Their high mountain character, combined with great accessibility, makes them popular with tourists and scientists.

The South Carpathians represent an intricate pile of tectonic nappes, overthrusted from west eastwards during the Austrian (Middle Cretaceous) and Laramian paroxysmal phases, corresponding to various plate fragments.

The Getic Nappe was identified by Murgoci (1905),[4] while the general understanding over the Alpine structure of the South Carpathians was later refined by Codarcea (1940),[5] Codarcea et al. (1961),[6] Năstăseanu et al. (1981),[7] Săndulescu (1984),[8] Săndulescu and Dimitrescu (2004),[9] and Mutihac (1990).

[10] The first to apply the global tectonics concepts for the Romanian Carpathians were Rădulescu and Săndulescu (1973).

From east to west, four mountain groups can be identified, separated by different river valleys.