Parâng Mountains
Encyclopedia
Parâng Mountains are one of the highest mountain ridges in Romania
and Southern Carpathians
, with its highest peak Parângu Mare
reaching 2,519 m.
. They are the tallest mountains from the local Parang-Cindrel
mountain group and the second largest mountains in the Romanian Carpathians
after the Fagaras
mountains.
They are situated between the Şureanu mountains
(north), Latoritei mountains (north-east), Căpăţânii mountains (east), Vâlcan mountains
(west) and the Petroşani depression in the north-west.
Located south and east of the city of Petroşani
, the Parâng mountains form the eastern barrier of the Jiu Valley
(a plateau 100 kilometers long from east to west and 70-80 kilometers wide from north to south).
line rocks, peripherally covered with patches of sediments from the Paleozoic
, Mesozoic
(massive limestone
, conglomerates
) and Cenozoic
eras, mixed with large areas of granite
outcrop
s.
On the southern slope, sedimentary rocks from the Mesozoic era can be found, more exactly massive limestone from the Jurassic
period. The newest rocks are found on the southern frame of the mountains and in the north-west, where it is bordered by the Petrosani Depression.
The nature of the rocks favored the emergence of bulk, rounded ridges, separated by deep valley
s. The mountains present an overall asymmetry, with the northern front more steepen, with short ridges, while the southern facade is less inclined and with longer ridge. Especially in the southern part, the slopes are composed of several steps.
s of over 2000m makes the Parang mountains an orographic
dam
in the way of the air mass
es that flow on the north to north-west and south to south-west directions.
Also, the asymmetry of the main ridge, with the steep side to the north, leads to the receiving of different amounts of heat
and moisture
, more on the southern side. The sun shines approximately 1800–2000 hours/year, the highest temperature
s being recorded in July and august. The average annual temperature is 6°C at the bottom of the mountain and 0°C at altitudes around 1800m. Above 2000m, the average temperature is below 0°C. The difference between the recorded average temperatures of the southern and northern slopes is around 1-2°C.
fall is between 900 and 1200mm. The most abundant rainfall is recorded around the altitude of 1600m to 1800m. June is the month with the highest precipitations
, 110mm at the bottom of the mountain and 160mm at altitudes over 1500m.
It snows on average 90 days per year above the altitude of 1500m. The first snow comes during the first half of October, while the last one during the first decade of mai(above 1500m) or late April at lower altitudes. At high altitudes the snow is present on average for 200 days each year. The thickness of the snow layer depends on the weather conditions, the exposure of the slopes to the winds, exposure to the sun, snowfall etc. At over 1500m, the average thickness is greater than 1m.
intensity is high all around the year. Above 2000m, the westers winds are dominant, while below this threshold, the wind direction and intensity are influenced by the mountain relief
. Above 2000m, the average wind speed is 8–10 m/s. During the cold season, the wind speed may reach 15 m/s and above on some ridges.
, which starts from the bottom of the mountains and goes as high as 1200m (northern slope) and 1400m (southern slope). They are made up of pedunculate oak, european hornbeam, silver birch and, the most common, but moslty spread on the souther slope, the european beech
.
The second layer mostly extended on the northern and western slopes, between 1000m and 1750m, and is composed of norway spruce
forests and, locally, european silver fir. In the Parang mountains, the tree line is situated between 1600m and 1800m.
Above this limit are located the subalpine
and Alpine
grassland
s. The vegetation here is made up of krummholz
trees, such as swiss pine
, european larch
, mountain pine
and net-leaved willow
, but also mountain cranberry
, green alder and bilberry
.
Also common are grass family members, such as bentgrass
, tufted fescue and highland rush. On limestone rich areas, edelweiss can be found.
s, the grey wolf, fox
, wild boar, brown bear
, eurasian lynx
and red deer
can be found.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and Southern Carpathians
Southern Carpathians
The Southern Carpathians or the Transylvanian Alps are a group of mountain ranges which divide central and southern Romania, on one side, and Serbia, on the other side. They cover part of the Carpathian Mountains that is located between the Prahova River in the east and the Timiș and Cerna Rivers...
, with its highest peak Parângu Mare
Parângu Mare
Parângu Mare is a peak located in Parâng Mountains at 2,519 m altitude and belongs to the Parâng Mountains group.-Mountains:* Parâng Mountains * Şureanu Mountains...
reaching 2,519 m.
Description
The Parâng mountains are located in the south-western part of the Central-Meridional CarpathiansSouthern Carpathians
The Southern Carpathians or the Transylvanian Alps are a group of mountain ranges which divide central and southern Romania, on one side, and Serbia, on the other side. They cover part of the Carpathian Mountains that is located between the Prahova River in the east and the Timiș and Cerna Rivers...
