Geologically, it forms part of the Central Alps and features silicate metamorphic and igneous rock.

Pohorje is an Alpine mountain ridge with domed summits south of the Drava.

It roughly lies in the triangle formed by the towns of Maribor (to the east), Dravograd (to the west) and Slovenske Konjice (to the south).

To the northwest, it is bounded by the Mislinja River, to the south by the Vitanje Lowlands (Vitanjsko podolje), to the east it descends to the Drava Plain (Dravsko polje) and to the southeast it descends to the Pohorje Foothills (Podpohorske gorice).

[5] Near the village of Cezlak lies probably the only known deposit of cizlakite (quartz monzogabbro; a green plutonic rock).