Geology Picture of the Week, April 22-29, 2007: Croatia's Unique Plitvice Lakes

Rick Steve's Europe: Plitvice Lakes National Park ^

[cogitator]

I didn't find a great picture of these on the Web. The couple below are a start. The link describes them a bit. Apparently the waters are charged with calcium and carbonate, so that the mineral is precipitating and forming dams while at the same time the water flow is eroding the dams. Very interesting! Historically, this is where the first shots of the Yugoslavian splintering war were fired.

Plitvice Lakes are a UNESCO World Heritage site.

This last one is reduced size (and the left side is clearly taken from the same vantage point as the one above). Click for the large size.

[cogitator]

Sounds like a good place to visit if you happen to be in this region.

I'll be out of touch next week -- see you in May!

[cogitator]

*** ping! ***

[Dilbert San Diego]

Beautiful countryside there.

[cripplecreek]

In the movie ‘Behind enemy lines’ the escaping pilot was rescued off a frozen lake that appeared to be on a mountain top. I thought it was unlikely for a lake to be in an area like that. The movie was set in that part of the world so I suppose they could have modeled it after that type of lake.

[verum ago]

sounds like travertine dams... if you don't feel like going to Croatia, though, and want to see travertine dams, Yellowstone's Mammoth Hot Springs comes to mind:

[bert]

Us cavers are very familiar with the phenomenon. Many cave have exquisitely terraced ponds that transform the running water into placid pools.

The calcareous scum tends to collect at the downstream perimeter building up the lip. Even though the water is crystal clear, the thin rim of the translucent material is quite visible.

[cogitator]

Similar, but Plitvice Lakes are cool water. Little Havasu Canyon (notably Havasu Falls) also has cool/cold water travertine. The description of Plitvice says the carbonate builds up in plant root systems.

[geezerwheezer]

Have a great vacation/work time. Thanks for the photos.

[verum ago]

some like it hot...

[Lil'freeper]

From the dusty shelves of highly obscure trivia: A bit upstream along the Little Colorado, the pools behind the travertine dams are the home of a poor wittle threatened, endangered minnow called the humpback chub.

[SuziQ]

What a gorgeous place? Wonder if it is not too hard to get to, for tourists.

[neb52]

That is very beautiful.

[TADSLOS]

Karst topography at work. Nice shots.

[cogitator]

Wonder if it is not too hard to get to, for tourists.

According to what I read about it finding the images, it isn't particularly hard to get to. I recall seeing that there are even dedicated bus routes from Zagreb.