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Topography
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The country's topography is varied. The Transylvanian Basin, or Plateau,
which covers much of central Romania, is very hilly and forested for the
most part, but it also has wide valleys and extensive arable slopes. It is
almost completely surrounded by ring of mountains, the Carpathians,
comprising over 22% of the total land area, these mountains form a horseshoe
in the centre of the country.
Moldoveanu, the highest peak in the country, is in the Transylvanian Alps to
the south; these Alps continue south to the gorge of the Danube as the Banat
Mountains. A smaller group of ranges, the Bihor Mountains, is west of the
basin. The remaining areas of Romania are predominantly lowlands. In the
west are the lowlands of the Tisza Plain, which are usually referred to as
the The Banat, adjacent to the border with the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, and Crisana-Maramures, adjacent to Hungary.
The most extensive plains are the lowlands of Wallachia and the Coast,
located between the Transylvanian Alps and Bulgaria, and of Moldova, east of
the Carpathian Mountains. Bordering the Black Sea in the extreme east and
forming part of Dobruja is a low plateau, which continues south into
Bulgaria.
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