Limestone Areas of Romania

This map is an overview of karst areas in Romania. As far as we know, this map is based on a "historic" publication from the Emil Racovita Institute of Speology in Cluj. It may give a basic info on the geological structure of the country. The limestone regions are numerous but very small, only 1.5 % of the surface of Romania is covered by limestone.

The country is divided into three different geographic parts, the Carpatians, the plains inside and the plains outside. The central of Transilvania (Siebenbürgen) is flat or sometimes hillcountry. It is not composed of soluble rocks and thus not karstified, There are no caves. Outside the mountain range are mostly plains, Moldova to the east, Walachia along the Danube river to the south and the Pannonic Plain in the west, which starts at the border to Hungary. The Carpatian Mountains or simply Carpatians are a complex series of mountain ranges, forming a sort of U on the map. They are generally divided into three mayor sections:

1. The Apuseni Mountains or Munti Apuseni in the west.
2. The Southern Carpatians or Carpati Meridionali.
3. The Eastern Carpatians or Carpati Orientali.

Like many mountain regions, these mountains are composed of many different rocks, among them are several kinds of limestones. The geology is complicated, the rocks are folded, and sometimes show metamorphic alterations (marble). Most karst areas are found in the Apuseni Mountains and in the western part of the Carpati Meridionali, a hill country part of the Banat. Really alpine mountains can only be found in the center of the Carpati Meridionali, with some alpine caves.

A much different karst can be found at the eastern border, along the coast of the Black Sea. A range of limestone hills of moderate height contains few small caves, among them the world-famous Movile cave.