Geology of Romania

The most famous geologic structure of Romania are - of course - the Carpathians, the home of Count Dracula. But from the geological viewpoint, there is a lot more to see: the longest volcanic mountain range in Europe called Oas-Harghita, two-thirds of Europe's mineral springs and the unique Movile Cave.

The Carpathians or Carpathian Mountains cover much of the big country of Romania. Starting in the west at the border between Austria, Hungaria, and Slovakia, they form a huge bow to the southwest, along the border between Slovakia and Poland, through the southwestern part of Ukrania, and then south through the center of Romania to their end at the Danube at the border to Serbia. The Romanian part are the Eastern Carpathians, the Southern Carpathians, and the Romanian Western Carpathians. On a map those three mountain ridges look like the big letter U, enclosing the Transylvanian Plateau, which is sometimes also called a part of the .

All across the Carpathians are numerous limestone areas, which form karst regions with many caves and other karst features. Two more huge karst areas are located along the Danube in the Banat, and in the low hills of the Dobrogea between Danube and Black Sea coast.

There are many mines in Romania, but as far as we know, there is only one show mine, the salt mine at Praid.

Karst Areas of Romania (Map)