Hungary

Hungary (Magyarország in Hungarian) is situated in central Europe, and has a total area of 93,030 square kilometres. It is bordered on the west by Austria, on the north by Slovakia, on the east by Ukraine and Romania, and on the south by Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia.  For further details, see the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungary.  

The highest upland areas of Hungary lie along its northern border with Slovakia – the so called ‘Northern Medium Mountains’ ( Északi-középhegység in Hungarian).  These were formed during the Pliocene Epoch (16-13 mya) when a chain of volcanoes, stretching from north of what is now Budapest to the Zemplén in North Eastern Hungary, erupted in a shallow tropical sea along a subduction zone caused by Alcapa, a micro tectonic plate, colliding with the European plate.

These high hills can be divided into the following ranges, from west to east: 

• The Börzsöny lie about 50km north of Budapest.  They are a range of high hills composed mainly of volcanic rocks (principally andesite), reaching their highest point on Csóványos (938m).  This has a prominence of c.710 metres.

•  The Cserhát are a range of somewhat lower hills than the Börzsöny, and are also of volcanic origin.  The highest hill in the range is Naszály (654m).  This has a prominence of c.402 metres. 

•  To the north-east of the Cserhát, up against the Slovak border, lie the Karancs and Medves hills, again composed of volcanic rocks (in particular, basalt).  The highest hill is Karancs (727m).  This has a prominence of c.497 metres.

•  East of the Cserhát are the Mátra Hills, also of volcanic origin.  Here are found the two highest hills in Hungary – Kékes (1014m), which has a prominence of c.784 metres, and Galya-tető (964m), which has a prominence of c.349 metres.

•  Further east still lies the Bükk, a limestone plateau mainly over 900m, the highest point being Istállóskő (958m).  This has a prominence of c.713 metres.

•  In the far north-east of Hungary, before the land falls away to lower ground on the border between Hungary and the Ukraine, lie the Zemplén Hills, a complex range of extinct volcanoes, now wholly covered in deciduous forest (as are most of the Northern Medium Mountains).  The highest hill of the range is Nagy-Milic (895m) on the Hungarian/Slovak border.  This has a prominence of c.585 metres.