The Danubian Hills (Slovak: ''Podunajská pahorkatina''), also translated as Danubian Upland, is the north-eastern part of the

Danubian Lowland ::''The Serbian lowland is treated under Danubian Plain (Serbia)'' The Danubian Lowland or Danube Lowland () is the name of the part of Little Alföld (Slovak: ''Malá dunajská kotlina'') situated in Slovakia, located between the Danube, the Litt ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, often appearing as low rolling hills of prevalently eolic origin.

Location

It lies between the

Danubian Flat The Danubian Flat (Slovak language, Slovak and Czech language, Czech: ''Podunajská rovina'', German language, German: ''Donauebene''), also translated as Danubian Plain, is the south-western, flatter, part of the Danubian Lowland in Slovakia. T ...

and the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

in the south, the

Little Carpathians The Little Carpathians (also: ''Lesser Carpathians'', ; ; ) are a low mountain range, about 100 km long, and part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountains are situated in Western Slovakia, covering the area from Bratislava to Nové Mesto n ...

in the west and all the other

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 w ...

in the north and east. The border with the Danubian Flat runs approximately along the line

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

– Senec –

Sereď Sereď (; ) is a town in southern Slovakia near Trnava, on the right bank of the Váh River on the Danubian Lowland. It has approximately 15,500 inhabitants. Geography Sereď lies at an altitude of above sea level and covers an area of . It ...

–

Nové Zámky Nové Zámky (; ) is a town in Nové Zámky District in the Nitra Region of southwestern Slovakia. Geography The town is located on the Danubian Lowland, on the Nitra River, at an altitude of 119 metres. It is located around 100 km fr ...

–

Patince Patince () is the southernmost village and municipality in Slovakia, in the Komárno District in the Nitra Region of south-west Slovakia. Geography The village lies at an altitude of 111 metres and covers an area of 11.306 km2. It has a po ...

Geology

The area has varied rocks (

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

, sands), which are covered by

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

sediments (

loess A loess (, ; from ) is a clastic rock, clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loesses or similar deposition (geology), deposits. A loess ...

) and very fertile soils (black and brown earths).

Towns

Major towns of the area are

Trnava Trnava (, , ; , also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of the Trnava Region and the Trnava District. It is the seat o ...

Topoľčany Topoľčany (; before 1920; ) is a town in the Nitra Region of Slovakia. The population is around 25,000 in total. The town's population is nicknamed ''Žochári'' (singl. ''Žochár'') (producers, or owners of "mosses"). The Nitra River flows t ...

Nitra Nitra (; also known by other #Etymology, alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, situated at the foot of Zobor Mountain in the valley of the river Nitra (river), Nitra. It is located 95 km east of Bratislava. With a population of ...

Levice Levice (; , Hungarian pronunciation: ; ) is a town in western Slovakia. The town lies on the left bank of the lower Hron river. The Old Church Slavonic, Old Slavic name of the town was ''Leva'', which means "the Left One". The town is located i ...

Dudince Dudince (before 1927 ''Ďudince'', , ) is a spa town in southern Slovakia. With a population of around 1,400, it is the smallest town in Slovakia. It is known for its mineral water, hot springs and destination spas. It is located near the edge of ...

and

Štúrovo Štúrovo (, ) is the southernmost town of Slovakia, situated on the river Danube not far from the mouth of the Hron. Connected by the Mária Valéria Bridge it forms a cross-border urban area with the city of Esztergom in Hungary. In 2023 the tow ...

Parts

The

Váh The Váh (; , ; ; Wag
w Słowniku geograficznym Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich (''in Geograph ...

, Žitava,

Hron The Hron (; ; ; ) is a long left tributary of the DanubeP ...

and

Ipeľ The Ipeľ (Slovak language, Slovak; ) or Ipoly (Hungarian language, Hungarian) (German language, German: ''Eipel'', archaic Slovak: ''Jupoľ'', Latin language, Latin: ''Bolia'') is a long river in Slovakia and Hungary, a tributary of the Danube ...

rivers divide the area into the following 11 geomorphological parts (from the west to the east): *Trnavská pahorkatina (Trnava Hills) *Dolnovážska niva (Lower Váh River Plain) *Nitrianska pahorkatina (Nitra Hills) *Nitrianska niva (Nitra River Plain) *Žitavská pahorkatina (Žitava Hills) *Žitavská niva (Žitava River Plain) *Hronská pahorkatina (Hron Hills) *Hronská niva (Hron River Plain) *Čenkovská niva (Čenkov River Plain) *Ipeľská pahorkatina (Ipeľ Hills) *Ipeľská niva (Ipeľ River Plain) The above-mentioned river plains have rich subterranean reservoirs of water. Other important water deposits include the deposits in

. The area features many small-scale protected areas. The communities of the marshes are protected e.g. in

Parížske močiare Parížske močiare is a national nature reserve in the Slovak municipality of Nová Vieska in the Nové Zámky District. The nature reserve covers an area of 184 ha in the Danubian Lowland. It has a protection level of 4 under the slovak natur ...

("Paríž Marshes"). Various types of sand prairie or forest prairie vegetation can be found here (Čenkovská step, Chotínske piesky). Also, protected residues or original thermopile

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

groves (Dubník, Vŕšok) are situated here.

References

{{Authority control Mountain ranges of Slovakia