The Strážov Mountains are a mountain range

Mountain range

A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...

 in northwestern Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

, being part of Inner Western Carpathians

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 with Slovakia toward the Moravian region of the Czech...

, and of the Fatra-Tatra Area

Fatra-Tatra Area

The Fatra-Tatra Area or the Tatra-Fatra Belt of core mountains is a part of the Inner Western Carpathians, a subprovince of the Western Carpathians. Most of the area lies in Slovakia with small parts reaching into Austria and Poland...

. They are situated between the towns of Trenčín

Trencín

Trenčín is a city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a population of more than 56,000, which makes it the ninth largest municipality of the country and is the seat of the Trenčín Region and the Trenčín District...

, Považská Bystrica

Považská Bystrica

Považská Bystrica is a town in northwestern Slovakia. It is located on the Váh river, around 30 km from the city of Žilina. It belongs to Upper Váh region of tourism.- Profile :...

, Rajec

Rajec

Rajec is a town in the Žilina District, Žilina Region in northern Slovakia.-History:The first written record about Rajec was in 1193 as Raich, in a document issued by King Bela III. The first mention as a town comes from 1397....

, Prievidza

Prievidza

Prievidza is a city in the central-western Slovakia. With 51,200 inhabitants it is one of the biggest municipalities in the Trenčín Region.-Features:...

 and Bánovce nad Bebravou

Bánovce nad Bebravou

Bánovce nad Bebravou is a town in Slovakia, in the Trenčín Region.-Geography:It is located at the northernmost edge of the Danubian Hills, at the foothills of the Strážovské vrchy mountains at the confluence of the Radiša and Bebrava rivers...

, bordering White Carpathians

White Carpathians

The White Carpathians is the westernmost mountain range of the Carpathian Mountains.They are part of the Slovak-Moravian Carpathians, stretching from the Váh river and the Little Carpathians in the south along the border between the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the Morava and the Javorníky range...

 and the Váh

Váh

The Váh is the longest river in entire Slovakia. A left tributary of the Danube river, the Váh is 406 km long, including its Čierny Váh branch...

 river in the northwest and west, Javorníky

Javorníky

Maple Mountains is a mountain range of the Slovak-Moravian Carpathians that forms part of the border between the Czech Republic and Slovakia....

 in the north, Malá Fatra in the east, Vtáčnik

Vtácnik

Vtáčnik is a mountain range in central Slovakia, which is part of the Slovenské stredohorie Mountains and part of the Inner Western Carpathians....

 and Nitra

Nitra River

The Nitra is a 197 km long river in western Slovakia. It flows into the Váh river close to its confluence with the Danube in Komárno. Its source is in the Malá Fatra mountains north of Prievidza. The river Nitra passes through the towns of Bojnice, Topoľčany, Nitra and Nové Zámky....

 river in the south and Považský Inovec

Považský Inovec

Považský Inovec is a mountain range in western Slovakia, named after the Váh river. It is 48 km long and 15-25 km wide mountain range...

 in the southwest. The highest mountain is Strážov

Strážov

Strážov may refer to:* Strážov , hill in Karpaty* Strážov , a town...

 (1,213 m AMSL)

The Strážov Mountains and Súľov Mountains

Súľov Mountains

The Súľov Mountains is a rugged mountain range in Slovakia, the northwestern part of the Fatra-Tatra Area of the Inner Western Carpathians. Its highest peak is Veľký Manín, at 890 meters....

 are protected by the Strážov Mountains Protected Landscape Area

Strážov Mountains Protected Landscape Area

Strážov Mountains Protected Landscape Area is one of the 14 protected landscape areas in Slovakia. The Landscape Area is situated in the Strážov Mountains and the Súľov Mountains, part of the Western Carpathians, in western Slovakia...

 since 1989. The Súľov Rocks

Súlov Rocks

The Súľov Rocks is a national nature reserve situated within the Súľov Mountains region of Slovakia.It was declared in 1973 and is located in the Bytča District in Žilina Region...

 in the northwest have been designated as a nature reserve.

