NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA, SLOVENIA

NATURALHERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA, SLOVENIA

Vrhovci sinkholesPhoto: Matej Simčič

NATURALHERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA, SLOVENIA

EuropePrepared by: Matej SimčičSloveniaPrepared by: Matej Simčič 4

Bela krajina Prepared by: Matej Simčič5

CONTENT 8 PREFACE Andreja Brancelj Bednaršek 10 HOW THIS BOOK CAME ABOUT Mojmir Štangelj 12 INVITATION TO BOOK READING Mira Ivanovič 17 SOME GEOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF BELA KRAJINA Dušan Plut 23 GEOLOGY OF BELA KRAJINA Miha Jeršek, Boštjan Rožič 31 BELA KRAJINA AND ITS PALEONTOLOGICAL TREASURES Matija Križnar 37 GEOMORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BELA KRAJINA PLAIN Uroš Stepišnik, Karel Natek 41 VALUABLE NATURAL FEATURES IN BELA KRAJINA Andreja Škedelj Petrič, Denis Žitnik, Matej Simčič 53 NATURA 2000 IN BELA KRAJINA Andrej Hudoklin 63 THE PROTECTED NATURAL AREAS IN BELA KRAJINA Mira Ivanovič 73 THE FLORA AND VEGETATION OF BELA KRAJINA Branko Vreš, Andrej Seliškar 83 LITTER-RAKING STANDS IN BELA KRAJINA Mira Ivanovič 91 RICHNESS OF MUSHROOMS IN BELA KRAJINA Dr Franc Pohleven 97 THE FORESTS OF BELA KRAJINA Marjan Grah 105 SOME INTERESTING NATURAL SITES OF ORCHIDS IN BELA KRAJINA Jernej Kavšek 6

113 TERRESTRIAL FAUNA OF THE BELA KRAJINA CAVES Slavko Polak, Tone Novak119 THE AQUATIC SUBTERRANEAN FAUNA OF BELA KRAJINA Boris Sket125 HARVESTMEN Tone Novak, Peter Kozel129 THE CRAYFISH OF BELA KRAJINA Al Vrezec, Martina Jaklič133 ABOUT THE DRAGONFLIES OF BELA KRAJINA Ali Šalamun139 STONEFLIES OF BELA KRAJINA Ignac Sivec, Aleksandar Popijač145 ABOUT SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE BEETLES IN BELA KRAJINA AND THREATS FACED BY THEM Al Vrezec, Špela Ambrožič, Andrej Kapla151 BUTTERFLIES OF BELA KRAJINA Matjaž Jež161 FISHES OF BELA KRAJINA Meta Povž167 THE AMPHIBIANS OF BELA KRAJINA Maja Cipot, Aleksandra Lešnik, Katja Poboljšaj177 OLM – CAVE SALAMANDER Boris Bulog, Lilijana Bizjak Mali189 EUROPEAN POND TURTLE Melita Vamberger195 THE BIRDS OF BELA KRAJINA Tomaž Mihelič201 BITS AND PIECES ABOUT THE BATS OF BELA KRAJINA Primož Presetnik207 BEAVERS ON THE DOBLIČICA RIVER Mojca Jernejc Kodrič213 EDIBLE DORMOUSE Andrej Hudoklin219 LARGE CARNIVORES OF BELA KRAJINA Miha Krofel 7

PREFACE Bela krajina is a unique countryside not only in terms of its geographyand nature, but also in ethnic, culturological and historical contexts. Since itsfounding in 1951, the Bela krajina Museum has endeavoured to call people’sattention to the special features of this land between the Gorjanci Mts and theKolpa River through various displays of its cultural and natural heritage. The Bela krajina Museum currently boasts 12 collections with about18,000 exhibits. One of them is the exhibition entitled Natural History, whichmay be modest in view of its exhibits, but certainly tells us a great deal. It con-tains a few minerals (iron ore, bauxite), coal from the closed down brown coalmine at Kanižarica near Črnomelj, and rocks (marl, dolomite and other Belakrajina limestones). A special place in the collection is held by the blind cavesalamander, which came into sight, together with nine individuals of its kind,from a small spring along the Krupa River. The Museum has four permanent exhibitions at four different localitieson display, i.e. The life of people in Bela krajina from prehistory to the mid-20thcentury at Metlika Castle, Oton Župančič and other meritorious Bela krajinapeople in the Memorial House of Oton Župančič at Vinica, Natural Heritage ofBela krajina and local collection in the Museum House at Semič, and Donationof works of art and cultural-historical objects in the Kambič Gallery at Metlika. The exhibition Natural Heritage of Bela krajina was opened in 2006.Despite the modest space allocated for it, its narrative value is highly salient. Ourgreat wish is to expand the exhibition after renovation of the Museum Houseat Semič, which as the only Bela krajina’s presentation of this kind it certainlydeserves. One of the component parts of every exhibition is a guide. It is long over-due indeed, but we have a weighty reason for it. From a modest guide that wasto follow only the exhibits, we are getting a popular science monograph of thekind Bela krajina has not had so far. Most deserving for the monograph are no doubt Mojmir Štangelj, inde-pendent professional associate of the Slovenian Museum of Natural History, and 8

Mira Ivanovič, senior nature conservation adviser at the Institute of the Republicof Slovenia for Nature Conservation, Novo mesto branch. The word »thanks«would not be sufficient for their efforts that exceeded all our expectations. Weare deeply indebted also to Dr Breda Činč Juhant, Director of the SlovenianMuseum of Natural History, and Dr Darij Krajčič, Director of the Institute ofthe Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation, who supported their work. The book Natural Heritage of Bela krajina has brought together 39 au-thors, top connoisseurs in separate fields of nature. All of them contributed theirtexts free of charge. The same goes for photographs, drawings and maps, and weare most grateful to them all. Additional burden was assumed by members ofthe Editorial Board who also carried out their demanding task without charge.The monograph was designed with a subtle feeling by Jurij Kocuvan. Its specialfeature are its four editions, two printed in Slovenian and English languages, andtwo digital editions, prepared free of charge by Luka Hribar, MSc, head of infor-mation technology in the National gallery in Ljubljana. The monograph’s publication was made possible with the financial sup-port of Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, Semič Council, Belakrajina Museum, and the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for NatureConservation by donating photographs and cartography, as well Metlika andČrnomelj Councils, which purchased the books. We in the Bela krajina Museum are firmly convinced that the bookNatural Heritage of Bela krajina will find numerous readers, both younger andolder people, nature lovers and experts, the locals and foreigners. Every interestin it will repay the efforts of all those that contributed their will and knowledgein its making. Thanks once more for both! Andreja Brancelj Bednaršek, Director of the Bela krajina Museum Metlika Metlika, on St George’s Day 20139

HOW THIS BOOK CAME ABOUT The book in front of you is a sequel of the work conducted for the exhibitionentitled The Nature of Bela krajina, set up in 2006 in the Semič Museum Houseby the Slovenian Museum of Natural History and Mira Ivanovič from the Novomesto Unit of the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation. The fact that Bela krajina was underresearched due to the poor transportcommunications and large distances from various research centres came to thefore at the time when materials necessary for the exhibition began to be col-lected. Prior to Slovenia gaining its independence, only a few systematic andin-depth research projects had been carried out. They have been intensified inthe last twenty years mainly owing to Natura 2000 and other projects that finan-cially enabled exploration of Bela krajina’s fauna and flora. This book rounds up the project that turned out to be much more de-manding than initially envisaged. Specifically, a very large team of experts partic-ipating in separate fields of science was needed, while the intensive work lastedfor more than a year. The prevailing opinion was that we should display the cur-rent knowledge of Bela krajina’s nature and present it in the best possible way toa wide range of readers. The authors of the book, who carried out their researchin this small but cute little land below the Gorjanci Mts, were well aware of thisfact and did their best during their fieldwork and preparation of texts. Amongother things, they reported on still undescribed and for science new animal spe-cies; you can even find a photograph of one of such species on the followingpages. Mira Ivanovič, the co-editor of this book, and I are convinced that Belakrajina is one of biotically most diverse areas in Slovenia – in the country that isamong the richest in Europe as far as its living beings are concerned. Moreover,we hope that this book will be an additional challenge for even more intensenatural heritage research. Here I would like to draw the readers’ attention to some very useful con-temporary information sources about our species richness. First of all, let me mention the Bioportal (www.bioportal.si) administeredby the Centre for Cartography of Fauna and Flora. It contains a multitude ofinformation on Slovenian animals and plants, together with web search engine,of course. Attentive visitors will quickly perceive that this database is closely linkedto a smaller but equally attractive database Animalia (www1.pms-lj.si/animalia),which contains data on invertebrates only. We are very proud to be the first nat-ural history museum that has provided data to be transferred to the Europeancultural portal Europeana. 10

