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The Physical and Geographical Characteristics of the Lake Skadar Basin

2018; Springer Nature; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/698_2018_276

1867-979X

Goran Barović, Velibor Spalević, Vladimir Pešić, Duško Vujačić,

Karst Systems and Hydrogeology

Lake Skadar/Shkodra is the largest lake in the Balkan Peninsula, located in the Western Balkans with approximately 65% of its surface belonging to Montenegro and around 35% to Albania. The lake consists of two parts which correspond to the two circulation systems within the lake: the smaller part, Vučko blato, in the northwest and the larger, main part of the lake called Velje blato to the southeast – these two parts are connected by a narrow opening (of about 50 m in width) at the south end of the causeway at Vranjina. The Lake Skadar basin is unique in its physical and geographical characteristics due to its position in the karst terrain of the Visoki Krš tectonic zone in the outer part of the Dinaric Alps. This region is characterized by a high degree of karstification, including various underground karst forms, among which the caves belonging to the so-called system of the Cetinje Caves (Cetinje, Obod, and Lipa Caves) and the Trnovska Caves (Grbočica, Bobotuša, and Spila) are the most famous. The Lake Skadar transboundary area is home to around half a million people, and it is economically the most important part of Montenegro that is home to around one third of the total population. Today this region faces a number of environmental problems related to inappropriate spatial planning, pollution, and regional climate change.