. They are the tallest mountains from the local Parang-Cindrel
Parâng Mountains group
The Parâng mountain group is a subgroup of mountains in the Southern Carpathians. It is named after the highest of the mountains in the group, the Parâng Mountains.-Boundaries:The Parâng group is bounded:*in the east, by the Olt River...
mountain group and the second largest mountains in the Romanian Carpathians
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
after the Fagaras
Fagaras Mountains group
The Făgăraş mountain group is a subgroup of mountains in the Southern Carpathians. It is named after the highest of the mountains in the group, the Făgăraş Mountains.-Boundaries:The Făgăraş group is bounded:*in the west, by the Olt River...
mountains.
They are situated between the Şureanu mountains
Şureanu Mountains
The Şurianu Mountains, , Suriano in Italian, belong to Romania's Parâng range in the Southern Carpathians, with peaks frequently exceeding 2,000 metres....
(north), Latoritei mountains (north-east), Căpăţânii mountains (east), Vâlcan mountains
Vâlcan Mountains
The Vâlcan Mountains are a chain of mountains in the southern Carpathians in Romania. They are part of the Retezat-Godeanu Mountains group. They run for approximately 54 km and the highest peak is 1946 m high...
(west) and the Petroşani depression in the north-west.
Located south and east of the city of Petroşani
Petrosani
Petroşani is a city in Hunedoara County, Romania, with a population of 45,447 .-History:The city of Petroşani was founded in the 17th century...
, the Parâng mountains form the eastern barrier of the Jiu Valley
Jiu Valley
The Jiu Valley is a region in southwestern Romania, in Hunedoara county, situated in a valley of the Jiu River between the Retezat Mountains and the Parâng Mountains...
(a plateau 100 kilometers long from east to west and 70-80 kilometers wide from north to south).
Geology
The Parang Mountains consist predominantly of crystalCrystal
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...
line rocks, peripherally covered with patches of sediments from the Paleozoic
Paleozoic
The Paleozoic era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon, spanning from roughly...
, Mesozoic
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...
(massive limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, conglomerates
Conglomerate (geology)
A conglomerate is a rock consisting of individual clasts within a finer-grained matrix that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts...
) and Cenozoic
Cenozoic
The Cenozoic era is the current and most recent of the three Phanerozoic geological eras and covers the period from 65.5 mya to the present. The era began in the wake of the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous that saw the demise of the last non-avian dinosaurs and...
eras, mixed with large areas of granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
outcrop
Outcrop
An outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. -Features:Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficial deposits are covered by a mantle of soil and vegetation and cannot be...
s.
On the southern slope, sedimentary rocks from the Mesozoic era can be found, more exactly massive limestone from the Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
period. The newest rocks are found on the southern frame of the mountains and in the north-west, where it is bordered by the Petrosani Depression.
The nature of the rocks favored the emergence of bulk, rounded ridges, separated by deep valley
Valley
In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...
s. The mountains present an overall asymmetry, with the northern front more steepen, with short ridges, while the southern facade is less inclined and with longer ridge. Especially in the southern part, the slopes are composed of several steps.
Temperatures
The general layout of the main ridge on a west-east axis and its altitudeAltitude
Altitude or height is defined based on the context in which it is used . As a general definition, altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The reference datum also often varies according to the context...
s of over 2000m makes the Parang mountains an orographic
Orography
Orography is the study of the formation and relief of mountains, and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain...
dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
in the way of the air mass
Air mass
In meteorology, an air mass is a volume of air defined by its temperature and water vapor content. Air masses cover many hundreds or thousands of square miles, and adopt the characteristics of the surface below them. They are classified according to latitude and their continental or maritime...
es that flow on the north to north-west and south to south-west directions.
Also, the asymmetry of the main ridge, with the steep side to the north, leads to the receiving of different amounts of heat
Heat
In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...
and moisture
Moisture
Humidity is the amount of moisture the air can hold before it rains. Moisture refers to the presence of a liquid, especially water, often in trace amounts...
, more on the southern side. The sun shines approximately 1800–2000 hours/year, the highest temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
s being recorded in July and august. The average annual temperature is 6°C at the bottom of the mountain and 0°C at altitudes around 1800m. Above 2000m, the average temperature is below 0°C. The difference between the recorded average temperatures of the southern and northern slopes is around 1-2°C.
Precipitations
The average annual rainRain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...
fall is between 900 and 1200mm. The most abundant rainfall is recorded around the altitude of 1600m to 1800m. June is the month with the highest precipitations
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
, 110mm at the bottom of the mountain and 160mm at altitudes over 1500m.
It snows on average 90 days per year above the altitude of 1500m. The first snow comes during the first half of October, while the last one during the first decade of mai(above 1500m) or late April at lower altitudes. At high altitudes the snow is present on average for 200 days each year. The thickness of the snow layer depends on the weather conditions, the exposure of the slopes to the winds, exposure to the sun, snowfall etc. At over 1500m, the average thickness is greater than 1m.
