Geographical position

The town of Caransebes is situated in South-West of Romania, having the coordinates of 45° 25'  lat N and 22° 13'  long E.

It is the second largest town in the Caras-Severin County and has a strategic geographical position, being positioned in the contact area of the mountain with the hill and the plain, which penetrates until here under the form of an elongated bay along the Timis River.

Caransebes is also found at the crossroads of four main roads of Banat which go northwards – through Lugoj – to Timisoara, southwards – through “The Oriental Gate” – to Orsova and the Danube (DN 6 – E 70), westwards – on the Poganici and Barzava valleys – at Resita (DN 58), and eastwards – through the “Iron Gates of Transylvania” pass, through Sarmisegetusa – at Deva and Hunedoara (DN 68).

Geographically, the city is situated approximately between the confluence of the Bistra River (to the North) and the Sebes River (to the South) with the Timis River, having a medium height of 280 m.

The Caransebes area is limited by high mountains to the East, South and West.

The highest part is made by the Tarcu Mountains, limited by the Timis and Bistra valleys. These mountains are divided into three parts: the Petreanu Massif, with the Pietrei Peak (2192 m), the Tarcu Massif, with the Tarcu Peak (2190 m) and the Muntele Mic Massif (1806 m). The Tarcu Massif has a series of peaks which descend from the Tarcu Peak. To the North-East there is a summit which contains the Caleanu Peak (2192 m), Matania Peak (2160 m) and Baicu Peak (2123 m), and to the North-West we have the Jigoria (1463 m) mountain ridge, which links with Muntele Mic.

To the west of Caransebes there are the Semenic Mountains. The relief descends to the north of Semenic until the Nemanul Mare Peak (1122 m), which extends through a series of peaks, like Dealu Mare (639 m) and Corcana (489 m), which reach the vicinity of Caransebes.

To the north there is the Poiana Rusca Massif, which raises above the nearby depression areas. The highest peaks are Pades (1374 m) and Rusca (1355 m). From the high area there start radial peaks which descend forming the limitrophe hill area.

The depression of Caransebes, where the city is placed, with a foot hill relief, ends in the terrace zone of Timis. Generally, the hills near Caransebes are made of Pliocene deposits, pierced by crystalline schists. The lowest zone is formed by the southern extreme of the Lugoj plains, which reaches the area of the north-west depression. Considered a sub-mountainous depression, the Caransebes depression separates the high and massive mountains from North and East, from the lower hills in the West and the North-Western plain. Its reduced surface – about 1200 square km (from Constantin Daicoviciu to the Armenis Keys – 40 km – and from the Cornutel railway station to the east of Bucova – almost the same). The depression has the shape of an oval hollow on the NW-SE direction with two extensions on the W-E and N-S on the valleys of the Bistra and the upper Timis rivers.