HUNGARY Two great physical types—mountains and plains—are represented in the structure of Hungary. Of the former the most important are the Carpathians, which begin at the Danube, opposite the eastern extremity of the Alps, and extend in a great curve running north east, east, south-east, and finally west, to the Iron Gates at Orsova. In some respects these mountains may be regarded as a continuation of the Alps, but it is only the sandstone ranges which are continu ously developed throughout, and these do not rise to anything like the same height as the Central Alps. In places there are fragments of an older mountain system which was partly destroyed by the foundering of the region now occupied by the plains. Its remains are found in the north, where the Tatra is formed of granitic rock, and in Transylvania, where ancient rocks appear on the outer, and more especially on the inner side of the Carpathian curve. On the inner side of the curve, also, the line of fracture between the ancient rocks and the plains is marked by the appearance of volcanic outpourings. The last efforts of the Alps themselves may be distinguished in the south-west of the country, in the Bakony Forest, and in the hills of Croatia and Slavonia.
The plains represent an area of subsidence filled up by deposits in the Miocene Sea which formerly covered the region, and which, as it disappeared, left great beds of salt among the clays and sands upon its floor. The Little Plain, which has an area of 5,000 square miles, is cut off from the remainder of the Lowlands by the Bakony Forest and the southern spurs of the Carpathians, and generally consists of fertile soil. The Great Plain, which is known as the AlfOld, has an area of about 37,000 square miles, and contains wide areas of loess deposited during great dust storms. Elsewhere, especially between the Theiss and the Danube, there are long rows of sand dunes which frequently interrupt the drainage of the land.
In places, also, are still to be found remains of the ancient sea— deep hollows impregnated with salt—as at Ecsed, by the side of the Kraszna, and at Sarret, along the course of the The climate of Hungary is essentially continental in its main characteristics, even although the great plains are to some extent protected by the Carpathians from cold northerly winds. In the highlands of the north and east, the winters, which are very severe, last for about six months, and even in the plains the mean tempera ture is below freezing-point during the coldest season. On the other hand, the summers of the lowlands are hot, and in the south are little short of tropical. In Transylvania the winters are cold and the summers warm. The mean rainfall ranges from 20 to 25 inches on the plains to over 40 inches on the mountains ; but its irregularity from year to year is a source of much trouble to the agriculturists of the Alfold. In some years the drought is so great that all vegetation is burned up, while in others large areas are inundated by floods. The years of maximum precipitation have an amount five or six times as great as the years of minimum precipitation.
The vegetation of the mountains presents a complete contrast to that of the plains. The former, with their heavy rainfall, are covered with coniferous and deciduous trees, oaks, beeches, and pines being predominant, while the latter, with their steppe climate, have also a steppe vegetation. Grasses cover the land in the early summer, but are burned up before it closes, and there are few trees except in places where their growth has been patiently fostered by man.