Romanian Carpathians

Geography of Romania

Topography

Carpathians (peaks)
Plains & Delta
Islands

Hydrography

Climate

This is an overview of the geological subdivisions of the Romanian Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a "subsystem" of the Alps-Himalaya System and are further divided into "provinces" and "subprovinces".

The broadest divisions are shown in the map on the right. The last level of the division, i.e. the actual mountain ranges and basins, is usually called "units". The lowest-level detail for those units is maintained on separate pages.

Naming conventions

Map of the main divisions of the Carpathians.
3. Outer Eastern Carpathians
4. Inner Eastern Carpathians
5. Southern Carpathians
6. Western Romanian Carpathians
7. Transylvanian Plateau

Traditional Romanian naming conventions differ from this list. In Romania, it is usual to divide the Eastern Carpathians in Romanian territory into three geographical groups (North, Centre, South), instead in Outer and Inner Eastern Carpathians.

The Transylvanian Plateau is encircled by, and geologically a part of, the Carpathians, but it is not a mountainous region and its inclusion is disputed in some sources. Its features are included below.

The Outer Carpathian Depressions lay outside the broad arc of the entire formation and are usually listed as part of the individual divisions of the Carpathian Mountains, i.e. of Western Carpathians, Eastern Carpathians etc.

Eastern (Oriental) Carpathians

Romanian classification

Oriental Carpathians are divided into three geographical groups; the Romanian approach is shown by adding the following abbreviations to the names of units within Romania:

MMB = Carpathians of Maramureș and Bukovina (Munții Carpați ai Maramureșului și Bucovinei) (North group)
MMT = Moldavian-Transylvanian Carpathians (Munții Carpați Moldo-Transilvani) (Centre group)
MC = Curvature Carpathians (Munții Carpați de Curbură) (South group)