Editing Carpathian Mountains (section)

== Geography ==

[[File:Geographic map of Carpathian mountains.svg|thumb|upright=1.8|Topographic map of the Carpathian Mountains, showing their distribution from the far eastern [[Czech Republic]]&nbsp;(3%) and [[Austria]]&nbsp;(1%) through [[Slovakia]]&nbsp;(21%), [[Poland]]&nbsp;(10%), [[Ukraine]]&nbsp;(10%), [[Romania]]&nbsp;(50%) to [[Serbia]]&nbsp;(5%).<ref name="visiteurope.com" /><ref name="carpathianconvention.org" /><ref name="nhmbeo.rs">[http://www.nhmbeo.rs/upload/documents/casopisi/Glasnik/Vol03/Maran%20(2010).pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801124415/http://www.nhmbeo.rs/upload/documents/casopisi/Glasnik/Vol03/Maran%20(2010).pdf|date=1 August 2019}} Bulletin of the Natural History Museum, pg. 54, Valuing the geological heritage of Serbia (UDC: 502.171:55(497.11), Aleksandra Maran (2010), Retrieved 15 November 2016</ref><ref name="books.google.rs" />]]

Although commonly referred to as a mountain chain, the Carpathians do not form an uninterrupted chain of mountains, but consist of several [[orography|orographically]] and geologically distinctive groups. The northwestern Carpathians begin in Slovakia and southern Poland. They surround [[Carpathian Ruthenia|Transcarpathia]] and [[Transylvania]] in a large semicircle, sweeping towards the southeast, and end on the [[Danube]] near [[Orșova]] in Romania. The total length of the Carpathians is over {{convert|1500|km|mi|abbr=on}}.

[[File:Tatry widok z Tarasowek.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|View of [[Tatra Mountains|Tatry]] from [[Bukowina Tatrzańska]], [[Poland]]]]
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, in the Transylvanian plateau and in the southern [[Tatra Mountains]] group. The highest range, in which [[Gerlachovský štít]] in Slovakia is the highest peak, is {{convert|2655|m|ft|abbr=on}} above sea level.

The Carpathians cover an area of {{convert|190000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}. After the [[Alps]], they form the next-most extensive mountain system in Europe. Percentage of the range by country is: [[Czech Republic]]&nbsp;(3%) and [[Austria]]&nbsp;(1%) in the northwest through [[Slovakia]]&nbsp;(21%), [[Poland]]&nbsp;(10%), [[Ukraine]]&nbsp;(10%), [[Romania]]&nbsp;(50%) to [[Serbia]]&nbsp;(5%) in the south.

It was believed that no area of the Carpathian range was covered in snow all year round and there were no glaciers, but recent research by Polish scientists discovered one [[permafrost]] and glacial area in the Tatra Mountains.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Gądek |first1=Bogdan |last2=Gradiecz |first2=Mariusz |title=Glacial Ice and Permafrost Distribution in the Medena Kotlina (Slovak Tatras): Mapped with Application of GPR and GST Measurements|url=http://www.igipz.pan.pl/tl_files/igipz/ZGiHGiW/sgcb/sgcb_42/sgcb_42_01.pdf|work=Landform Evolution in Mountain Areas|publisher=Studia Geomorphologica Carpatho-Balcanica|access-date=3 February 2013}}</ref>

===Comparison with the Alps===
[[File:Lacul Bucura, Lacul Ana a Lacul Bucurelu.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Bucura Lake|Lake Bucura]], Southern Carpathians, [[Romania]]]]
The Carpathians, which attain an altitude over {{convert|2500|m|ft|abbr=on}} in only a few places, lack the bold peaks, extensive snowfields, large [[glacier]]s, high waterfalls, and numerous large lakes that are common in the Alps. 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]], only meeting at the [[Leitha Mountains]] at Bratislava. The river also separates the Carpathians from the [[Balkan Mountains]] at Orșova 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.

[[File:Branyiszkó 0205 B.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|View of [[Spiš Castle]] in Slovakia, from the [[Branisko Tunnel|Branisko Pass]]]]
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. The [[Pannonian plain]] is to the southwest, the Lower [[Danube|Danubian]] Plain to the south, with the [[Danubian Plain (Bulgaria)|southern part]] being in [[Bulgaria]], and the [[Wallachian Plain|northern]] – in (Romania), and the [[Galicia (Central Europe)|Galician]] plain to the northeast.

===Mountain passes===
In the Romanian part of the main chain of the Carpathians, [[mountain pass]]es include [[Prislop Pass]], [[Tihuța Pass]], [[Bicaz Canyon]], [[Ghimeș Pass]], [[Buzău Pass]], [[Predeal Pass]] (crossed by the railway from Brașov to [[Bucharest]]), [[Turnu Roșu 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]], and the [[Iron Gate (Danube)|Iron Gate]] (both crossed by the railway from [[Timișoara]] to [[Craiova]]).