Apuseni Mountains

Apuseni Mountains
	The Apuseni Mountains in Romania
Highest peak	Cucurbăta Mare ( 1849 m )
location	Romania
Coordinates	46 ° 30 ′ N , 23 ° 0 ′ E Coordinates: 46 ° 30 ′ N , 23 ° 0 ′ E

Structure of the Apuseni mountain range

Apuseni Mountains

The Apuseni Mountains (also Apusen , Apuseni , Transylvanian West Carpathians , Transylvanian West Mountains or just West Mountains , Romanian Munții Apuseni ) is a mountain formation in western Romania .

It reaches peaks of 1100 to 1800 m and forms the northern section of the Western Romanian Carpathians ; the latter are sometimes misleadingly called the Romanian Western Carpathians .

The mountain range has an almost circular plan with a diameter of 130 to 150 km and is bordered by the Mureș (Hungarian Maros ), Someș and Barcău rivers.

Morphologically, it is an egg-shaped mountain island, which is connected to the rest of the Carpathian arch through lower hilly landscapes in the northeast and southwest . Administratively it is located in the Arad , Bihor , Cluj , Alba and Hunedoara counties .

The mountains consist mainly of limestone ; therefore there is a large number of caves ( Peştera Urşilor , Peştera Meziad) and gorges ( Cheile Turzii , Defileul Mureşului). The highest peak ( Cucurbăta Mare , also Vârful Bihor in the Bihor Mountains ) is centrally located and reaches a height of 1,849 m.

Geographically, they are divided into Bihor, Plopiş (or Seş), Meseş, Vlădeasa and Gilău mountains as well as Muntele Mare, Trascău , Metaliferi , Munţii Zarandului- (Zarand-), Codru Moma and Pădurea Craiului -Mountains.

The Almăj , Locva , Semenic , Anina and Dogneca mountain stocks south of Mureș belong to the Banat Mountains and thus - like the Poiana-Ruscă Mountains - to the Western Romanian Carpathians, but not to the Apuseni Mountains.

The largest rivers are: Someșul Mic , Crișul Repede (German fast screeching ), Crișul Alb and Crișul Negru (German white or black screeching , Hungarian Körös ), as well as Barcău , Arieș and Ampoi .