Personally, I often use the base Imenik (www1.pms-lj.si/imenik), where I cancheck whether I am searching for Slovenian, English or Latin names of invertebrates. You have no doubt frequently faced the riddle: which plant, fungus oranimal is this? How can I find out? This question is usually followed by searchthrough encyclopaedias and asking friends or acquaintances. In the end we aresatisfied with any answer, or we simply forget the question in the rush of every-day life … A number of solutions can simply be found in interactive keys thatcan be used on desktop or laptop computers, pads, mobile phones or printedon paper. Key-making tools have been developed within the European projectKeyToNature (www.keytonature.eu), which is continued with the project SiiT inour country (www.siit.eu/index.php/dolocevalni-kljuci). And the number of keysis growing rapidly. Books will retain their communicative value for many years to come. Forpractical reasons, however, e-book readers are being increasingly used, which ena-ble great quantities of books to be carried in small, light and inexpensive applianc-es. This is why we decided to prepare an edition adapted to e-book readers. I sin-cerely hope that this presentation of Bela krajina’s nature will be followed by newupdated editions, where experts for other groups of living beings will take part. When this book was being prepared for printing, a study on the rel-ict bivalve Congeria kusceri (Mytilopsis kusceri) was published, which is citedin several places by the authors of this book. It has turned out, however, thatit in fact concerns three sibling species, which can be found only in 15 cavesof the entire Dinaric Karst. Genetic research has shown that Slovenia is in-habited by the species Congeria jalzici. Source: Bilandžija et al.: Evolutionaryhistory of relict Congeria (Bivalvia: Dreissenidae): unearthing the subter-ranean biodiversity of the Dinaric Karst. Frontiers in Zoology 2013 10:5.(www.frontiersinzoology.com/content/pdf/1742-9994-10-5.pdf ) In the end, let me express my cordial thanks for their help to my Belakrajina compatriots Mira Ivanovič and Andreja Brancelj Bednaršek, as well asto Dr Breda Činč Juhant, Director of the Slovenian Museum of Natural History,Alenka Jamnik, librarian in the same museum, the entire staff of the Centre forCartography of Fauna and Flora, Leon Gregorčič from the Bela krajina Museum,members of the Editorial Boards, and my colleague Luka Hribar, MSc, IT officerfrom the National Gallery. Mojmir Štangelj, Slovenian Museum of Natural History11

INVITATION TO BOOK READING You are holding a very special book in your hands – the very first printedwork dedicated to nature of Bela krajina. With its aid we wish to take you throughthis hospitable and friendly land clad in whiteness of its birch trees, to the landthat’s almost white of limestone, through its diverse and well preserved nature. Thanks to the climate openness of this land towards the Mediterraneanand relief confinement with the Gorjanci Mts and Kočevski Rog, a unique coun-tryside was formed in this part of Slovenia. Here meet and intertwine the Dinaricand Pannonian worlds, which create conditions for highly distinctive geograph-ic and biotic diversity. The contributions on geomorphology, geology and pal-aeontology of Bela krajina reveal that the rocks on its surface reflect more thantwo hundred million years of predominantly turbulent geological events. In thegeological past, Bela krajina lay on the bottom of the Tethys Ocean, where flyschbedrock was formed in places after the withdrawal of the sea in the CretaceousPeriod, which now provides favourable substratum for vineyards in the vicinityof Drašiči. You will also learn that the shallow Pannonian Sea, too, covered thisarea and that an island with more than four hundred metres thick layer of im-permeable rocks was formed in the shallow karst near Kanižarica. The shallowand partially high karst hide more than three hundred underground karst caves,here come to light about the same number of springs, while the surface itself isinterspersed with streams that flow into the main water artery, the Lahinja, andeventually into the Kolpa River. Are you interested in animals and plants of Bela krajina? Believe me, allcontributions in this work are full of surprises. Did you know that the blackcave salamander lives only in the Bela krajina underground and nowhere elsein the world? You will be able to learn about it, and much more, in the contri-bution dealing with the blind cave salamander. For Slovenia most unusual dis-coveries from Bela krajina are the cave shrimp with eyes and the only knownunderground bivalve, the cave mussel. In spite of the fact that Bela krajina is adistinct karst country, more than 300 wetlands have been registered here, whichprovide favourable living conditions for no less than 50 dragonfly and damselflyspecies, 14 amphibian species and numerous other animals and plants restrictedto water. In the territory of Slovenia, the dark emerald damselfly has so far beenrecorded only in Bela krajina. Here, the European pond turtle clearly feels com-fortable as well. The contribution on bats may even conjure up a mystic touchof Bela krajina for you. A species rich society of bats has been discovered here,with their numerous roost sites in the attics of houses and churches. In Slovenia,the Mediterranean horseshoe bat has been found for the first time at Dolenjski 12

zdenec. The diversity of aquatic life is greatly contributed by the presence of 39indigenous species of fishes as well as otter and beaver, which was registered herefor the first time in 2002. In this book, you will get well acquainted also with thebrown bear, Eurasian wolf and Eurasian lynx – the symbols of nature’s primordi-alness and a proof at the same time that cohabitation of people and wild animalsin a wider area is certainly possible. You are entering a unique world inhabited by more than 300 butterflyand moth species. In the contribution on birds you will learn which of them fa-vour Bela krajina’s commons, litter stands and forests. Just to whisper in your ears,these are the breeding sites of the white-tailed eagle and peregrine falcon, whichreign over the waters and rockwalls above the Kolpa River. Believe it or not, morethan 40 orchid species alternate in rainbow colours in dry and wet meadows.And what do litter stands hide within themselves? A true mushroom paradise! In Bela krajina, a total of 525 so very important areas of nature have beenidentified that they are treated as natural assets. Considering all these naturaltreasures, one should thus not wonder that more than 40% of Bela krajina hasbeen included in the Natura 2000 European ecological network and that themost significant districts in terms of nature conservation along the Kolpa and theheadwaters of the Lahinja are protected as nature parks, while the Krupa Riverhas acquired the natural monument status. It is truly rich and beautiful, this Belakrajina of ours! This statement will be further confirmed if you visit the exhibi-tion in Semič Museum House and read this book. You are warmly advised andinvited to embark on a research trip. This has been taken care of, too, given thatBela krajina affords more than 30 thematic trails. If you start your trip in Belakrajina at the murmuring stream of Divji potok, you will be simply carried awayto the Kolpa and Lahinja Rivers or into the wilderness of Kočevski Rog. You willfind places you are bound to adore and feel your presence there. I sincerely hopeand wish that you will experience these places in the most enjoyable way. My heartfelt thanks to all, especially the authors. All of them kindly re-sponded to my and Mojmir’s invitation to take part with their wonderful textsand photographs, declining any kind of payment for their efforts. This can hap-pen only to the inhabitants of Bela krajina! The rich book you are holding inyour hands is a present to us all. We are proudly donating it to Bela krajina, butlet it also be a present to our grandchildren, together with our preserved nature. Mira Ivanovič, Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation, Head of the Regional Unit Novo mesto13

The Krupa River springPhoto: Andrej Hudoklin 14

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Kolpa River in VinicaPhoto: Matej Simčič16

