The plains and hills of Montenegro and the Prokletije are the highest mountainous area of the Dinaric Alps.
This mountainous area consists of two large mountain units:
1. The plains and hills of Montenegro
2. Prokletije
Mountains and hills of Montenegro
Mountains and hills are located in Montenegro and consist of a series of mountain ranges and ridges with numerous peaks, higher than 2000 meters, rising from mountain plateaus - mountains (average altitude 1300-1650 m above sea level), on the edges of which there are deep canyons of many rivers such as Piva, Tara, Morača, Komarnica and others.
Mountains and hills extend around the upper reaches of the Piva, Tara, Zeta and Morača rivers - between the mountains of Golija, Vojnik, Prekornica and Maganik in the west and south, to Ljubišnja, Durmitor, Sinjajevina and Bjelasica, or Gornji Lim and Đetina in the north, and from Bioč and the Piva canyon on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the northwest, to Bjelolasica and Komovi in the southeast.
Surfaces and hills, along with part of the Montenegrin Prokletije, are the highest and spatially largest geographical unit of Montenegro.
The western and southern parts of Brda are made of limestone and dolomite and have a pronounced karst relief. Other parts of the Brda area are made of impermeable sandy shale (shale) and are less rugged (although this part also has areas with limestone mountains, such as Durmitor and Komovo), and are richer in surface vegetation, pastures, forests and surface watercourses.
The following mountain groups are located in the plains and hills:
- Vojnik - Golija mountain range
- Prekornica Group
- Durmitor area
- Sinjajevina massif
- Moračko-rovačke mountains and Maganik
- Ljubišnja Group
- Bjelasica massif
- Komova Group
- Visitora Group
- Kučke mountains (Žijovo)
Prokletije
Prokletije is a mountain range in the far southeast of the Dinaric mountain range. The highest peak of Prokletije Maja Jezerce (in Albania) with 2694 meters above sea level is the highest peak of the entire Dinaric Mountains.
Prokletije (in the broader sense) extends from Skadar Lake in the west to the Ibar River valley near Kosovska Mitrovica in the east.
The part of Prokletije east of Mount Čakor (and the pass of the same name) is often called the northeastern extension or the northeastern branch of Prokletije or the northern group (Mokra planina, Hajla, Maja Rusolija, Žljeb, Mokra gora/Mokna).
The main ridge of Prokletije (due to its fragmentation, conditionally called a ridge) is 70 kilometers long and is extremely divided by many ridges and valleys.
In the area of Komovi and Prokletije, the Dinaric Mountains change their characteristic direction (northwest - southeast), which is a consequence of the tectonic contact of the Dinarides (as a tectonic unit) and the Šarids (which also bend to the northeast).
As a consequence of these processes, various forms of relief appear: tectonic, volcanic, glacial, fluvial, karst, denudation and others. According to Jovan Cvijić, the Pleistocene glaciation of the Prokletije was more intense than today's in the Alps.
Therefore, the basic stamp of the physiognomy of the Prokletije is given by fossil forms of glacial erosion and accumulation. In no other area of the Balkan Peninsula have glaciers left such deep and striking traces of their activity as in the Prokletije.
Glaciers descended from the Prokletije towards the Skadar Basin and the Metohija Basin; the largest was the Plav Basin (35 km), then the Peć or Rugova Basin (25 km), the Dečani Basin (20 km) and the Rožaje Basin (16 km), and Vusanjski which consisted of 2 integrated waves.
They have a diverse geological composition. In the western part, limestones and karst relief dominate, while the mountains in the east have a more complex structure and it is possible to recognize Paleozoic crystalline schists, granites, Triassic carbonate rocks, volcanogenic-sedimentary series, etc.