Wind
The windWind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...
intensity is high all around the year. Above 2000m, the westers winds are dominant, while below this threshold, the wind direction and intensity are influenced by the mountain relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
. Above 2000m, the average wind speed is 8–10 m/s. During the cold season, the wind speed may reach 15 m/s and above on some ridges.
Flora
In close connection with the relief characteristics of the Parang mountains, the vegetation is clearly shaped into 3 layers. The first layer is the broadleaf forestTemperate broadleaf and mixed forests
Mixed forests are a temperate and humid biome. The typical structure of these forests includes four layers. The uppermost layer is the canopy composed of tall mature trees ranging from 33 to 66 m high. Below the canopy is the three-layered, shade-tolerant understory that is roughly 9 to...
, which starts from the bottom of the mountains and goes as high as 1200m (northern slope) and 1400m (southern slope). They are made up of pedunculate oak, european hornbeam, silver birch and, the most common, but moslty spread on the souther slope, the european beech
European Beech
Fagus sylvatica, the European Beech or Common Beech, is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae.-Natural range:...
.
The second layer mostly extended on the northern and western slopes, between 1000m and 1750m, and is composed of norway spruce
Norway Spruce
Norway Spruce is a species of spruce native to Europe. It is also commonly referred to as the European Spruce.- Description :...
forests and, locally, european silver fir. In the Parang mountains, the tree line is situated between 1600m and 1800m.
Above this limit are located the subalpine
Subalpine
The subalpine zone is the biotic zone immediately below tree line around the world. Species that occur in this zone depend on the location of the zone on the Earth, for example, Snow Gum in Australia, or Subalpine Larch, Mountain Hemlock and Subalpine Fir in western North America.Trees in the...
and Alpine
Alpine climate
Alpine climate is the average weather for a region above the tree line. This climate is also referred to as mountain climate or highland climate....
grassland
Grassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
s. The vegetation here is made up of krummholz
Krummholz
Krummholz or Krumholtz formation — also called Knieholz — is a particular feature of subarctic and subalpine tree line landscapes. Continual exposure to fierce, freezing winds causes vegetation to become stunted and deformed...
trees, such as swiss pine
Swiss Pine
The Swiss Pine or Arolla Pine, Pinus cembra, is a species of pine tree that occurs in the Alps and Carpathian Mountains of central Europe, in Poland , Switzerland, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Ukraine and Romania. It typically grows at to altitude. It often reaches the...
, european larch
European Larch
Larix decidua, common name European larch, is a species of larch native to the mountains of central Europe, in the Alps and Carpathians, with disjunct lowland populations in northern Poland and southern Lithuania.-Description:...
, mountain pine
Mountain Pine
Pinus mugo, the Mountain Pine or Mugo Pine, is a high-altitude European pine, found in the Pyrenees, Alps, Erzgebirge, Carpathians, northern Apennines and Balkan Peninsula mountains from 1,000 m to 2,200 m, occasionally as low as 200 m in the north of the range in Germany and Poland, and as high...
and net-leaved willow
Salix reticulata
Salix reticulata, the Net-leaved Willow, is a dwarf willow, occurring in the colder parts of Northern Europe, Greenland, North America and Northern Asia...
, but also mountain cranberry
Vaccinium vitis-idaea
Vaccinium vitis-idaea is a short evergreen shrub in the heath family that bears edible sour fruit, native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere from Eurasia to North America. In the past it was seldom cultivated, but fruit was commonly collected in the wild. ...
, green alder and bilberry
Vaccinium myrtillus
Vaccinium myrtillus is an almost Holarctic species of shrub with edible fruit, usually simply referred to as "bilberry" or "whortleberry". It is more precidely called Common Bilberry or Blue Whortleberry, to distinguish it from its Vaccinium relatives...
.
Also common are grass family members, such as bentgrass
Agrostis
Agrostis is a genus of over 100 species belonging to the grass family Poaceae, commonly referred to as the bent grasses...
, tufted fescue and highland rush. On limestone rich areas, edelweiss can be found.
Fauna
The southern Charpatians fauna is characteristic also to the Parang mountains. Among mammalMammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s, the grey wolf, fox
Fox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
, wild boar, brown bear
Brown Bear
The brown bear is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It can weigh from and its largest subspecies, the Kodiak Bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family and as the largest land-based predator.There are several recognized...
, eurasian lynx
Eurasian Lynx
The Eurasian lynx is a medium-sized cat native to European and Siberian forests, South Asia and East Asia. It is also known as the European lynx, common lynx, the northern lynx, and the Siberian or Russian lynx...
and red deer
Red Deer
The red deer is one of the largest deer species. Depending on taxonomy, the red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, parts of western Asia, and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being...
can be found.
External links
- A few images from the Parang Mountains
- Jiu Valley Portal - the home of the Official Jiu Valley City Websites and a gateway to the Parang Mountains and other destinations in the Transylvanian Alps
- Maps of the Parang and other mountain ranges in the Transylvanian Alps