SOME GEOGRAPHICCHARACTERISTICSOF BELA KRAJINADušan PlutDepartment of Geography, Faculty of Philosophy, Ljubljana University Some very diverse interpretations as to the origin of the name Bela kraji-na have been offered in the past. The name (Bela krajina = White Country) mayperhaps be associated with the prevailing whiteness of limestone, which rendersthe stony karst surface of the greater part of this area its basic stamp. Bela krajinamay have also been given its name after the characteristic white birches predom-inating in the Bela krajina litter stands, while some associate its name with thewhite national costume. Such interpretation was also offered by the Dolenjskastoryteller Janez Trdina (1830-1905), who wrote: »The Carniolans live beyondGorjanci, and differ from the others by their white garb.« Bela Kranjska (WhiteCarniola) was later renamed Bela krajina. The central part of the area is the lowkarst plain surrounded by the higher karst plateaus of Gorjanci and KočevskiRog. Limestone and dolomite are the major building elements. Main characterto the landscape image of the lower, undulating and more densely populatedBela krajina karst plain is given by the stony and tectonically fractured karst sur-face intertwined by numerous karst dragas (sinkholes). Shallow and, as a rule,poorly fertile brown and red karst soil covers the cracked rocks, with fertile fieldsare found merely in separate pockets of thicker layers of soil and in the plains oflarger water courses. On lower lying sunward slopes above the Bela krajina karstplain, carefully tended vineyards are nestled. Bela krajina covers some six hundred square kilometres, which are hometo about 27,000 inhabitants living in three Bela krajina Councils (Črnomelj,Metlika and Semič). Small settlements and hamlets prevail, the population den-sity is low (approximately 40 inhabitants per square kilometre). The regionalidentity of Bela krajina is partially conditioned by its geographic position, giventhat Bela krajina is southernmost Slovenian province. It is situated on the sunnyside of Gorjanci Mts, which together with the margins of Kočevski Rog dis-tinctly separate it from other Slovenian provinces; on the other side, i.e. towardsthe south, it borders on Croatia, with the greatest part of its boundary runningalong the Kolpa River. But as it is easily passable, the Kolpa has never posed any NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 17

problems in daily contacts of the Bela krajina inhabitants with the neighbouringCroatian provinces and places along the Kolpa. From the natural aspect, Belakrajina’s identity is thus strongly enframed by its geographic openness towardsneighbouring Croatia and thus towards the heart of Pannonian basin and, onthe other side, by its morphological closeness towards other Slovenian provinces.This is why its »Pannonian character« is significantly greater as one could judgeby other Bela krajina features, which to a great extent reflect its Dinaric karstcharacter. The closeness of Bela krajina towards other Slovenian provinces and itsopenness towards the Pannonian region left a special imprint on the area’s cli-mate, vegetation, settling pattern, ethnic structure of its inhabitants (Uskoks),economy, dialects, national traditions and the traditional white garb, possiblyeven on the inhabitants’ character. Places along the Kolpa River on the sunnyside of Gorjanci Mts are marked by a close intertwining of Dinaric karst featureswith those of the Pannonian plain, where the contact of the Dinarides with thePannonian plain acts as a key feature in Bela krajina’s regional identity and as asignificant factor in its landscape and biotic diversity. Bela krajina is the land ofmoderate continental climate, which also rules in the eastern half of Sloveniaand in its central part. The climate of Bela krajina has similar characteristics asother provinces situated along the Pannonian plain, except that it receives, ow- Dragatuš withing to its position near the higher karst Dinaric barrier, more rainfall (1,200 to Poljanska gora in1,300 mm), which is much more abundant in autumn and not in late spring and the background.summer. This is the reason why the karst Bela krajina is occasionally subjected to Photo: Matej Simčič18

droughts, even though its annual precipitation is fairly abundant. The climatic conditions (many sunny days, enough rainfall) are in fact such that enable, to- gether with the area’s relief features (hillocks), growing of high quality vine on the sunward slopes of the thermal belt. The expected climate change will most likely bring predominantly neg- ative impacts, especially more frequent storms and severer summer drought at the same time. In the last decades, increased precipitation outside the vegetation period has been noted in Bela krajina, as well as less moisture in the vegetation period, which is already shown in the lower agricultural yield. As it is envisaged that the quantity of summer rainfall will be by some 20 % lower and that tem- peratures will increase, adaption to the climate change will be implicit very soon. According to most forecasts, drought risk will thus increase, which requires ur- gent adaption of agriculture to the climatically strained conditions. Almost the entire area of Bela krajina belongs to the Kolpa catchment, with only its north- ern edge emptying itself into the Krka. Due to the area’s karst surface, the river network is rarely, as most water courses shifted under the surface. The remains of surface water courses are springs or fluctuating streams at the beginning of valleys and karst basins. The Kolpa flows along the edge of Bela krajina, which means that the central Bela krajina river is in fact the Lahinja. The abundantSemič with Kolpa (with its mean annual flow rate near Metlika at more than seventy cu-Gorjanci Mts in bic metres per second) is in its Bela krajina course among the purest Slovenianthe background. rivers. For bathing, it is suitable from both the aspect of quality and the aspectPhoto: Matej Simčič of high summer temperatures, which can even exceed twenty-seven degrees NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 19

Celsius and have lately even increased. The autumn and spring peak flows arefairly equal, while the lowest summer flow strongly outperforms the lowest flowin winter. Bela krajina depends on water supply from karst springs and wells (ondolomite substratum). The provision of good quality water is aggravated dueto the water-ecologically extremely sensitive drinking water supply captures inthe karst hinterland. The prolonged excessive pollution of the Krupa River withpolychlorinated biphenyls (PBCs) unfortunately confirms the extremely mod-est self-cleaning capacity of the Bela krajina low karst. The Bela krajina’s landscape characteristics, economic structure and ge-ographic position along the border significantly contributed to its very specificregional development. In the second half of the 19th century, this karstified, re-mote and with natural assets poorly endowed land was unable to feed all its in-habitants, who thus had no other option but to emigrate massively. The feelingsof these people were subtly transformed into melancholy verses by the Slovenianpoet and dramatist Oton Župančič (1878–1949) in his Duma: They were forcedto leave, and foreign counties now pride themselves with the work of their hands.They’ve disappeared over there in America, in Westphalia and can no longer bereached by our eyes. According to some estimates, one third of Bela krajina’s pop-ulation emigrated between the mid-nineteenth century and World War I – re-sult of the harsh natural farming conditions (karst surface character). For decades, Bela krajina has ranked among the less developed areas ofSlovenia; in comparison with the rest of Slovenia, the industrial period beganwith great delay there. The modest natural resources, dispersed settlement pat-tern, geographical remoteness, poorly developed infrastructure, high unemploy-ment and low education level aggravate major progress and steady regional de-velopment. The joint development efforts by all three Bela krajina Councils aredirected towards improved traffic connections (urgent construction of the roadtunnel under Gorjanci Mts in direction of Novo mesto), infrastructure improve-ments, education raising, close-to-nature tourism development, and summon-ing of investors for the badly needed new jobs. Bela krajina has no modern trafficnetwork and the connections with Novo mesto and other major centres are poor,which puts this area into subordinate development and competition position.The traditional mass tourism events, such as the Metlika Spring, Črnomelj St.George’s Day and Semič Wedding Day, clearly show that the people of Bela kra-jina are infused with enough life optimism and openness. As part of the pre-Dinaric natural living environment, Bela krajina ismarked by its biotic transition. This karst land significantly contributed to theorigin of special plant and animal species, particularly in karst caves and springs(Black Olm). At the same time, it is part of the marginal protection area of theBlack Bear, which inhabits the triangle Bela krajina-Krim-Snežnik-border withCroatia. It is interesting and paradoxical, however, that the very human degra-dation of primary plant associations entirely transformed and actually variegat-ed the landscape and biodiversity character of Bela krajina. Through the useof litter (for livestock in barns), the picturesque white birch and bracken litter20

Velika Plešivica woodlands were formed, the romantic image of which inspired the Bela krajinaPhoto: Matej Simčič and Slovenian poet Oton Župančič. The current vast uncontrolled overgrowing of agricultural land and litter woodlands thus reduces not only the agricultural land but also the ecosystem and species diversity as well as tourist attraction of the area. In Bela krajina, Kolpa Nature Park and Lahinja Nature Park have been functioning successfully, while the greater part of it is situated within the European Natura 2000 network. References Gams, I. (1961). H geomorfologiji Bele krajine. Geografski zbornik 6, 191–240. Ivanovič, M. (2008). Krajinski park Lahinja – naravne vrednote in kulturna dediščina. V: Plut, D. (ur.), Bela krajina in Krajinski park Lahinja (str. 25–42). Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Oddelek za geografijo. Plut, D. (1988). Belokranjske vode. Novo mesto: Dolenjski muzej. 199 str. Plut, D. (2008). Osnovne geografske značilnosti Bele krajine. V: Plut, D. (ur.), Bela krajina in Krajinski park Lahinja (str. 9–24). Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Oddelek za geografijo. NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 21