Many thermal springs can be found here, inspiring the establishment of many spa centres in the region, for example Trenčianske Teplice

Trencianske Teplice

Trenčianske Teplice is a health resort and small spa town in western Slovakia, in the valley of the river Teplička, at the foothills of the Strážovské vrchy mountains.-Characteristics:...

 or Rajecké Teplice

Rajecké Teplice

Rajecké Teplice is a town in the , Žilina Region in northern Slovakia.-History of the spa:Located between the Lúčanská Malá Fatra and Martinské hole Hills at the valley of the Rajčanka river, the spa is marked as Thermae on a map from 1376, but a deed by Luis the Great gives the first written...

.

Geomorphology

According to geomorphological division, the mountain range is divided into:

• Zliechovská hornatina
• Nitrické vrchy
• Trenčianska vrchovina
• Malá Magura

Geology

The Strážovské vrchy Mts. are one of the largest mountain ranges in the Fatra-Tatra Area

Fatra-Tatra Area

The Fatra-Tatra Area or the Tatra-Fatra Belt of core mountains is a part of the Inner Western Carpathians, a subprovince of the Western Carpathians. Most of the area lies in Slovakia with small parts reaching into Austria and Poland...

 of Slovakia. Whole mountain range is a Miocene

Miocene

The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...

 horst that modifies older Mesozoic

Mesozoic

The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...

 nappe structure. Oldest rock form the crystalline core which is eccentrically situated at the southern periphery of the mountain range in two messifs denoted the Suchý and the Malá Magura massifs. Massifs are composed of migmatite

Migmatite

Migmatite is a rock at the frontier between igneous and metamorphic rocks. They can also be known as diatexite.Migmatites form under extreme temperature conditions during prograde metamorphism, where partial melting occurs in pre-existing rocks. Migmatites are not crystallized from a totally...

s, gneiss

Gneiss

Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...

es, amphibolite

Amphibolite

Amphibolite is the name given to a rock consisting mainly of hornblende amphibole, the use of the term being restricted, however, to metamorphic rocks. The modern terminology for a holocrystalline plutonic igneous rocks composed primarily of hornblende amphibole is a hornblendite, which are...

s and granitoid

Granitoid

A granitoid or granitic rock is a variety of coarse grained plutonic rock similar to granite which mineralogically are composed predominately of feldspar and quartz. Examples of granitoid rocks include granite, quartz monzonite, quartz diorite, syenite, granodiorite and trondhjemite. Many are...

 rocks. Crystalline core is overlapped by the Triassic

Triassic

The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...

 to Lower Cretaceous (Albian

Albian

The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch/series. Its approximate time range is 112.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 99.6 ± 0.9 Ma...

) deposits. Two largescale nappe units are overlying the basement and it's sedimentary cover. The lower Fatric Unit composed of Lower Triassic to Cenomanian

Cenomanian

The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous series. An age is a unit of geochronology: it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the stratigraphic column deposited during the corresponding...

 sediments of two types, the Zliechov succession, distinguished by deep marine Jurassic

Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to  Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...

 facies and the Belá succession with the shallow marine facies deposited in the same time. Uppermost nappe unit of the nappe structure is called the Hronic unit, with the Carboniferous

Carboniferous

The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...

-Permian

Permian

The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...

 extensive volcanosedimentary succession (Ipoltica Group) and Triassic, less often Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

s and dolostone

Dolostone

Dolostone or dolomite rock is a sedimentary carbonate rock that contains a high percentage of the mineral dolomite. In old U.S.G.S. publications it was referred to as magnesian limestone. Most dolostone formed as a magnesium replacement of limestone or lime mud prior to lithification. It is...

s (the Čierny Váh, Biely Váh and Bebrava successions). In the NW portion of the mountain range the boundary with the Pieniny Klippen Belt

Pieniny Klippen Belt

The Pieniny Klippen Belt is in geology a tectonically and orographically remarkable zone in the Western Carpathians, with a very complex geological structure...

 consists of the Manin unit that is probably a frontal element of Fatric unit incorporated into Klippen Belt strike-slip zone.

External links

• "The quiet Strážov hills" at Spectacular Slovakia