Nature reserves on the Slovenian coast

Classical Karst Description

Cave Postojna Slovenia

The Classical Karst is part of the Dinaric Karst. Dinaric Karst is a typical karst landscape located in temperate latitudes, the largest continuous karst surface in Europe and belonging among the largest karst surfaces in the world. The karst landscape is the most widespread landscape type in Slovenia. Classical Karst covers the area between the Ljubljana Marsh (Ljubljansko barje) and the Bay of Trieste. There are around 6,000 known and explored caves in this area that cover approximately 6,400 km² or 27% of the territory of Slovenia. The geological strata of the Classical Karst comprise Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous limestone and dolomites, as well as Palaeocene and Eocene limestone to a lesser extent. The bottoms of poljes are backfilled by Quaternary alluvium from rivers and streams. The geomorphology of the Classical Karst strongly reflects the tectonic processes. The area of the Classical Karst has an extremely diverse relief. The higher relief in the central area comprises high karst plateaus that drop off in cascades into lower-lying karst plateaus or poljes. Rivers that spring from non-carbonate rocks disappear at the contact with the karst landscape and form blind valleys or cross the karst via karst valleys and gorges. Numerous extensive and complex cave systems were formed by the disappearing streams and are connected to the surface by numerous shafts. Fluvio-karstic phenomena such as dry valleys are frequent on the dolostone basement. Karst rivers appear only at the bottom of poljes.

The karst region of Slovenia is among the richest areas in Europe in terms of flora and fauna and one of the global “hotspots” of biodiversity. There are some typical archaeological deposits of plant and animal species; this was where the first troglobitic cave-dwelling animal species were discovered and scientifically described.

The image and use of the man-made environment is also closely linked to the rock composition of the karst landscape, as is the karst architecture. The man-made environment is adapted to the use of limestone as the basic building material, as well as to the shortage of arable land. The oldest known traces of human inhabitation of the Classical Karst come from the karst caves of the Palaeolithic.

Cave tourism began developing in the Classical Karst as early as in the 17th century. Vilenica is mentioned as the oldest tourist cave (since 1633), while cave tourism began developing more intensively in the 19th century when the Postojna Cave (Postojnska jama) and the Skocjan Caves (Skocjanske jame) were discovered.

The Classical Karst is extremely important for the history of research of the karst and karst phenomena, i.e. the development of karstology and speleology. The first records go back to antiquity, while continuous and true scientific research began at the end of the 16th century. Today, the Karst Research Institute (lnstitut za raziskovanje krasa) of the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences based in Postojna holds the leading research role. The areas of the Classical Karst with outstanding universal value are: the Kras (Kras), the Podgrad lowland (Podrgrajsko podolje), the Postojna Karst (Postojnski kras) and the Poljes of the Classical Karst with the Rakov Skocjan valley (Kraska polja z Rakovim Skocjanom).

Source: www.whc.unesco.org