The characteristic reddish-brown terra rosa soil with fern.Photo: Miha Jeršek22

GEOLOGY OFBELA KRAJINAMiha Jeršek, Slovenian Museum of Natural History,Boštjan Rožič, Department of Geology, Faculty of Natural Sciencesand Engineering, University of LjubljanaIntroduction As far as its relief is concerned, Bela krajina is a fairly self-containedcountry, surrounded in the north by the Gorjanci Mts, in the west by the karstplateau of Kočevski Rog, while in the south and towards the west it borders onthe Kolpa River. This very shape of its relief is the result of various geologicalevents, which can be divided into those that created the rocks now found inthe area of Bela krajina and the forces that transform these rocks and create thearea’s wonderful image and geomorphology. Bela krajina has an interesting, diverse and relatively long geological his-tory. Specifically, the rocks on its surface reveal more than two hundred mil-lion years of its more or less turbulent geological events. Luckily, the majorityof them were useful both for our ancestors as well as people now inhabiting thearea. The exploitation of natural stones, construction stones, coal mine, watercourses, karst attractions of living and non-living nature and, last but not least,the soil for excellent wines of Bela krajina are just some of the reasons to get toknow Bela krajina somewhat better from the geological point of view.Geological history of the area of modern-dayBela krajina Most characteristic of Bela krajina are its bright white rocks: some evenbelieve that the province (Bela krajina = White Country) acquired its namefrom them. These are carbonate rocks, sedimentary by origin, which are usual-ly formed through sedimentation or secretion of their component parts or, tobe more precise, carbonate minerals in warm and shallow seawater. On the ba-sis of fossil remains, geologists have established that these mostly white rockswere formed in the Mesozoic, which is divided into three geological periods: NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 23

the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. In Bela krajina, rocks from all three peri- Bauxite outcropods have survived. These are periods when dinosaurs and numerous other fossil at Hrast settlementgroups began to develop, reached their greatest diversification and finally be- near Vinica.came extinct. While we are still waiting for dinosaurs’ remains and traces to be Photo: Miha Jeršekdiscovered in Bela krajina, the remnants of various marine animals, such as bi-valves, gastropods and corals, are fairly common in the area’s rocks. In order to understand the geology of a certain territory one shouldknow that its history is extremely long and that our planet is slowly but persis-tently changing. It is only then that we can understand that today’s conditionsare the result of a fairly young mountain-building processes, while the rocks ofBela krajina, which are much older, were formed in utterly different conditions,mostly in seas that have disappeared ages ago, and that these very rocks are theonly proof of their existence. The Mesozoic rocks that can now be found on thesurface of Bela krajina were thus formed in seas through sedimentation of car-bonate mud, with solid remains of marine organisms living at that time mixedinto it, i.e. organisms that build their homes from carbonate minerals as well,mainly calcite and aragonite. Such sediments were deposited on the margin ofthe former Tethys Ocean that spread nearly two hundred years ago betweentwo continents  – Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south; on theborder of the latter, the territory of modern-day Slovenia was situated as well.Characteristic of this part of the world were tropical to subtropical climates,shallow sea that was only rarely connected with deeper parts of the ocean, closedand partially open lagoons on the margin of the vast ocean that were teemingwith life – a sort of paradise on Earth, we could say. On the bottom of the Tethys Ocean’s marginal seas, sediments were de-posited for a long time. As there were many of them, their weight influenced old-er sediments in such a way that the caught water was increasingly squeezed outand the sediment was slowly but persistently converted into a solid rock. Fromthe sediment with remains of organisms’ solid parts, solid rock with fossils wasformed through the lithification process. Limestones,the characteristic sedimentary rocks, were formed. Inplaces, dolomites developed, which differ from lime-stones by the fact that they are built by the mineraldolomite instead of calcite. They could have beendeposited simultaneously with limestones, or wereformed at a later date during the solidification pro-cesses, called diagenesis by geologists. The dolomites’main characteristics are as follows: they are crumblier,have fewer or almost no fossils, they are excellent aq-uifers and therefore invaluable rocks. The oldest rocks of Bela krajina are the UpperTriassic dolomites, in which stromatolites can befound as remains of the blue-green bacteria’s thriv-ing in tidal areas of a very shallow sea. In the ensuing24

Geological map ofBela krajinaSource: GeologicalSurvey of Slovenia NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 25

periods, the number of dolomites is increasingly reduced, making limestones the The work in theprevailing rock. On the weathered surface, the limestones of Bela krajina are usu- Kanižarica coal mineally white, whereas a fresh fracture reveals a greater colour spectrum, mostly from was always hard. Coalwhite to dark grey colours. The brighter limestones are particularly those that was transported for awere deposited in lagoons with large amount of oxygen, or lagoons with a con- very long time by hand-stant and intensive seawater flow-through. In places, lagoons were more or less of operated carts. Theclosed type, with little or almost no free oxygen. And if there was a lot of organic motif from the coalmaterial on top of it all, then it is understandable that darker, in fact almost black mine originates fromsediments were formed from it, as well as black lagoon limestones (from the lat- about 1960.ter), which are characteristic of the Jurassic period for the area of Bela krajina. Photo: Kanižarica Museum Archives Limestones, however, were not formed exclusively in lagoons. On the north-ern fringes of Bela krajina, for example, remains of the Late Jurassic light limestoneswith numerous corals are often found that originated at the coastal seas’ point oftransition into more open ocean areas. They were part of the great coral reef, theremains of which can be found in the region stretching from fore-mountains ofthe Julian Alps and right down to the present-day Montenegro. Similar very lightlimestones of the open seas are characteristic of the Early Cretaceous period as well. At the end of the Cretaceous period, the great Tethys Ocean was alreadybeginning to close, and in once ocean areas small mountain chains started toform. Owing to their immense weight, the area ofmodern-day Bela krajina, which was situated in thefore-mountains at that time, sank for a while and thusacquired the status of a deep-sea area. With under-water slides, sediments were deposited in the deepersea, the source of which was in fact the erosion of theyoung mountain chain. From these sediments, rockslike flysch-forming siltstones, sandstones and brecciawere formed. Today, we can find them in the vicinityof Drašiči northwest of Metlika. It is the very flyschground that gave a solid substratum to the Bela kraji-na vines, which is now mirrored in the delicate flavour of the Metliška črnina redwine. The area of today’s Bela krajina therefore lies on the outskirts of the for-mer Tethys Ocean. Due to the great tectonic shifts, however, the ocean total-ly disappeared after the Cretaceous period; the entire territory of Bela krajinamoved towards the north and northwest, travelling several hundred kilometres.During this process, today’s great mountain chains were formed, including theAlps and Himalayas, as well as the Dinarides with Bela krajina as their part. When the Dinarides rose from the sea floor, they were immediately sub-jected to the outside geological forces, weathering and erosion. In the ensuinggeological period, called the Tertiary, bauxite was formed on land through car-bonate rock weathering in Bela krajina, it has been preserved in the vicinity ofthe village of Hrast near Vinica. Bauxite is an aluminium ore and an insolubleremnant of limestones and dolomites. The main ore minerals are boehmite and26

There are severalabandoned mills onthe Kolpa River, built ofstone available nearby.Millwheels are made ofquartz conglomeratethat can be found inrocks along the uppercourse of the KolpaRiver.Photo: Miha Jeršek hydrargillite, while diaspore is represented to a lesser extent. Iron minerals are also very common in it and give bauxite its very characteristic reddish appear- ance. Trial excavations disclosed bauxite at several places, but the ore is just too poor to be economically exploited. Some twenty million years ago, in the Miocene, the central part of mod- ern-day Bela krajina sunk once more, somehow simultaneously with the origin of the Pannonian Plain, which was inundated at that time by a fairly vast shallow sea. In the area of today’s Kanižarica, a lake, partially a marsh, originated. Numerous lacustrine sediments, including clay, siltstones and sediments containing numerous organic remains, were deposited, from which coal was formed after the carbonifica- tion process. It is six million years old and is predominated by lignite, while brown coal is scarce. It was dug in the Kanižarica coal mine, which has been closed since. Today it is open to visitors, i.e. the museum part of the mine and an exhibition on geology of Bela krajina, the geological characteristics of the mine and its history. NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 27

