while the general understanding over the Alpine structure of the South Carpathians was later refined by Codarcea (1940),[5] Codarcea et al. (1961),[6] Năstăseanu et al. (1981),[7] Săndulescu (1984),[8] Săndulescu and Dimitrescu (2004),[9] and Mutihac (1990).[10] The first to apply the global tectonics concepts for the Romanian Carpathians were Rădulescu and Săndulescu (1973).[11]

The Supragetic, Getic Nappes as well as the Danubian Units represent units with both a metamorphic basement and a sedimentary cover, while the Severin Nappe includes only a sedimentary sequence. The Getic Nappe and the Danubian Units sediments include a Palaeozoic sequence (Upper Carboniferous, Lower Permian) and a Mesozoic sequence (Lowermost Jurassic – Middle Cretaceous). The Supragetic Nappe comprises mainly metamorphosed rocks (gneisses, micashists), while the Severin Nappe includes only Upper Jurassic – Lower Cretaceous sediments.

Mountain ranges

Moldoveanu peak (2544 m) is the highest in Romania and one of the highest peaks of the Carpathians[12]
Lake Bucura in the Retezat Mountains

From east to west, four mountain groups can be identified, separated by different river valleys.

The first two groups are steepest on the North side, and the last two are steepest on the South side.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Comănescu, Laura, & Alexandru Nedelea. 2016. Geomorphosites Assessments of the Glacial and Periglacial Landforms from Southern Carpathoans. In: Maria Radoane & Alfred Vespremeanu-Stroe (eds.), Landform Dynamics and Evolution in Romania, pp. 215–248. Cham: Springer, p. 202.
  2. ↑ Quinn, Joyce Ann, & Susan L Woodward. 2015. Earth's Landscape: An Encyclopedia of the World's Geographic Features. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, p. 138.
  3. ↑ Carpathians.pl Archived 2010-04-06 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Murgoci, G.M., 1905. Sur l'existence d'une grande nappe de recouvrement dans les Carpathes meridionales. C. R. Acad. Sci., 7: 31.
  5. ↑ Codarcea , A., 1940. Vues nouvelles sur la tectonique du Banat meridional et du Plateau de Mehedinți. D. S. Inst. Geol. Rom., 20: 1–74.
  6. ↑ Codarcea, A., Răileanu, G., Pavelescu, L., Gherasi, N., Năstăseanu, S., Bercia, I. and Mercus, D., 1961. Guide des excursions. Carpates Meridionales, București, 130 pp.
  7. ↑ Năstăseanu, S., Bercia, I., Iancu, V., Vlad and Hârtopanu, I., 1981. The structure of the South Carpathians (Mehedinți – Banat Area). Guidebooks series, 22. IGR, Bucuresti, 3–100 pp.
  8. ↑ Săndulescu, M., 1984. Geotectonica României. Editura Tehnică, București, 336 pp.
  9. ↑ Săndulescu, M. and Dimitrescu, R., 2004. Geological structure of the Romanian Carpathians, Florence, 48 pp.
  10. ↑ Mutihac, V., 1990. Structura geologică a teritoriului României. Editura Tehnică, Bucharest, 419 pp.
  11. ↑ Rădulescu, D. and Săndulescu, M., 1973. The plate-tectonics concept and the geological structure of the Carpathians. Tectonophysics, 16: 155–161.
  12. ↑ "Moldoveanu : Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering : SummitPost". www.summitpost.org. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Southern Carpathians.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.