Csóványos () is a mountain in the

Börzsöny Börzsöny (; sk, Novohradské hory, New City Mountains) is a mountain range in Northern Hungary. Its tallest peak is the Csóványos with . It is the westernmost member of the North Hungarian Mountains, which belongs to the Inner Western Ca ...

range of the

North Hungarian Mountains The North Hungarian Mountains ( hu, Északi-középhegység), sometimes also referred to as the Northeast Hungarian Mountains, Northeast Mountains, North Hungarian Highlands, North Hungarian Mid-Mountains or North Hungarian Range, is the norther ...

. It has an altitude of 938 metres and spans the border of

Nógrád County Nógrád ( hu, Nógrád megye, ; sk, Novohradská župa) is a county ( hu, megye) of Hungary. It sits on the northern edge of Hungary and borders Slovakia. Description Nógrád county lies in northern Hungary. It shares borders with Slovakia an ...

and Pest County. This area was geologically active in the

Miocene 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" ...

era, 18 to 19 million years ago. In the Quaternary, when volcanic activity commenced, the immediate environment of Csóványos emerged. These movements created water features, high above the forests. The forest on the mountain is dense with blue beech and

Austrian oak ''Quercus cerris'', the Turkey oak or Austrian oak, is an oak native to south-eastern Europe and Asia Minor. It is the type species of ''Quercus'' sect. ''Cerris'', a section of the genus characterised by shoot buds surrounded by soft bristles, ...

Geography

The mountain lies within the Ipoly River Basin, which is a transboundary river between

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 ...

and Hungary with the middle and lower basin lying in Hungarian territory. The Hungarian territory of the basin covers an area of formed by the hills of Nograd, Cserhat and Borzsony; Borzsony includes the Csóványos The Csóványos mountain peak as part of the Börzsöny Mountain ranges, lie in the

Danube-Ipoly National Park Danube-Ipoly National Park is one of the most diverse national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve ...

in northern Hungary; the park is one of ten Hungarian national parks set up to "protect forested hills as well as riparian and lowland habitats."

Flora

The nearby alder forest of Drégelypalánk and the red pine forest of

Diósjenő Diósjenő is a village in Nógrád county, Hungary. It is surrounded by hills. History The village was first mentioned in 1282. Its name comes from ''Jenő'', the name of one of the seven tribes conquering present-day Hungary, while the word "d ...

have been described as "almost mystic". Common wildlife found in this area are over 100 protected species of birds,

pheasant Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera native range is restricted to Eurasia ...

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit s ...

s and

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the ...

. The plant life is equally rich in the region turning lush green in spring season. ''

Blasia pusilla ''Blasia pusilla'' (Not to be confused with the rapper President of Blasia) is the only species in the liverwort genus ''Blasia''. It is distinguished from ''Cavicularia'' by the presence of a collar around the base of the sporophyte capsule, a ...

'' and ''

Anthoceros laevis ''Phaeoceros laevis'', the smooth hornwort, is a species of hornwort of the genus ''Phaeoceros''. It is commonly found in areas where moisture is plentiful, such as moist soils in fields, the banks of streams and rivers or inundated beneath the s ...

'' have been recorded in this region of Hungary.

Trails

In the mid-1960s, the railway was developed in the area as well as mountain bike trails. It has since become a popular hiking and biking route. A 28 metre high building tower (a geodetic station reconstructed in 2014 and turned into a modern wooden watchtower) near the Peace Monument was built in 1973 and offers panoramic views of the countryside.

Literature

A poetry book ''

A Csóványos északi oldala A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' by Győrffy Ákos about this mountain was published in 2000, and won the Hungarian Writers' Association Gérecz Attila Prize.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Csovanyos Extinct volcanoes Geography of Nógrád County Geography of Pest County Miocene volcanoes Mountains of Hungary Mountains of the Western Carpathians Volcanoes of Hungary