After the rise of the entire territory, the area of Bela krajina is today underintensive influence of weathering and erosion once more. Owing to the limybedrock and sufficient amount of percolating water, a rich and diverse under-ground karst world has developed, with geomorphological characteristics of theprovince revealing numerous karst geomorphological forms as well. The youngest geological substratum on the surface is formed by alluvium.These are river deposits of clay, sand and gravel sediments. Characteristic of theKolpa River are silt-sand deposits, whereas the karst rivers such as the Lahinja,Dobličica and Krupa have mostly clay deposits. Over the alluvium and karst aswell as flysch substratum, the ground has developed. The soil in alluvial depositsis fairly rich, while on the stone substratum it is relatively scarce and shallow,quite stony and acid.The restless Bela krajina Table: The list of earthquakes that took Slovenia is situated in the contact area of three great geotectonic units – place in the territory ofthe Alps, Dinarides and Pannonian Plain, and as a part of the Alpine-Himalayan Bela krajina from themountain chain also lies in the region where earthquakes are fairly common. year 567 and reachedThe area of Bela krajina, too, is tectonically active. The faults, which have main- or even surpassedly Dinaric and transverse Dinaric directions, thoroughly cut up the territory of the highest intensityBela krajina. Apart from it, the fold structure, folds and numerous minor faults between the VI andare also characteristic of Bela krajina. In the past, the shifts along the faults that VII degree on thecontinue into the interior of Slovenia and into Croatia caused several powerful European Mercalliearthquakes. At the end of the 17th century, Metlika was a victim of one such Scale (EMS (8, 24).earthquake, while on June 11th, 1876, a strong earthquake struck Črnomelj and Source: Vidrih, 2006its vicinity. The event disturbed the locals a great deal, for they were convincedthat they were attacked by the Turks with their guns. The Department of Seismology, functioning under the auspices of thenational Environment Agency, set up a seismic observatory at Bojanci in 2004,which is regularly monitoring weak as well as strong and more distant earth-quakes. It may be of interest to mention that the observatory recorded fall of ameteor in 2007. Whether the meteor indeed crashed somewhere on the edge ofBela krajina or in the upper course of the Kolpa River remains a mystery, as thealleged meteorite has not been found in spite of several search campaigns. date time N E depth magnitude intens. area (km) EMS year 567 16.30 h 45,6 Bela krajina 11. 2. 1699 04.54 h 45,6 15,3 5,8 IX Metlika 12. 2. 1880 45,5 15,3 6 5,3 VIII 9. 3. 1940 45,8 15,3 4,6 VI–VII Bela krajina 15,4 4 4,6 VII Gorjanci28

Conclusions In the rocks of Bela krajina, the history of the Tethys Ocean is written, i.e. from its southern fringes, coral reefs and sea lagoons. To make the life of Bela krajina’s people easier, nature offered them coal, aluminium ore, water and soil for fields and excellent wines. Some of these, the inhabitants were able to put to good use, although not without struggle and denial, while some of the natural assets have not been sufficiently exploited as yet, such as hot water or geothermal energy. The powers that pushed the rocks to the place in which found today still persist and warn us, through earthquakes, that their work has not been conclud- ed as yet. Partially owing to man, but to a great extent due to natural geological processes, the surface is changing constantly. And it will remain so until forces from the Earth’s depth keep fighting with the power of the Sun, but in the mean- while we, the people, can be in love – even with Bela krajina. ReferencesA look through the Belokranjec na spletu. Available at: www.belokranjec.si/novice/muzej-rudnika-rjavega-premoga-window of an abandoned kanizaricazgodba-premnogih-rok-truda-bolecine-poguma-in-odlocnosti/314mill at Učakovci. Bukovac, J., Šušnjar, M., Poljak, M. in Čakalo, M. (1984). Osnovna geološka karta SFRJ 1 :Photo: Miha Jeršek 100.000, list Črnomelj. Beograd: Savezni geološki zavod. Bukovac, J., Šušnjar, M., Poljak, M. in Čakalo, M. (1984). Osnovna geološka karta SFRJ 1 : 100.000, tumač za list Črnomelj. Beograd: Savezni geološki zavod. 63 str. Buser, S. (2010), Geološka karta Slovenije 1: 250 000, Geološki zavod Slovenije. Herak, M. (1986). Nova koncepcija, geotektonika Dinarida. Acta Geol. (Zagreb: Jugoslavenska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti) 16 (1), 1–42. Poljak, M., Lapanje, A., Gušić, I., Bole, B., Ogorelec, B. (2005). Vrtina MET-1/04 pri Metliki na meji med Zunanjimi in Notranjimi Dinaridi. Geologija 48 (1), 53–72. Vesel, J., Škerlj, J., Čebulj, A., Grimšičar, A. (1975). Nahajališča okrasnega kamna v Sloveniji. Geologija 18, 243–258. Naplaci.si. Available at: www.naplaci.si/zgodovina3. asp?id=257&fldHisYear=1876 Potresna opazovalnica Bojanci. Agencija Republike Slovenije za okolje, Urad za seizmologijo in geologijo. Available at: www.arso.gov.si/potresi/mre%C5%BEa%20potresnih%20 opazovalnic/bojanci.html Vidrih, R. (2008). Potresna dejavnost zgornjega Posočja. Ljubljana: Ministrstvo za okolje in prostor. 509 str. NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 29

Very common amongst Jurassic fossils are stromatoporoids – sponge-like organisms.Photo: Matija Križnar, Paleontological collection of Department of geology,Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, Ljubljana (Collection DG-FNSE)30

BELA KRAJINAAND ITSPALEONTOLOGICALTREASURESMatija KrižnarSlovenian Museum of Natural History With its diverse landscape, Bela krajina apparently offers a number of ge-ological attractions. When having a close look at its rock composition, however,the richness of life in the ancient geological past is revealed to palaeontologistsas well. Through the study of fossils discovered in the area of modern-day Belakrajina, the environment inhabited by various organisms could have been recon-structed. In the next chapters we shall attempt to present a short history of lifepreserved in the rocks of Bela krajina. In spite of the area’s complex geological structure, some characteristic pe-riods can be distinguished for this landscape under the Gorjanci Mts. Rocks ofthe Palaeozoic era are not exposed in any part of Bela krajina, although the near-est sites where found are located in the vicinity of Kočevje and on the Croatianside of the border. The Early Mesozoic rocks are represented predominantly byTriassic dolomites, limestones, marls and sandstones, which are rarely exposed.The largest rock patches can be observed in the area of Gorjanci Mts, where LateTriassic (Carnian stage) dolomites with the layers of marlstone and claystoneoccur. As far as fossils are concerned, some poorly preserved bivalves have beenfound. Apart from the above mentioned dolomites, Late Triassic dolomite (theso-called Main dolomite) with rare remnants of megalodontid bivalves also oc-curs. Dolomite was formed in a shallow sea, where other organisms, such as gas-tropods and various algae, lived as well. Some 190 million years ago, the environment remained virtually unchanged.At that time, dark limestones with characteristic bivalves of the genera Lithiotis andLithioperna were deposited in the vicinity of Bela krajina. At the same time (Liasicstage), algae of the genus Palaeodasycladus thrived massively, while the sea was fullof tiny foraminifera of the genus Orbitopsella. The environment slightly changedin the Jurassic period, when a warm shallow sea was predominant in the territoryof Bela krajina. Reefs with corals, marine fungi, gastropods and other organismsbegan to form. Today we know that the reef stretched from Trnovski gozd andacross the Notranjsko region to Bela krajina. In the Late Jurassic rocks, a mass of NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 31

