Romania Physical Characteristics

Morphology The territory of the Romania constitutes a harmonious geographical entity, despite the profoundly different characteristics of its constituent elements. The essential morphological element is represented by the Carpathian chain, formed in the Tertiary during the Alpine orogenetic cycle, of which the southern section and only partially the eastern section belong to Romania It is possible to subdivide the Carpathians Romanians in three sectors: Eastern Carpathians, Southern Carpathians and Western Carpathians. The former, which stretch in a NW-SW direction with a pronounced arched shape, have an average altitude between 1200 and 1330 m. There are three geological-structural zones: a central, crystalline one, where the maximum elevation of the whole sector is reached in the Munții Rodnei (Pietrosul: 2303 m); a recent volcanic area that flanks it to the west for about 400 km; an area to the east, on the edge of the central crystalline nucleus, where sedimentary formations of the Mesozoic and Paleogenic age are present. The Southern Carpathians, also called the Transylvanian Alps, have more massive shapes and are less divided: they are also arranged in an arch between the Dâmbovița valley and the Iron Gates, a narrow gorge in which the Danube flows for about 100 km. In this section, elevated on average from 1500 to 1750 m, the highest Carpathian heights in Romania are reached, with peaks exceeding 2500 m (Moldoveanu 2543 m; Negoiul 2535 m etc.). The western section of the Romanian Carpathians includes the Banat Mountains and the Apuseni, a grouping of massifs stretched for almost 350 km from the Danube to the Someş River and separated from each other by some tectonic depressions. In Bihor there is the highest peak of the Apuseni (1849 m). The Transylvania it constitutes a depression originated following the extension tectonics resulting from the alpine corrugations and filled by paleogenic, Miocene and Pliocene sandy and clayey marine deposits, with a variable thickness from 2500 to 4000 m. Between the Transylvanian Alps and the Danube, towards the OE, Wallachia opens up, an ancient reservoir filled with marine sediments and subsequently lake sediments that the Danube and its left and right tributaries have gradually filled. Continuation of the Wallachian plain towards the NE is Moldavia, which with southern Bucovina forms the outer foreland of the Carpathians, between these and the Prut. The Dobruja stretches between the terminal course of the Danube and the Black Sea, which looks like an arid and steppe almost tabular plateau, nevertheless fertile for the löss that covers it; the northern section includes the remains of ancient mountains, raised in the Paleozoic and later peneplanate, high on average between 400 and 450 m. Ancient valleys furrow the plateau from E to W. The Danube, flowing into the Black Sea, forms a delta system of variable thickness from 83 to 175 m; it occupies an ancient gulf delimited, in prehistoric times, by a series of coastal strips, and later filled by the floods of the river. The lands included between the three main branches of the delta, the secondary ones and the canals are characterized by stagnant waters, mostly covered by marshy vegetation. The Tisza plain also belongs to Romania, formerly Hungarian, a band 40 to 120 km wide, which from N to S occupies the westernmost part of the country.

Climate The entire territory of the Romania is located in the temperate zone, that is to say in the area of ​​interference of the three main variants of the European temperate climate: the Atlantic variant, which is felt in the center and in the western part of the country, the Mediterranean one in S and the continental one to E. A climate therefore complex, which is also affected by the relief and its arrangement, as well as winds from the east (crivǎtz) and those from W and SW (austru). The temperature variations are significant, of the order of 22-25 ° C and are greater in the plains than in the mountains: in the pericarpatic plains at the high values ​​of the summer (peaks above 35 ° C) absolute minimums of −35 ° alternate. C in winter. January averages are below zero everywhere. It should also be emphasized the tendency of temperatures in the two extreme months to accentuate their values ​​proceeding from W to E. We must then add the frequency of thermal inversions due to the morphological characteristic of the valleys with their bottoms set between rounded culminating areas. Rainfall is not abundant: maximum in the sub-Carpathian hilly areas (700-900 mm per year) and especially in the western Transylvanian Alps with 1400-1500 mm; in Moldavia and Wallachia it drops to less than 600 mm and significantly lower lows in Dobruja. Given the low temperatures, winter precipitation takes on a snowy character, especially in the Carpathians.

Hydrography Overall (except for a small section of coastal Dobruja, which is almost arid), all surface waters flow into the Danube: the entire territory is crossed only by left tributaries of the river, although it also partially includes its right bank in the short stretch of Dobruja.. Generally, the tributaries that flow out of the Carpathian arc flow directly into the Danube, while those that flow inwards arrive there via the Tisza. Among the first, the largest, from NE to SW, are the Prut, which after having marked the border with Moldavia with most of its route, flows into the Danube near Reni; the Siret (which has its sources in Ukrainian territory) flows into it just south of Galați; hence the Ialomița, the Dâmbovița, the Olt and the Jiu. ● The Danube, which, upon entering the town, sinks into the gorges of the Iron Gates, affects the Romanian territory for 1075 km, equal to about two fifths of its total development. Conveys a large mass of debris, which accumulates incessantly in the delta area, beyond which it pours its waters into the Black Sea. Numerous lakes, albeit modest in size (1% of the total surface): among the coastal ones, by extension (360 km2) and due to its abundance of fish, the Razim is remembered; along the left bank of the Danube, the river lakes of Potelu, Greaca and Călărași; finally the mountain lakes, of glacial or volcanic origin, with warm and salty waters, sometimes used for balneothermal treatments.

Romania Physical Characteristics

You may also like...