Slovak geography

he Slovak Republic is a landlocked country, it lies in the geographical heart of Europe.

GEOMORFOLOGY
Slovakia is geomorfologically divided into the Carpathian Mountains and the Pannonian Basin. The Western Carpathians are composed of mountain ranges separated by intramountain depressions and river valleys. Most of them are of tectonic origin. Rivers flowing through the depressions formed plains and terraces.

CO-ORDINATES
Slovakia lies between 49°36'48" and 47°44'21" northern latitude and 16°50'56" and 22°33'53" eastern longitude.

BORDERS
It borders the Czech Republic in the north-west, Austria in the west, Hungary in the south, Ukraine in the east and Poland in the north. AREA The surface area is 48.845 km². Out of these 31% is arable, 17% pasture land, 41% forested and 3% plantations. The remaining 8% is considered to be desolated land, water areas or human structures and infrastructure.

MAIN GEOMORFOLOGICAL UNITS
The Inner Western Carpathians The Outer Western Carpathians The Eastern Carpathians The Western Pannonian Basin The Eastern Pannonian Basin The Western Carpathian Mountains cover two thirds of the country area and they are subdivided into the Inner Western Carpathian Mountains and the Outer Western Carpathian Mountains. The Inner Western Carpathians include the area of Fatra-Tatra beginning with the Little Carpathians in the south-west and prouding with the highest peak of the Tatra Mountains - Gerlachovsky stit (2655 m. above sea level).  

PROTECTED AREAS
The attractive and unspoiled parts of the country are protected. There are 9 national parks (12%), 14 protected landscape areas (10.5%), 181 protected sites, 383 nature reserves, 219 national nature reserves, 230 nature monuments and 60 nature monuments.

DRAINAGE SYSTEM
The Slovak territory is divided into three main watersheds drained by the following rivers: the Danube (tributaries Váh, Hron), Tisa (Bodrog and Slaná) and the Dunajec (Poprad). The longest of 32 Slovak rivers is Vah with 413 km and the biggest river is Danube, which flows through the capital city of Bratislava and also forms a border with Hungary. Lots of lakes are found in high mountain ranges where they were formed by glacial action. CAVES There are over 5350 known caves in Slovakia which are mostly formed in Mesozoic Middle Triassic Lime-stones. The most extensive (35 km) is system of Demanova caves in the area of the Low Tatra Mountains. Demanovska cave of Liberty belongs to most popular in Slovakia.