Paleogeographic position of Bela krajina in the Late Jurassic period. A. – Global distribution of land and sea. B. – Paleogeography of the western part of Tethys. C. – Reconstruction of Jurassic reef in southeastern Slovenia. Adapted from Blakey and Turenšek. Drawing: Matija Križnarinteresting reef-building stromatoporoids of the genus Cladocoropsis can be found,as well as branching corals of the genera Goniocora and Thecosmilia, massive corals,bivalves, algae and foraminifera. Among corals, the characteristic gastropods fromthe group of nerineids crawled as well. These gastropods can be best recognised bytheir complex whorls well visible on cross-sections of their shells. Palaeontologistsassessed the age of the Upper Jurassic rocks also on the basis of minor remains ofthe green algae Clypeina jurassica. The large surface area and fossil-rich rock haveshown that the reef was a good ten kilometres long and divided in at least threeparts. Most successful in each part were the organisms (stromatoporoids, corals,32

Shells of nerineids bryozoans, sponges) that managedare recognised by the to adapt to the power of waves. Oncharacteristic shapes the outer edge of the reef they hadof their whorls. The thicker skeletons, while skeletonsspecimen shown of the organisms living inside theis from the site in reef were thinner. In such an en-the vicinity of Jugor. vironment other animals, such asPhoto: Matija Križnar, fishes, sea urchins and marine rep-Collection DG-FNSE tiles, most certainly lived as well, al- though none of their remains haveLarge shell of Jurassic been discovered so far.gastropod from thefamily Nerineidae, The warm shallow sea stillfound in the vicinity of prevailed there almost throughSelo near Jugor. the entire Cretaceous period. InPhoto: Matija Križnar, this sea, various algae of the generaCollection DG-FNSE Clypeina and Salpingoporella proliferated, while among foraminifera shells of the genus Orbitolinopsis were particularly common. In the mid-Cretaceous period, reefs and rudist bivalve patches appeared. The oldest rudist bivalves are those of the genera Monopleura and Caprina from the vicinity of Črnomelj, where oysters of the genus Exogyra have also been found. Somewhat younger Cretaceous rocks contain shells of rudists of the genera Ichythysarcolites and Neocaprina, which were found at the nearby sites in Kočevski Rog. Some minor patches thrived there, among which corals grew as well. Rudist bivalves can further be found in some- what younger layers (Senonian stage) in the vicinity of Črnomelj and Metlika, with the found rudist bivalve specimens belonging to the genus Bournonia. NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 33

Cretaceous rudist of the genus Neocaprina was found in the Gorjanci Mts. Photo: Matija Križnar, Collection DG-FNSEAmong Jurassic and Cretaceous fossils, numerous interesting remains will certain-ly still be found, given that they are most commonly distributed in the very area ofBela krajina. With these rocks, the Mesozoic era ends here, with the ensuing rocksbeginning to form only much later. There are almost no Cenozoic rocks in Bela krajina, for only few minorpatches of Paleogene rocks can be found here, but are paleontologicaly poor.Much more interesting are the layers with coal, which were formed in the UpperMiocene (Pontian stage) some six million years ago. In times past, these layers weredug in the Kanižarica coal mine, but subsided in lake or marshy environment. Thefour main coal layers indicate that in those times the area was most probably heav-ily overgrown by trees and other vegetation. Among coniferous trees, the generaGlyptostrobus and Taxodium are present, while deciduous trees are representedby alder (genus Alnus) and oak (genus Quercus). Among the interesting remains,studied by palaeontologists who also helped to determine their age, are the tiny os-tracod crustaceans that once swam in the lake. Unfortunately, no remains of mam-mals, which would no doubt be highly interesting, have been found at Kanižarica. A special insight into the last geological era is offered by cave sedimentsin the Cave Judovska hiša. Remains of ice age (Pleistocene) animals were dis-covered there, including Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) andAlpine Marmot (Marmota marmota). The latter is interesting also due to thefact that it became extinct in Slovenia towards the end of Pleistocene. In the lastPleistocene’s cold period, the forest composition changed to a certain extent inBela krajina. When the hillocks of Bela krajina were still inhabited by marmots,the area was overgrown by pine and birch forest. In a few thousand years, how-ever, it was replaced by lime forest, but this too began to die away gradually dueto the renewed climate change.34

Some 75 millionyears ago, rudist ofthe genus Bournoniaused to grow in thevicinity of Črnomelj.Photo: Matija Križnar,Collection DG-FNSE Bela krajina is part of the territory that still of- fers, as well as hides, numerous mysteries to its visitors and researchers. One of the questions is also how many interesting fossils are still likely to be found in the rocks of Bela krajina. Indeed, the answer will most probably never be known, but already the present modest finds clearly indicate a tremendous wealth that is worth pre- serving and studied for generations to come.Reconstruction of Referencesa group of rudistbivalves from the genus Dozet, S. & Šribar, L. (1997). Biostratigraphy of shallowBournonia. marine Jurassic beds in southeastern Slovenia = BiostratigrafijaDrawing: Matija Križnar plitvovodnih jurskih plasti južnovzhodne Slovenije. Geologija 40, 187-221. Pleničar, M. & Dozet, S. (1993). Contribution to the knowledge of upper cretaceous beds in Kočevje and Gorski Kotar area (NW Dinarides). Geologija, 36, 183-194. Pleničar, M. (2005). Upper Cretaceous rudists in Slovenia = Zgornjekredni rudisti v Sloveniji. (Dela / Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti, Razred za naravoslovne vede; 39). 255 str. Pohar, V. (1997). Late Glacial mammal macrofauna in Slovenia. Quartär 47/48, 149-158. Turnšek, D. (1969). Prispevek k paleoekologiji jurskih hidrozojev v Sloveniji. (Razprave / Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti, Razred za prirodoslovne in medicinske vede ; 5). 29 str. Turnšek, D. (1997). Mesozoic corals of Slovenia. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU. (Zbirka ZRC ; 16). 512 str. NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 35

Vrhovci sinkholesPhoto: Matej Simčič36

GEOMORPHOLOGICALCHARACTERISTICSOF THE BELA KRAJINAPLAINUroš Stepišnik, Karel NatekDepartment of Geography, Faculty of Philosophy, Ljubljana University One of the major geomorphological features of Bela krajina is its pro-nounced levelled surface, which is particularly prominent owing to its positionimmediately along the southern foothills of Gorjanci Mts and eastern foothillsof Poljanska gora. For the lowest and flattest part of this large plain in the north-ern and central parts of Bela krajina, the term Bela krajina Plain (or ČrnomeljPlain) has been widely accepted. This lowest part of Bela krajina is surroundedin the south and east by a belt of somewhat higher terrain with indistinct ridgesand diversely shaped peaks, composed of Veliko bukovje, Lipnik and Vodenicahills between Ribnik and Ozalj. This creates an impression of a shallow basinaround Črnomelj, which continues at the foothills of Poljanska gora towardsthe south as indistinct Dragatuš lowland and Podgorje plain. In morphologicalterms, the Bela krajina Plain is the westernmost part of slightly undulating plainat the bottom of Karlovac Basin, with irregularly distributed low rounded hill-ocks rising above it. The oldest rocks in the area of Bela krajina are Triassic dolomites north ofMetlika. Jurassic limestones with facets of dolomite can be found especially inthe southeastern part of Bela krajina along the Kolpa River and in Dragatuš low-land. The greater part of Bela krajina, however, is covered by Cretaceous lime-stones and dolomites. Given that Bela krajina largely consists of carbonate rocks,it is of distinctly karst character mostly strewn with sinkholes in the entire area,which is either explicitly rocky in certain parts or covered with moulded rockselsewhere. The rising grounds are composed of rounded hillocks characteristicof karst country. Close to the Lahinja source, even a minor karst field, knownas Zjot, was formed. Due to the underground flow of karst waters, some majorcollapse dolines can be found at the source of the Krupa River. As a shallow karst country, the Bela krajina Plain is void of deep caves andpitches, with karst water level relatively close to the surface. The deepest cave in Belakrajina is thus Dobličko jezero, which is in fact a karst spring, explored to a depthof 121 metres. The deepest dry caves are the 58 metres deep Petrišina jama and NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 37

