The Štiavnica Mountains (also Štiavnické Mountains; sk, Štiavnické vrchy, ) are a

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

southern central

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. They are part of Inner

Western Carpathians The Western Carpathians are a mountain range and geomorphological province that forms the western part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountain belt stretches from the Low Beskids range of the Eastern Carpathians along the border of Poland wi ...

and the

Slovenské stredohorie The Slovak Central Mountains

Mountains. The area is protected by Štiavnica Mountains Protected Landscape Area. They are bordered by the

Kremnica Mountains The Kremnica Mountains ( sk, Kremnické vrchy, hu, Körmöci-hegység, german: Kremnitzer Berge) are a volcanic mountain range in central Slovakia. They are part of the Western Carpathians and the Slovenské stredohorie Mts. The mountain range ...

(''Kremnické vrchy'') in the north, Pliešovce and Krupina basins (''Krupinská kotlina'') in the east,

Danubian Hills The Danubian Hills (Slovak: ''Podunajská pahorkatina''), also translated as Danubian Upland, is the north-eastern part of the Danubian Lowland in Slovakia often appearing as low rolling hills of prevalently eolic origin. It lies between the D ...

(''Podunajská pahorkatina'') in the south and

Pohronský Inovec Pohronský Inovec is a mountain range in Slovakia, part of the Slovenské stredohorie ranges of the Inner Western Carpathians. The range is volcanic in origin, and composed of andesite and rhyolites. The highest peak is ''Veľký Inovec'' (B ...

, Vtáčnik and

Žiar Basin Žiar may refer to: * Žiar, Liptovský Mikuláš District, a municipality in Slovakia * Žiar, Revúca District, a municipality in Slovakia * Žiar (mountain range), Slovakia *Short name of Žiar nad Hronom Žiar nad Hronom (slang: Žiar, germa ...

(''Žiarska kotlina'') in the west. The highest point is Sitno (1,009 m). Štiavnica Mountains are an immense

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

created by the collapse of an ancient volcano. Due to their volcanic origin, they are

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ( ...

-rich, with around 140 kinds of minerals. In the past,

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

mining flourished in the area around the town of

Banská Štiavnica Banská Štiavnica (; german: Schemnitz; hu, Selmecbánya (Selmec), ) is a town in central Slovakia, in the middle of an immense caldera created by the collapse of an ancient volcano. For its size, the caldera is known as the Štiavnica Mountain ...

. From originally over 60 lakes called

tajchy Tajchy (singular: tajch, from German ''Teich'') are artificial water reservoirs in the Štiavnica Mountains, in central Slovakia. Most of them were built in order to provide energy for the silver mines of Banská Štiavnica in the 18th century. A ...

in Štiavnica Mountains, there are over 30 still existing today. Although they are now integrated in their natural environment, they were originally built as water reservoirs serving the mining industry, most of them in the 18th century.

External links

Štiavnica Mountains Protected Landscape Area
a
Slovakia.travelCentral Slovakia
Mountain ranges of Slovakia Mountain ranges of the Western Carpathians {{Slovakia-geo-stub