The Banat Plain and the Banat Mountains: Toward Its Definition

The Banat region consist of two landscape units the Banat Plain and the Banat Mountains. The Banat Plain encompasses the lowland area in between the Maros/Moriš/Mureş river on the north, the Tisza River in the west, in the east it terminates till the Banat Mountains, while the Danube is its south boundary. The Banat Plain is the southeastern segment of the Alföld, while in the wider frame it is in the SE part of the Pannonian Plain. However we can include also in the Middle Danube Region, the Pannonian realm and the Carpathian Basin. The Banat Mountains encompass the mountain area in between the Maros/Moriš/Mureş river on the north, the Banat Plain bordered in the west, in the east its boundary is the Cerna River, while the Danube is its south boundary. The south Banat mountains are the Semenic Mountains, the Locva Mountains, the Anina Mountains, the Dognecea Mountains, the Almăj Mountains and the Vršac Mountains, while Poiana Rusca represents the north Banat Mountains. To avoid further confusion, the study recommends the use of the term Banat-Rusca Mts. than the simplest term Banat Mts. Banat Mountains are part of the South Carpathians which eastwards continues to the Transylvanian Alps, and southwards to the (East) Serbian Carpathians.