Exokarst Processes and Forms and Agricultural Arrangements in Plopiș Mountains

The crystalline basement of Silvania Mountains and in particular of the Plopiş Mountains was brought to surface due to a “strike-slip type” tectonics (I. Balintoni, C. Balica, 2013) in the shape of homoclinal structures deposited in the Tertiary sedimentary cover of the Apusenides. Plopiş Mountains are a real lithological synthesis, because their structure consists of magmatic, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks and they represent an integration, cooperation and interaction between inorganic minerals and organic minerals. Plopiş Mountains cover the largest part of Silvania Mountains. The dominant note of the landscape in Plopiş Mountains is the high degree of erosion as a result of the close connection between rock type and the landscape imposed by the Tertiary dynamics of the Tisia-Dacia microplate. Therefore, the rock type is a key factor in the characterization of landforms. The lytotypes related to Plopiş Mountains conditioned the development of the karst landscape, which, according to endokarst and exokarst processes, created favorable conditions for the development of edaphic and biogeographic resources as the basis for agricultural, forest and pastoral arrangements in Plopiș Mountains.