Poiana Ruscă Mountains

The Poiana Ruscă Mountains (part of the Western Carpathians)^[1] are a Carpathian mountain range in western Romania. Its highest summit is the Padeș Peak, at 1,374 m. The Poiana Ruscă Mountains are situated roughly south of the river Mureş, northeast of the river Timiș and west of the river Strei. The Bega River emerges from these mountains. The nearest large towns are Lugoj, Hunedoara and Caransebeș.

Mining

The mountains contain resources such as magnetite, iron, thorium and lead, and as such are the site of many mines. In the nineteenth century, the mountains were also centers of gold, silver, and salt mining and production.^[2] However, after 1990 some mines were closed and others abandoned, leaving waste ore and radioactive mines still unprotected in the mountain range.^[3]

Divisions of the mountains

• Poiana Ruscă (literally: Ruscă Meadows)
• Lipova Plateau (Podișul Lipovei)
• Bega-Timiș Groove (Culoarul Bega-Timiș)
• Orăștie Groove (Culoarul Orăștiei), incl. Hațeg Depression (Depresiunea Hațegului)

References

Divisions, Groups, and Ranges of the Carpathian Mountains
Western Carpathians	Inner Western Slovak Ore Mountains Fatra-Tatra Area Slovak Central Mountains Lučenec-Košice Depression Mátra-Slanec Area and North Hungarian Mountains Outer Western South-Moravian Carpathians Central Moravian Carpathians Slovak-Moravian Carpathians West-Beskidian Piedmont Western Beskids Central Beskids Eastern Beskids Podhale-Magura Area
Eastern Carpathians	Inner Eastern Vihorlat-Gutin Area Bistrița Mountains Căliman-Harghita Mountains Giurgeu-Brașov Depression Outer Eastern Central Beskidian Piedmont Low Beskids Eastern Beskids and the Ukrainian Carpathians Moldavian-Muntenian Carpathians
Southern Carpathians	Bucegi Mountains Făgăraș Mountains group Parâng Mountains group Retezat-Godeanu Mountains group
Western Romanian Carpathians	Apuseni Mountains Poiana Ruscă Mountains Banat Mountains
Serbian Carpathians	Homolje mountains Kučaj mountains Devica Rtanj Deli Jovan Vršac Mountains
Transylvanian Plateau (disputed)	Outer Carpathian depressions

Coordinates: 45°40′N 22°20′E / 45.667°N 22.333°E / 45.667; 22.333