426 iM-/j'Ki: iiíi'.irz 



II. Go<)loj|H*al couditions. 



The largely földed ranges of ihe Alps, which form a unité mouu* 

 tainous complíx in S"witzpiland and Austria, show in their eastern part 

 a compleíe diveigence. The iiorthern branch is callcd the Carpathians.. 

 the Southern forms the Dinarian Alps. Between thtse eastern branches 

 lies the gitat Hungárián Basin. 



The lowlands of Hungary which are so peiftctly sunounded by ihe 

 bending curve of the Carpathian rangé cover an area of 300,000 square 

 kilometers. This mountainous wreath is the basis of Hungary's topography, 

 regulaling her waters and making her the hinterland of countries leading 

 to the Adriatic. It therefore cannot be suipiising ihat Ihis gigantic mountHin 

 rangé determined the political boundaries of the country. 



The Southern frontier of Hungaiy is alsó a natural boundary line, 

 running not over niountain ridgts but along the left bank of the niighty 

 river Danube. Only the western boundaries are somewhat indistinct. There 

 the eastern branches of the Alps gradually fali do^Ti to the niounlainous 

 districts of Styria and Lower Austria. 



The larg(st interruption in the mountainous wall surrcunding Hun- 

 gary is on the western side between the Lajta mo unt ains and the Lower 

 Carpathian Bange. It is trough this op( ning that the river Danube enters 

 Hungárián ground, intő whic all the other rivers drain sending their 

 waters to thi' Black Sea. 



Hungary was the stage of powerful crustal movenien<s during a 

 great part of the tertiary peried. Th( se niovemtnts effected the folding 

 of the high Carpathian slopfs,but hand in liand with this fclding occured 

 the breaking down and sinking of a large central area. The result of this 

 movements was the formation of three basins: that of the Great Hungárián 

 Plain, of a smaller one and of the Transsylvanián Mezőség. The surfac<- 

 of the two former was levelled by the activity of cunent waters coming 

 down the surrounding mountains and carrying immense masses of loöse 

 allu\'ial matériái which, being deposited in the lowest parts of the basins 

 producfd th(ir absolute plainness. The eastern basin, however, the so called 

 Mezőség did not sink so rapidly, and its rivers were obliged to run through 

 mountains and work out their way in deap valleys and ravines until 

 attaining a lower levelled surrounding. The surfací^ of the Mezőség is 

 thertfore not evén but hilly. 



The Great Hungárián Plain (Alföld) which extends over 100,000 square 

 kilometers in the centre of the Great Hungárián Basin, is the largest and 

 most absclute plain in Europe.Its pariphery is bordend byextinct volcanoes, 

 whichproduced a grer^t quantity of láva and ashes during the tertiary period. 



