Surduc (Hungarian: Szurduk;[2] German: Surdecken;[3] Hebrew: סוּרְדוּק)[4] is a commune in Sălaj County, Transylvania, Romania.

The name of the commune has its origin in the morphological configuration of the area (surduc means gorge, pass or narrow valley with sudden and steep slopes).

[5] Other sources claim that the name of the commune is of Slavic origin, surdec meaning meander; near Surduc, Someș River makes the biggest turn in its course.

[9] The village originally belonged to the nobles of Csákigorbó (present-day Gârbou), being part of the domain of the Almaș Fortress [ro].

[11] In 1705 it hosted Prince Francis II Rákóczi, before the confrontation of his troops with the Habsburg Imperial Army led by Ludwig von Herbeville in Zsibó (present-day Jibou).

[11] The best known owner is the novelist Miklós Jósika (1794–1865), nicknamed "Hungarian Walter Scott",[13] who settles here after his first wife's divorce.

[16] The Șimișna–Gârbou Hills that make up most of the commune are represented only by their northern termination, which gradually inclines in this direction towards the wide terraced corridor of the Someș, to which the Almaș–Agrij Depression also opens.

[16] The relief is very varied, formed by an association of hilly peaks and valleys between slopes, all resulting from the fragmentation of the northwestern part of the Someș Plateau.

[17] In terms of altitude, the relief is between about 200 m in the meadows of Someș and its tributaries and 607 m in Pietrosu Peak, in the southeastern part of the commune.

[17] In the forest floor there is a great diversity of animal species, from the evolved ones (mammals) to the smallest invertebrates.

[17] The avifauna is very varied and represented by: tits, jays, blackbirds, nightingales, woodpeckers, orioles, sparrowhawks, kites, crows, ravens, magpies, etc.

It is characterized by hot summers, with fairly abundant precipitation and relatively cold and wet winters, with frequent snowfalls, rare blizzards, but also heating periods that interrupt the continuity of the snow layer and repeated freeze-thaw cycles.

In terms of religion, most of the inhabitants are Orthodox (87%), but there are also minorities of Pentecostals (3.8%), Jehovah's Witnesses (2.8%) and Greek Catholics (2.7%).

[30] The first mentions about the high school date from 1867 when Gavril Balmoș was a "traveling teacher" in Surduc and Solona.

[7] Until after 1989, the commune's economy was supported by mining activities related to the exploitation of brown coal and gravel aggregates located in the meadows of Someș, Almaș and Brâglez rivers.

[33] At present, the economic structure of the commune is dominated by the agricultural activities specific to the area, especially the cultivation of cereals, technical and fodder plants, and to a lesser extent of vines and fruit trees.

[18] There are industrial branches represented by some small and medium enterprises:[34] Agriculture is based on family-level production and takes place both in open field and vegetable gardens.

Vegetable farming takes advantage of an area with a temperate climate and is thus varied and exclusively natural.

[42] Surduc railway station is transited daily by five trains to Jibou, Cluj-Napoca and Baia Mare.