Skopje Basin
basin in North Macedonia

Skopje Basin (Macedonian: Скопска Котлина, romanized: Skopska Kotlina) or Skopje Plain (Macedonian: Скопско Поле, romanized: Skopsko Pole) is one of the largest basins in North Macedonia. It represents the second largest valley along the course of the Vardar river. The Skopje Valley is formed by the mountains of Žeden, Ivanje (Matka) and Suva Gora in the west, Skopska Crna Gora in the north, Gradiščanska Planina (Gjurište) in the east and northeast, Golešnica in the southeast and Kitka, Karadžica and Vodno, i.e. the massif of Mokra Planina in the south. The administrative and population centre of the Skopje Basin is Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia.
Geographical features
Skopje Basin is a spacious basin located in the northern part of Macedonia. The Basin represents a deep and sunken depression along the fault lines and is fully integrated into the composition of the Vardar Tectonic Zone. It is surrounded by high mountains from all sides. It is part of the composite valley of the Vardar River, which enters the basin through the Derven Gorge in the northwest and exits through the Taor Gorge in the south. The basin covers an area of 1,924 square kilometres (743 sq mi) and extends in a northwest–southeast direction.
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This entry incorporates text from “Skopje Basin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.