CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS. These form the eastern wing of the central mountain axis of Europe, though they are not so impressive nor so widely known as the Alps. They begin near Bratislava and extend in a huge arc, concave towards the south west to Orsova on the Danube with a total length and area nearly equal to that of the Alps, but with a much lower mean height and a maximum height (Gerlsdorf spitze-8, 73 7 ft.) of little more than half that of the Alpine chain. They lack the rugged peaks, the extensive snowfields, the imposing glaciers, the high waterfalls and the numerous lakes characteristic of the Alps though allied to the latter in age and origin. The middle of the arc is marked by a significant decrease in width (from an average of 18o to 6o miles) and height and at this point a number of easy passes con nect the headwaters of the Dniester and the Tisza. Here fracture and subsidence have carried the Hungarian plain into the heart of the highlands and it is possible to use this as a convenient division of the system into the Northern and Southern Carpathians. Across this constricted zone have passed many human influences, notably that of the Magyars, from the southern plains of Eastern Europe and Asia while through the passes here contact is made with the climatic and vegetational types of southern Russia.
Ranges.—The Northern Carpathians present the appearance of a very broken mountain mass in which numerous detached blocks are separated by wide and shallow basins. The outer belt, known as the Beskid Mountains, extends from the river Morava to the sources of the river Viso and the Golden Bistritza, in the form of a dissected peneplain of Miocene age and is composed of Cretaceous and early Tertiary sandstones and shales, the so-called Carpathian Sandstone. The surface of this peneplain is dotted with settlements and cultivated tracts but upon it rise parallel lines of monadnock ridges whose steep slopes are heavily wooded, often to the summits though the highest reach several hundred feet above the tree-line and provide summer pastures for the stock of the plateau farms. Among these-ridges the best known are the White Carpathians (Javornik, 3,325 f t.), the Beskids proper (Smrk-4,395 f t., and Ossus-5, I o6 ft.), and the Arva Magura group (Babia Gora-5,65o ft.) ; east of the river Poprad the ridges are generally lower and more forested with firs and beeches. The inner belt of the Northern Carpathians has a very compli cated structure, of which overthrusts are the keynote, and still awaits detailed interpretation. It is seen in its most complex form between the Morava and the Hernad, where, against a core of old crystalline rocks, Carboniferous and older strata have been considerably crushed and folded. On the outer edge of this shat tered nucleus rest highly-disturbed Permian and Mesozoic beds but in the inner portion of the belt similar formations show little disturbance. East of the Hernad river the crystalline complex is absent and the Permian and Mesozoic beds are little folded. The southern borderland of the Northern Carpathians is in the region of greatest disturbance where faulting and fracture are compli cated by the occurrence of extensive volcanic outpourings of Miocene and later date, whereby the folded character of the ranges is almost entirely obscured. This region has also participated in the subsidence that originated the Hungarian plain. Throughout this inner belt dissected massifs of varying heights alternate with broad, terraced depressions having a general east-west grain. The formation of these basins and the neighbouring peneplains appears to be closely connected with the periodic fluctuations of level associated with the formation of the Hungarian plain. The highest massif, the High Tatra (see TATRA MOUNTAINS) has been strongly glaciated and closely resembles the Alpine ranges in its lakes, peaks, cirques and hanging valleys. South of this, the Fatra group and the Low Tatra (D jumbir-6, 700 ft.) still show small cirques and minor traces of glaciation. Farther south the ranges decrease in height and continuity and, though still good pasture lands, are more important for their wealth of ores and the fertility of their volcanic soils. Thus the Slovakian Ore Mountains which include the Schemnitz, the Ostrowsky and other groups and the Zips Gomor Ore Mountains are rich in iron, copper and other metallic ores while the Matra, Biikk and Tokaj groups are famed for their scenery and vineyards.
The structure of the Southern Carpathians is better known. Extending from the neighbourhood of the Jablonica Pass they widen rapidly to surround the Transylvanian Basin, the southern border of which is formed by the Transylvanian Alps, the most decided range of the whole system. In geological build they differ widely from the Northern Carpathians and only the outer flysch belt is common to both sections. Three subdivisions may be recognized, viz.:—the Moldavian Carpathians, the Transylvanian Alps and the massifs that fringe the Transylvanian Basin. The Moldavian Carpathians appear to bear a physiographical re semblance to the Beskids in the occurrence of conglomerate relict ridges upon a sandstcne peneplain. The Transylvanian Alps extending from Orsova to the Prahova river are broken up by youthful transverse streams above which rise mature flat-topped ridges belonging to three topographical cycles. Here the rocks are mainly schistose in type with small outcrops of Mesozoic strata. Folding, fracturing and overthrust are common and the mode of origin of the present scenery approximates to that of the Alps. Traces of past glaciation are frequent and though the average height is a little less than 6,000 ft. the highest ridges, e.g., the Fagaras, exceed 8,000 ft. The bordering mountains of the Transylvanian Basin are less well understood. Though lower they appear to be closely allied in rock composition and morphology to the Transylvanian Alps and this is especially true of the Bihar Mountains to the west. They differ, however, in one important feature for volcanic masses and debris are widespread, more particularly in the Harghitei complex which forms the eastern boundary of the basin.
The Southern Carpathians, lying in Rumania, are settled mainly by Rumanians and have the advantage of being crossed by rail ways through several passes, viz.:—at the Iron Gates, the Vulcan Pass, the Roteturm Pass of the Oltu valley, the Predeal Pass, the Gyimes Pass and the Jablonica Pass. Further large minorities of Magyars and Germans, cattle breeders and mixed farmers, have contributed to the development of this region, particularly in its large loess-covered basins and in such mineral areas as that of the Bihar Mountains. The discovery of coal and petroleum, too, have stimulated human progress so that the lowlands are studded with flourishing farms and agricultural villages with occasional large towns engaged in manufactures of local impor tance. Contrasted with the large, solid Saxon and Magyar villages are the scattered, wooden homesteads of the Rumanian pastoral ists. Sheep-rearing is the dominant form of pastoral industry and seasonal movement to high pastures is on a much more extensive scale than in the Northern Carpathians owing to the proximity of the Wallachian plains. So, too, a more genial climate raises the limit of human settlement here about i,000 ft. higher than in the northern division (i.e., to over 3,00o ft.).
Though in the remote fastnesses of the Carpathians bears, wolves, lynxes and birds of prey still persist and peasant life clings to the dress and habits of past centuries these highlands have never offered a serious obstacle to human movement, which has been especially easy at the point where the great bow is nearly severed through the Lupkov, Uzsok and Verecze Passes, now crossed by railways. By these passes waves of invasion from Asia effected penetration, while during the World War crossings were made with little difficulty by both combatant groups. The spread of Rumanians into Transylvania is another proof of the weakness of the system as a barrier, while only between Czecho slovakia and Poland does it serve as a frontier. Its broad and fertile depressions have rather acted as nuclei for the development of individual peoples and as refuges for the neighbouring plains men in times of strife.
Little scientific knowledge of the Carpathians existed until the 19th century when organized survey and mapping was undertaken by the Austrian army. Since then the formation of Carpathian societies in Hungary, Galicia and Transylvania has stimulated investigation while the studies of de Martonne have contributed much to our knowledge of the Southern Carpathians.