Bihor

a province in western Rumania, on the slopes of the Western Rumanian Mountains and partially in the Central Danubian Depression. Area, 7,500 sq km; population, 589,000 (1967). Administrative center, the city of Oradea.

Bihor is an important mining region. (The extraction of lignite, oil shales, and bauxite, and the cutting of marble and basalt are done.) Other industries are sawmilling, the production of construction materials (including the ceramic and glass industries), and machine building, as well as the chemical, alumina, textile, leather-goods, and footwear industries. There is processing of agricultural products (flour milling, meat canning, and refrigeration installations), centered mainly in Solonta. In agriculture, grain cultivation predominates. There is meat and dairy animal husbandry. Resorts such as Moneasa are located at sites of mineral springs.

a mountain massif in western Rumania; part of the Western Rumanian Mountains between the Crisul Alb River in the south and the Crisul Repede River in the north. Elevations, to 1,848 m (Mount Cucurbeta). The range is composed of crystalline shale and granite, Mesozoic sandstone, conglomerate rocks, clayey shale, and limestone. Karst features are characteristic. Smoothly undulating ridges and massifs predominate. The outer reaches of the massif are sharply dissected by faults. There are dormant volcanoes. Forests are broad-leaved and coniferous. There are deposits of iron ore and bauxites.