CROATIA PLITVICE LAKES ACCOMMODATION
Croatia is a speleological El Dorado. Not many countries in the world have so much surface covered in karst. Over fifty per cent of Croatian territory, even seventy per cent if we include the undersea surface area, is made of limestone. Limestone easily dissolves in water. Interaction of water and limestone creates a unique and specific relief with a large number of karst forms. In our country, karst stretches from Istria, over Croatian Littoral, Gorski Kotar, Kordun, Lika and Dalmatia including islands, all through the border with Monte Negro. It is part of Dinaric Kras, called after the representative mountain of the area, the impressive Dinara Mountain, located at the border of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, a typical, limestone dominated mountain. Dinaric Kras extends from Soča, along the Adriatic Sea, all through Albania.
Characteristic karst forms are: karst fields, karst valleys, karrens, subterranean rivers, karst springs, lakes – the so-called “eyes of the mountain”, abysses (estavels)... Karst has specific hydrology. Rivers and streams in limestone carve out deep beds that often end up plunging underground to continue with their flow through subterranean ways. This is one of the ways how underground forms of karst are formed, in equally interesting and specific forms as the surface ones.
The research of underground phenomena is what speleology – the science of natural underground cavities - does. In Croatia, there are over 8,000 thousand speleological sites. Approximately less than half of them have been explored so far. A large portion of the contribution in revealing the secrets of natural underground is provided by scientists from different fields, mainly geologists, hydrologists, biospeleologists, metheorologists, especially palaeontologists and archaeologists, given the fact that caves in the recent geological history served as dwellings of different animals, Neanderthals, even the modern man. Most often, the evidence was discovered in the deposits at cave entrances or deeper inside, in the tunnels.
Croatia knows a large number of speleological sites marked by abundance of cave jewels, endemic species of cave fauna (such as olms), and valuable paleontological and archaeological findings. A small number of caves and pits has been turned into tourist sites. Among the well-known caves, the Upper and Lower Cerovac Caves near Gračac in the region of Lika became tourist sites. These also include Vrelo Cave near Fužine, and Lokvarka near Lokve in Gorski Kotar, Vrlovka near Ozalj, Grgas Cave near Samobor, Veternica on the slopes of Zagrebačka Gora, Vranjača near Split, Biserujka on the island of Krk and the only pit that has been turned into a tourist site – Baredine Pit near Poreč. Apart from caves open to tourists, there is a large number of semi-tourist caves, and some of them were cleared more than a century ago. Such notable caves include Samograd Cave in Perušić and Caves of Barać in Nova Kršlja near Rakovica in the Kordun region.
Caves of Barać are located some six kilometres to the east of Rakovica (highway Zagreb-Split), just over half a kilometre to the west from the centre of the village of Nova Kršlja. Entrances to all three caves from the north are called Baraćeve Brine. At the bottom of Brine, between the entrances to the caves, is Baraćevac spring, which, together with two smaller springs (without name) form Kršlja stream that merges with the Suvaja stream some twenty meters downstream. Kršlja flows several kilometres through the field, and at its eastern part, through a series of pits, enters the Varićak Cave, where it accounts for the greatest amount of water mass in its channels.
Caves of Barać were once known as Radaković Caves. The last name Barać no longer exists in this region – this is a toponym from the times before or during Turkish invasions. According to the local legend, the caves were named after someone named Barać who defeated the furious Turkish giant in the battlefield and earned himself such honour. We know that there are three caves. Some call them Large and Small, Upper and Lower, and the third one simply – the Third, which allegedly has nothing to do with the two former ones. After rediscovering the entrance and position, along with some new channels, we called the third one – the New Barać Cave.
Source: baraceve-spilje.hr
More then 300 years ago, this multitude of cliffs and small islets was chosen for a place where a water-milling settlement with flour and grist mills, flax-stamping mills, wash mills and wooden gangways was built. The harmony between man and nature can still be found there.
Spring time in Rastoke is very watery with lots of droplets and waterfalls, first green leaves and spring flowers. The colors and smell of spring are the colors and smell of new life in Rastoke that leads to green, blooming and a happy summer. And in the fall, you can feed your soul and body with fruits of hip, elderberry, apple, blackberry, corn and chestnut, and enjoy in the mix of colors and sounds. Imagine autumn walk in the woods, on the big natural carpet made of leaves with different colors and collecting natural treasures in coexistence with squirrels and deers. Who would've wanted more?
In the white winter, leaf carpet is replaced with snowflakes, while waterfalls relentlessly create new icy shapes. In the fireplace you hear wood cracking and in the night streetlamps create fairy tales. Snow delights are guaranteed.
Geology of the National Park
The Plitvice lakes National Park belongs to Dinaric karst area and due to its specific geology, geomorphology and hydrology it truly is one of the most impressive karst entities in the world. Apart from dolomitic rock, mesosoic limestones with dolomite inserts prevail. The ratio between less porous or water-retaining dolomites and porous Jurassic limestone sediments in the karst has influenced the landscape of the overall area today. Specific hydrology properties of rock have enabled water retention on Triassic dolomite rocks, as well as canyon formation by water cutting through Cretaceous limestone deposits. Tufa barriers are a phenomenon enabling water to remain inside the lakes.
Tufa barriers
Plitvice lake waters are supersaturated with dissolved calcium carbonate, in the form of calcium bicarbonate. As water is dispersed at a large scale at tufa barriers, it mineralises and calcium carbonate (calcite) is emitted in the form of tiny agglomerating crystals. The basic chemical formula for tufa sedimentation is the following:
Ca (HCO3)2+water dispersion → CO2+H2O+CaCO3↓ (tufa)
The invisible and at the same time essential element of this specific and complex tufa creation process are the so-called ‘blue-green algae’ (Cyanobacteria), eukaryotic algae (Diatomeae), various bacteria, Protozoa (single-cell organisms) and multi-cell microscopic organisms. These organisms represent a life community developing on rocks, plants (mosses) and submerged debris. Calcite micro-crystals are glued on mucopolysacharide mucus excreted by algae and bacteria. Crystals glued in such a way are crystal-forming agglomerate, around which calcium carbonate from water settles, helping the precipitation of well-known tufa barriers. The most prevalent moss, covering steep and vertical tufa barriers is Cratoneuron comutatum. This moss lithifies fast, and its contours remain well preserved in the tufa. At quieter places, a ‘Bryum pseudotriquetrum’ moss forms a Bryum-type tufa. The process of tufa formation dates far back into geologic history, to the conditions of warm and humid climate, similar to today. The age of active tufa barriers precipitation is estimated at 6.000 - 7.000 years, which corresponds to their formation after the latest ice age. Growth and development of tufa barriers is threatened if there are disturbances in physical, chemical and biological balance, important to the precipitation process.
Source: np-plitvicka-jezera.hr