Skoreča jama, situated at Veliko bukovje. More com- Outcropped karstmon are longer horizontal caves, with seven of them at Vrtača near Semič.exceeding 100 metres. The longest (270 metres) is the Photo: Andrej Hudoklinactive water cave of the Vidovec spring east of Metlika. Karst outcrops Although Bela krajina is distinctly karstified, are also callednumerous rivers flow upon its surface that have cut »stone forests«.shallow gorges into its flattened terrain. With the ex- Photo: Miha Jeršekception of the Kolpa, which reaches Bela krajina fromthe central part of Dinarides, these rivers (the longestamong them being the Dobličica, Lahinja and its trib-utary Krupa) have their headwaters in the northern and eastern parts of Bela kraji-na, draining towards the lowest part near Metlika. Although gorges are otherwiseknown from desert environments, where rivers cut steep valleys into the live-rocksubstratum, while slopes are not transformed and disjointed with surface leachingand erosion ditches owing to the absence of lateral effluents, gorges are character-istic of karst environments as well. They were formed through deep cuts made bysurface rivers during the rising of the surface or lowering of the karst water level. According to Davis’s theory about the cyclic relief development, the flat-tened surface of Bela krajina could be explained as the lowest part of the vastPliocene levelling, or part least raised by the subsequent tectonic shifts. The evenolder explanation that these are abrasion terraces of the Pliocene Pannonian Seahas nothing but historical value. Today we know that the formation of karst plains is closely associatedwith the levelling in the vicinity of karst water level, similarly as karst field bot-toms are levelled, as no other mechanisms of karstsurface levelling is known to us. The area of levellinghad to be subjected for a long enough time to thevertical corrosion lowering down to the karst waterlevel, while the latter had to be stable for a sufficienttime for the exceptionally large karst plains to format all. It is not fully known, however, when and un-der what conditions this part of Bela krajina was lev-elled. Still, it is interesting that in the nearby KarlovacBasin patches of older Tertiary sediments have sur-vived in places. These remains of the Tertiary sea sed-imentation prove that the greater part of Bela kraji-na was covered by impermeable Pliocene sediments,among which tracts of limestone and dolomite out-cropped. In the following million years of Plioceneand Quaternary, the fluvial denudation processes re-moved the majority of these sediments; consequently,not much could have been preserved of the surfaceof that time in Tertiary sediments till this day. Thedistinct altitudinal differences between the low karst38

from the fringes of Karlovac Basin and the high Dinaric karst are no doubt tec- tonically conditioned, but the question remains whether the present levelling of Bela krajina was disinterred from the impermeable sediment cover and therefore is, in its basis at least, older than the Miocene transgression, or it was formed only after the Tertiary sediments had been removed. All of this proves that the Bela krajina Plain and other plains in the neighbouring Croatia could not have been formed under the existing climatic and geomorphological conditions. As stated by some authors, the Dinaric karst levelling originates from the Pliocene. This was a period of tectonic instability and erosion, when warm and periodically wet climate prevailed, which enabled development of vast karst plains. References Gams, I. (1961). H geomorfologiji Bele krajine. Geografski zbornik 6, 191-240. Habič, P., Kogovšek, J., Bricelj, M., Zupan, M. (1990): Izviri Dobličice in njihovo širše kraško zaledje. Acta carsologica 19, 5-100. Šifrer, M. (1990): Razvoj reliefa na Slovenskem v luči klimatske geomorfologije. V: Natek, K. (ur.), Geomorfologija in geoekologija: zbornik referatov 5. znanstvenega posvetovanja geomorfologov Jugoslavije, Krško, 18. do 23. junij 1990 (str. 45-53). Ljubljana: Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU.Karst field at PonikvePhoto: Mira Ivanovič NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 39

Carefuly cultivated sinkholes in Bela krajina.Photo: Uroš Strugar, Archives of the Institute of theRepublic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation (IRSNC) 40

VALUABLENATURAL FEATURESIN BELA KRAJINAAndreja Škedelj Petrič, Denis Žitnik, Matej SimčičThe Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation,Novo mesto Regional Unit Once known as natural beauties, natural attractions and natural rari-ties, later natural heritage, now valuable natural features. The expressions havechanged, but parts of the rare, picturesque and precious nature remain the same. Valuable natural features are salient parts of nature with distinct value.They hold a special status in Slovenian legislation, being protected by the NatureConservation Act. They are determined during the evaluation process, when itis assessed whether a part of nature fulfils the prescribed and expertly agreedevaluation criteria. Because of diverse geological, relief and climate conditions,numerous valuable natural features of different types have been recognized inBela krajina. 525 valuable natural features have been determined in Bela krajina bythe Rules on the designation and protection of valuable natural features. 319of them are underground caves, the rest mostly trees, springs and water streams.Geological valuable natural features The lively events that took place in the geological past are reflected inBela krajina, which is composed of predominantly carbonate rocks of differentages. Although not a particularly high number of valuable natural features ofthis type have been registered in the area, Bela krajina is exceptional and highlyinteresting from the aspect of geology. Several quarries for construction and dec-orative stone were in operation here in the past, but have now fallen into disuse.Such quarries were located at Grm pri Podzemlju, Vranoviči, Želebej, Nerajecand Adlešiči. The Kanižarica Tertiary coal basin stands out as an area of expected val-uable natural features. Layers of clays and marls, some 400 metres thick with 13coal seams trapped between them, were deposited on an island of impermeablesediments in the middle of the low karst plain. This coal was actually exploited NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 41

Valuable natural features in Bela krajina. Prepared by: Matej Simčič42

Bauxite Ore Sitein Hrast pri Vinici.Photo: AndrejaŠkedelj Petrič from 1850 to 2000, when a coal mine was in operation here. One of the largest bauxite ore deposits in Slovenia is located in the vicinity of Hrast pri Vinici. This deposit is also clearly visible on the surface. Larger quantities of clay for brick-making, used for brick production in the Črnomelj brickworks, can still be observed near Kanižarica and Golek, whilst numerous sinkholes in Bela kra- jina are filled with characteristic terra rosa. Geomorphological superficial valuable natural features The area of low karst plain with varied relief is marked mainly by the numerous sinkholes, which are especially dense near Vrhovci and Marindol. Dry valleys are quite common geomorphological forms , which were formed as soonTypical karst surface atVrtača pri Semiču.Photo: Mira Ivanovič NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 43

as water sank into the subterranean karst. Several dry valleys of this kind can beseen along the Kolpa River, the most picturesque of which is Suha dolina belowSinji vrh. In unforested areas, where soil was washed from carbonate platforms,large patches of differently shaped limestone are outcropping onto the surface.A good example of this so-called »stone forest« can be found at Vrtača nearSemič. Ponikve in Kočevski Rog are a textbook example of a smaller karst poljewith sinkholes, erosion ditches, sink caves, springs and occasional streams.Geomorphological underground valuable naturalfeatures Dissolution of carbonate rock under the surface resulted in the forma-tion of numerous karst phenomena. In compliance with Slovenian legislation, allcaves have the status of valuable natural feature and are, as a natural public good,owned by the Republic of Slovenia. Caves, corrosion abysses and minor collapsesinkholes prevail in the high dinaric karst of Kočevski Rog and Poljanska gora.The abysses Čaganka (319 metres deep) and Štirnica (204 metres deep), the col-lapse sinkhole of Zjot at Sebetih hill and horizontal caves of Grdanji skedenjnear Bistrica and Veliki and Mali brlog above Zapudje are of special interest inthe Poljanska gora area. There is a series of caves with springs in them along theriver Kolpa. Kobiljača below Špeharji is the longest of these, extending 360 me-tres in length. Several horizontal caves are known from the Lahinja River catch-ment. The most attractive water caves are the sink caves Gadina near Kanižaricaand Jelenja jama near Zastava. Folk tradition is associated with the water cavesat Lebica and Malikovec, as well as the Judovska hiša cave above the Krupa River,which has been recognized as the only known Palaeolithic site in Bela krajina. Aspecial feature at the foot of Gorjanci mountains, where karst phenomena areuncommon owing to the different rock composition, is the Vidovec-Zdenc cave Meanders in Jelenja jama cave Photo: Marko Pršina, Archives of IRSNC44

