The Chain of Volcanoes in Slovakia; The Slanske Hills

Approximately 10 million years ago, a large section of eastern Slovakia was the site of a chain of erupting volcanoes, several of which were erupting at the same time. Known as the Slanske Hills, these features are now all long extinct, but have left behind numerous mineralization such as precious opal, stibnite, lead ore, and zinc ores. This video discusses how this 55-kilometer-long chain of 13 ancient volcanoes came to be, and some fascinating remnants of their explosive history.

Disclaimer: I am being paid to make this video by the European Union and NS Kožare as part of a series meant to share several wonderful geologic features within the nation of Slovakia.

Note: This video's thumbnail image displays the active Augustine volcano in Alaska (not Slovakia). This image provides a context as to what the now long extinct Strechovy volcano may have looked like approximately 10 million years ago.

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Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers

Various licenses used in sections of this video (not the entire video, this video as a whole does not completely fall under one of these licenses) and/or in this video's thumbnail image:

Sources/Citations:
Sources/Citations:
[1] Molnar, Ferenc & Nagymarosy, & Jelen, S. & Baco,. (2010). Minerals and wines: Tokaj Mts., Hungary and Slanské Vrchy Mts., Slovakia.. Acta Mineralogica-Petrographica, Field Guide Series. 15. 1-40.
[2] Petro, Lubomir & Vlcko, Jan & Ondrasik, R. & Polascinova, E.. (2013). Recent tectonics. 10.13140/2.1.3417.9526.
[3] Jurewicz, Edyta. (2005). Geodynamic evolution of the Tatra Mts. and the Pieniny Klippen Belt (Western Carpathians): Problems and comments. Acta geologica Polonica. 53. 295-338.

0:00 Sponsored Message
0:13 Ancient Slovakian Volcanoes
1:44 Volcanic Rocks
3:00 Strechovy Volcano
3:47 Why these Volcanoes Formed
4:23 2 Cinder Cones

[mariajhanley]

Both my grandparents came from Slovakia. One lived on the east side of the volcano chain and the other on the west side. They never would have met in their own country but met and married in Pennsylvania during the great migration before WWI. Thank you for sharing this interesting video.

[yulian_p]

More videos about this underrated country, lovely!

[eftalanquest]

this is the kind of sponsored content i'm all in for

[matusknives]

I have really appreciated this video about volcanoes in my home country even if I had to chuckle a little on your pronunciation of the local names, but I am well aware how hard this is for foreigners. I would love to hear more from you on other Slovakian volcanoes - out if which Polana was probably the largest.

[sar_e_bear]

So interesting. I had no idea that there were even volcanos there.

[ThatOpalGuy]

glad to see you being paid to do this. gratz

[citylimits]

Very informative! Another volcanic belt that was active around that time was the Cabo de Gata chain and some other volcanic peaks in the Alboran Sea in Spain. Possible topic for another video.

[deborahferguson]

Excellent topic!! Thanks for making this video!! Informative and interesting…, as usual!

[Mattijjah]

Great video! Is there a chance for material on volcanism in today's Czech Republic and Poland? I know that in Poland we have extinct volcanoes. These include Wilcza Góra, Ostrzyca, Bazaltowa Góra and Stożek Wielki.

[Benson_aka_devils_advocate_]

I think it's absolutely awesome that you got a paid sponsorship from the EU. The EU!! That's not one you hear about.

Usually it's some VPN or ridge wallet etc...

I love seeing how far you've come!!

Btw, I'm a fellow Arizona native. I wish you'd make a video on the Mogollon rim, the fact that it's an active fault line that produces earthquakes. I've always wondered what the max magnitude of an earthquake it could theoretically produce as my dad lives in the shadow of the rim. He's about 15 miles NE of Payson in the Ellison creek estates community.

[KillberZomLD]

I never even thought there would volcanoes in this country. Great video as always and very informative.

[jangergel]

Thank you! I was always interested in our volcanos but never could find satisfactory data to fulfill my need to know. I am very greatful that you've finally covered us even if sponsoring was involved 😊

[TheSpaceEnthusiast-vlwx]

Thanks! Strechovy is quite interesting, due to its aforementioned similarities with Mount Vesuvius. Its probable original height of 1, 800 meters is fitting, given that the original height of Mount Somma (Mount Vesuvius' ancestor) was likely once 2, 000 meters tall. As indicated by its eruption deposits, who knows if it originally had a complex crater system at its summit.
It is fascinating to know that just 30-20 million years ago, which is a geologically recent time, Southern Europe was almost unrecognizable. Italy was not in its current form, Corsica and Sardinia were closer to France than they are today, and there were all sorts of terranes, microcontinents and continental fragments accreting to Central Europe to produce the current landscape of the Mediterranean and southern Europe. The latter of course caused large amounts of volcanism, including the Slanske hills.

[just_kos]

Wow, this was fascinating, thank you! When your graphic showed the volcanoes, it made me think of the Cascade range. When you said it was ejecting mainly andesite, I thought it would be via subduction, not a hot spot, then you explained how the subducting plate broke off. Awesome!

[SevereWeatherCenter]

Congratulations! 😊 That is so cool! I can’t believe that the EU is paying you to make this video. You definitely made a name for yourself the past few years.

[joshsmith]

Nice job getting a commission piece. You deserve it bud. Great video as always

[Kya_the_camera_dog]

Had to watch all your Slovakia vids!!! Really enjoyed them and learned a lot. I've wanted to visit for a long time. Probably never will but definitely enjoyed the videos.

[mbvoelker]

This is cool! I'd love to know more about the tectonics than formed Europe.

[hyperjuliaaa]

I'm really happy you're getting attention! It was really awesome hearing about these volcanoes, I didn't even know there were volcanoes there! I can tell you really love Geology, and it's always super nice to see that other people can tell that too! Thanks again for the great vudeo

[pauldietz]

The disclaimer at the beginning increases the authenticity of the whole thing, I think.