Serbian Carpathians
Serbian Carpathians is a mountain range in eastern Central Serbia, located in Central Europe. It presents an extension of proper Carpathian Mountains across the Danube, connecting them with the Balkan Mountains in the southeast. They stretch in north–south direction in eastern Serbia, east of the Great Morava valley and west of the White Timok Valley and north of the Nišava Valley. The mountains are 800–1500 m high, and dominated by karst limestone geologic features, the highest one being Rtanj Mountain.
Definitions
Under the strict definition, Serbian part of the Carpathian Mountains covers only 732 km2, or less than 1% of the total Carpathian area. That part encompasses the southern bank of the Iron Gate and the area of Đerdap National Park. The extreme points of so defined Carpathian area in Serbia are Tekija in the north, in the south, Golubac in the west and in the east. It covers northern rims of northern Kučaj, Šomrda, Liskovac, Veliki Greben and Miroč mountains, in municipalities of Golubac, Majdanpek and KladovoHowever, in Serbian geography, the epithet "Carpathian" is traditionally also given to the whole northern part of the Carpatho-Balkan arc, which connects the Carpathians proper with the Balkan Mountains. It refers to the following mountains:
- Šomrda
- Liškovac
- Veliki Greben
- Miroč
- Homolje Mountains
- Veliki Krš
- Mali Krš
- Stol
- Deli Jovan
- Beljanica
- Kučaj Mountains
- Rtanj
- Tupižnica
- Devica
- Ozren
Geology
The entire part of Serbia east of the Great and South Morava rivers is referred to as "Carpatho-Balkan arc" in geotectonic terminology. The region is composed of rocks of Proterozoic to Quaternary age. Limestones and dolomites of Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous age whose thickness can be more than 1,000 m. The structures are generally oriented in north–south direction, which bend on northern and southern parts, forming a C-shaped arc.Though those mountains are related to the Carpathians from the geological point of view, they have been included to them by the scientists only at the end of the 20th century. In the past, those mountains were included by mistake to the Balkan Mountains.