Eastern Carpathian Foothills as a

geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

term designates transitional region in the western parts of

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and northeastern parts of

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

, between

Eastern Carpathian Mountains Divisions of the Carpathians are a categorization of the Carpathian mountains system. Below is a detailed overview of the major subdivisions and ranges of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a "subsystem" of a bigger Alps-Himalaya ...

to the southwest and number of plain regions to the east and north (bordering

Moldavian Plateau The Moldavian Plateau ( ro, Podișul Moldovei) is a geographic area of the historical region of Moldavia, spanning nowadays east and northeast of Romania, most of Moldova (except the south), and most of the Chernivtsi Oblast of Ukraine (where it ...

to the southeast and east, Podillia Upland to the northeast and east, Roztochia Upland to the north,

Sian Lowland Sian Lowland or Oversian basin ( uk, Надсіанська котловина) is a lowland located at the border between Poland and Ukraine along the San River. Most of the region is located in Poland except for a small portion in southeastern en ...

to the northwest). Its average elevation is around above sea level. The region stretches across

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

, Ivano-Frankivsk and

Chernivtsi Oblast Chernivtsi Oblast ( uk, Черніве́цька о́бласть, Chernivetska oblast), also referred to as Chernivechchyna ( uk, Чернівеччина) is an oblast (province) in Western Ukraine, consisting of the northern parts of the regio ...

s and Suceava County.

Description

The region represents a portion of a large

foredeep A foreland basin is a structural basin that develops adjacent and parallel to a mountain belt. Foreland basins form because the immense mass created by crustal thickening associated with the evolution of a mountain belt causes the lithosphere ...

(

Carpathian Foredeep The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The ...

) that formed during the

Miocene epoch The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...

in front of the folding Carpathian Mountains. The outer zone of the foredeep has as its foundation the Podolian Platform; the inner zone consists of severely dislocated

flysch Flysch () is a sequence of sedimentary rock layers that progress from deep-water and turbidity flow deposits to shallow-water shales and sandstones. It is deposited when a deep basin forms rapidly on the continental side of a mountain building epi ...

deposits. The foredeep itself is filled with thick Miocene deposits of clays,

argillite :''"Argillite" may also refer to Argillite, Kentucky.'' Argillite () is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and oozes. They contain variable amounts ...

calcareous clay The soil composition of vineyards is one of the most important viticultural considerations when planting grape vines. The soil supports the root structure of the vine and influences the drainage levels and amount of minerals and nutrients that the ...

s, and sandstones covered by diluvial and

alluvial deposit Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

s. At the end of the

Pliocene epoch The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58peneplain 390px, Sketch of a hypothetical peneplain formation after an orogeny. In geomorphology and geology, a peneplain is a low-relief plain formed by protracted erosion. This is the definition in the broadest of terms, albeit with frequency the usage ...

covered by fluvial deposits of sand,

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel ...

, and clay originating from the Carpathians. As a result of an uplift at the end of the Pliocene and the beginning of the

Pleistocene epoch The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

the rivers intensified their erosion and sculpted into the surface a number of wide valleys, lowlands, and intervening ridges. The uplift of Eastern Carpathian Foothills was not uniform, however, and the relief features are partly of tectonic origin. In the Dnieper glacial phase the northeastern part of Eastern Carpathian Foothills was occupied by a lobe of the European continental glacier, and the meltwaters temporarily ponded. By the end of the Pleistocene epoch the region was covered by deposits of loess. At present the rivers from the Carpathian Mountains, most notably the Stryi River, carry silt and sand on to Eastern Carpathian Foothills and deposit them in their floodplains.

Regions

* Upper Dniester Depression * Kalush Depression * Voinyliv Upland * Stanislaviv Depression * Pokuttia Upland *

Bukovinian Subcarpathians Bukovinian Subcarpathians ( ro, Subcarpații Bucovinei, ''Obcinele Bucovinei'') is a geographic area in the NNE of Romania (Suceava County) and SWW of Ukraine (Chernivtsi Oblast), situated to the east and north-east of the Eastern Carpathian Moun ...

** Chernivtsi Upland ** Storozhynets Plateau Intervalley ridges rise above the region or more. The highest point, Mount Tsetsyna, near Chernivtsi has elevation of . Major intervalley ridges include Drohobych Ridge, Middle Pricarpathian Ridge, Southern Pokuttia Ridge, Seret-Prut Ridge, and the Ridges of Bukovina. Among local lowlands there are Upper Dniester Depression, Kalush Depression, Stanislaviv Depression, Halych-Bukachivtsi Basin, Kolomyia-Chernivtsi Basin, Seret Basin.

External links

Subcarpathia
at

Encyclopedia of Ukraine The ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' ( uk, Енциклопедія українознавства, translit=Entsyklopediia ukrainoznavstva), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies. Development The work was creat ...

Geography of Lviv Oblast. Subcarpathia
Carpathian Foothills {{Ukraine-geo-stub