system near Božakovo. The Vidovec cave that was formed by the stream carrying the same name is, at a length of 270 metres, the longest water cave in Bela krajina. One can admire the Pečenjevka abyss above Krašnji vrh. This is the location of the picturesque waterfall on the Jamnik stream, which, at 48 metres in height, is the highest waterfall of this type in Slovenia. A typical example of estavelles (a karst phenomenon with the function of a sink and spring at the same time) can be observed during high waters in the areas of Suhor and Nova Lipa near Črnomelj, where high waters often inundate the nearby farmland. Hydrological valuable natural featuresWaterfall in The greater part of Bela krajina’s karst surface is characterized by the poorPečenjevka abyss river network and intensive underground water connections. Except for thePhoto: Andrej Hudoklin northwestern part of Semič municipality, from where waters flow towards the Krka river either on the surface or underground, the entire area of Bela krajina belongs to the Kolpa River catchment. At the eastern foot of Poljanska gora, there are a lot of karst springs that are situated along the local faults. The Dobličica River gathers water from its spring, some 130 metres deep siphon, and nearby tributaries ( Jelševnik, Obršec). The Krupa spring in the vicinity of Semič is even more abundant than the Dobličica spring and is the most abundant spring in Bela krajina, with water rising to the surface from un- der a very picturesque overhanging rockwall. Both rivers run into the Lahinja River. Naturally preserved upper catch- ments, small gradients and meandering chan- nels are characteristic for Dobličica, Nerajčica and Podturnščica riv- ers. Lahinja joins the Kolpa, the longest Slovenian Dinaric river, NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 45

at Primostek. In contrast to other Travertine structuresBela krajina rivers, the Kolpa is grav- on Divji potok streamel-carrying and one of the clean- Photo: Zvone Butala,est Slovenian rivers at the same Archives of Semičtime. It gets water from numerous Municipalitymajor (e.g. Jez, Poganec) and mi-nor springs (e.g. Krivec, Župnik),which are adjacent to it and oftenflooded during high waters. Very special among inter-mittent streams is the Sušica streamwith its hinterland in the area ofŽumberačka gora. The stream runson the surface only during heavyrainfall, when it drains into theKolpa in the vicinity of Metlika.Divji potok stream at Črmošnjicecreates picturesque travertine struc-tures and pools on its way, owing tothe prevailing dolomite bedrock. Some springs were very important in the past, as they served as a source ofdrinking water - they can be found in almost every village or settlement. Many ofthem were walled in or adapted for scoping water; lately, more and more are be-ing restored. Especially on the raised grounds of the western and northern fring-es of Bela krajina, the springs called kočevarski izviri (Resa, Ribnik, Ponikve) canbe found. Obrh spring in the centre of Metlika supplies enough water for theattractive Obrh stream, despite being exploited for drinking water.Zoological valuable natural features The main influence on the extremely high degree of habitat and spe-cies diversity of animal species in Bela krajina is its exposure to various climateimpacts, amongst which the (sub)Pannonian and Mediterranean impactsprevail. One of the area’s most sensitive and endangered animal species is theEuropean Pond Terrapin (Emys orbicularis). This turtle species has its habitat infloodplain forests of the Kolpa River near Metlika (Mestni log), in the area ofPrilozje (fishponds at Prilozje and Mlake), and in ponds in the village of Hrastpri Vinici (Gornji kal, Krivače). The largest homogeneous area suitable for thePond Terrapin is the Lahinja River catchment. The migration routes betweenseparate areas are long and often interrupted. Dragonflies are also commonlypresent in Bela krajina, for no less than 48 species of the total 73 species andsubspecies recorded in Slovenia have been confirmed here. One of the rarestamong them is the Dark Emerald Damselfly (Lestes macrostigma), with Gornji46

Black olmPhoto: Vinko Kukman,Archives of IRSNC kal confirmed as its only locality in Slovenia. Due to the fact that they are rela- tively well preserved, the streams and other water bodies of Bela krajina consti- tute a suitable habitat for several fish species and the indigenous Stone Crayfish (Austropotamobius torrentium), as well as for birds in certain places (e.g. Grey Heron’s nest site at Miliči along the Kolpa River). The very special »characters« of the Bela krajina and at the same time world fauna are the White and Black Olms (Proteus anguinus and Proteus an- guinus parkelj), which occur in springs and caves along the extreme western mar- gin of the Bela krajina karst plain ( Jelševnik, Obršec, Dobličica and Otovski breg springs). On the other hand, the spring along the Krupa River has been recognized as the fourth locality of live specimens of the cave shell Congeria kusceri in the world. Botanical valuable natural features In the botanical sense, Lahinjski and Nerajski lugi in the upper catch- ment of the Lahinja River stand out in Bela krajina. They are composed of marshes, wet meadows, reed stands and forests with virtually no major water bodies. The area is of exceptional significance, given that it includes several di- verse and very well preserved habitats such as floodplain forest, fen, sedge stand, wet oligotrophic meadows and stands with Saw-sedge. Even though the other parts of Bela krajina have not been a subject of sys- tematical botanical research yet, we can confirm that on the basis of individual NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 47

Krivače pond, diverse botanical and zoological habitat. Photo: Matej Simčičand predominantly ad hoc surveys the area of Bela krajina is a true botanicaltreasury. Particularly interesting in the floristic sense are the numerous springson the Bela krajina karst plain. Ecosystem valuable natural features Mixed climate impacts resulted in development of very diverse habitatsin Bela krajina. The most diverse habitats are minor water bodies, ponds, poolsand puddles with their riparian areas, while from the ecosystemic aspect forests,grasslands and thermophile slopes and rockwalls are very significant as well. The greater part of Bela krajina is covered with forests. The most prom-inent among them are the forests of Kočevski Rog that descend over Poljanskagora to the Kolpa valley. The forests of Bela krajina hide invaluable diversity oflife which can, however, disappear rapidly without the establishment of an ap-propriate management. In order to retain this natural wealth, numerous forestreserves have been excluded from management in the past. In the early 19thcentury, the Kopa virgin forest on the eastern slope of Kopa peak (1,077 metres)was excluded from management purposes, and later the same was done withthe forest reserve at Ponikve. Hrastova loza at Miliči along the Kolpa River ishome to the largest Grey Heron breeding colony in the Dolenjska and Bela kra-jina region. In the floristic sense, the Radenska stena and Dečinska stena rock-walls stand out, as well as thermophile site above Sodevci with a diverse arrayof sub-Mediterranean tree and shrub species. Majority of water bodies in Belakrajina are diverse and concurrently very sensitive ecosystems but they also rep-resent a significant migration corridors for numerous number of fish species, theEuropean Otter and Stone Crayfish. Very special features of Bela krajina are its litter stands. Together withFernbrake undergrowth, the Birch creates recognizable landscape; apart from it,the litter stands of Bela krajina hide a true treasury of animal and plant speciesinside them. They are home to more than 300 plant species, 100 butterfly species,38 bird species and more than 100 fungi. The most attractive litter stands can be48

Old linden in found in the vicinity of Drašiči, Žuniči and Marindol. Due to the changed landKot pri Semiču use, natural ecosystems are often abandoned and left to be overgrown.Photo: Janez Božič,Archives of IRSNC Tree valuable natural features The trees that stand out for their dimensions, age or other characteristics are protected as tree valuable natural features. The mighty trees, full of memories and stories from the past, are connecting numerous generations of all those who took care of them and preserved their message. In Bela krajina we keep records of more than 70 exceptional trees, the most prominent among them being es- pecially lindens. At Kot pri Semiču, in the garden of the former castle vineyard cottage, stands the mightiest linden in Bela krajina – Kočka lipa, with magnifi- cent circumference of 800 centimetres. A mere look at it evokes warm memories of the numerous village dances and feasts held under this beauty. Similar tales are stored in the Marindolska lipa at Marindol, Jureča lipa at Vrtača near Semič, Matičkova lipa in Semič, Grajska lipa in Vinica, the two lindens in the village of Nova Lipa, and elsewhere. Many lindens were also planted beside churches to protect them against lightning strikes. A visit to the linden grove at Krasinec can be an unforgettable experience. At Rosalnice, Tri fare are hidden by the shad- ow of ancient lindens, at Zagozdac on the edge of Poljanska dolina the highly aged lindens humbly persist, while at Brezova Reber the 600 years old linden still reigns. Admirable trees can also be observed along the churches at Gornja Lokvica, Grabrovec, Bojanja vas, Krašnji Vrh, Drašiči and Griblje. Numerous species of fruit trees, such as must pear, service-tree and wall- nut tree are of special value in the cultural landscape. On the floodplain of the Kolpa River below Zilje, the willow avenue, composed of 17 old and mighty NATURAL HERITAGE OF BELA KRAJINA 49

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