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Valbonë Valley National Park
The Valbona Valley National Park ( sq, Parku Kombëtar i Luginës së Valbonës) is a national park inside the Albanian Alps in northern Albania. The park covers a total area of , encompassing Valbona River and its surrounding areas with mountainous terrain, alpine landscapes, glacial springs, deep depressions, various rock formations, waterfalls and the Valbona Valley with its dense coniferous and deciduous forest. It is characterized by its very remote areas which have a large preserved ecosystem all of which is primarily untouched with pristine quality. This vast pristine ecosystem is the centrepiece of what has been referred to as the Albanian Miracle of the Alps. The park borders Montenegro in the north, Gashi Nature Reserve in the east, Nikaj-Mërtur Regional Nature Park in the south and Theth National Park in the west. It is proposed to expand the park's boundaries and merge it with Theth and Gashi. Furthermore, Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro are planning to establish a ...
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Kukës County
Kukës County (; sq, Qarku i Kukësit) is a landlocked county in northeastern Albania, with the capital in Kukës. The county spans and had a total population of 74,388 people as of 2021. The county borders on the counties of Dibër, Lezhë and Shkodër and the countries of Montenegro, Kosovo and North Macedonia. It is divided into three municipalities: Has, Kukës and Tropojë. The municipalities are further subdivided into 290 towns and villages in total. The human presence in the lands of modern Kukës County can be traced back to the Bronze Ages, when ancient Illyrians, Dardanians and Romans established settlements in the region. Several Illyrian tombs were discovered in the villages of Këneta and Kolsh close to Kukës. Kukës is predominantly mountainous and framed by mountain ranges including the Albanian Alps in the northwest which is typified by karst topography. The northeast is dominated by the mountains of Gjallica, Koritnik and Pashtrik, while the southeaste ...
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Nikaj-Mërtur Regional Nature Park
The Nikaj-Mërtur Regional Nature Park ( sq, Parku Natyror Rajonal Nikaj-Mërtur) is a regional nature park in northern Albania, strategically inside the southeastern Albanian Alps in Tropojë. It lies within the area of the historical Nikaj-Mërturi region. The park is an area of alpine landscapes, deep valleys, vertical cliffs, dense coniferous and deciduous forests, small lakes and rivers. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the park as Category IV. Like most of the Albanian Alps, it is listed as an important Plant Area, because it supports significant plant species. The park lies within the Albanian Alps and borders Theth National Park in the northeast and Valbonë Valley National Park in the north and northeast. It is proposed to expand the park's boundaries and merge it with Valbonë Valley and Theth to establish the Balkan Peace Park. The Albanian Alps are a continuation of the Dinaric Alps, which extend from northeastern Italy down to ...
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Karst
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant rocks, such as quartzite, given the right conditions. Subterranean drainage may limit surface water, with few to no rivers or lakes. However, in regions where the dissolved bedrock is covered (perhaps by debris) or confined by one or more superimposed non-soluble rock strata, distinctive karst features may occur only at subsurface levels and can be totally missing above ground. The study of ''paleokarst'' (buried karst in the stratigraphic column) is important in petroleum geology because as much as 50% of the world's hydrocarbon reserves are hosted in carbonate rock, and much of this is found in porous karst systems. Etymology The English word ''karst'' was borrowed from German in the late 19th century, which entered German much earlier ...
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Dolomite (rock)
Dolomite (also known as dolomite rock, dolostone or dolomitic rock) is a sedimentary carbonate rock that contains a high percentage of the mineral dolomite, CaMg(CO3)2. It occurs widely, often in association with limestone and evaporites, though it is less abundant than limestone and rare in Cenozoic rock beds (beds less than about 66 million years in age). The first geologist to distinguish dolomite rock from limestone was Belsazar Hacquet in 1778. Most dolomite was formed as a magnesium replacement of limestone or of lime mud before lithification. The geological process of conversion of calcite to dolomite is known as dolomitization and any intermediate product is known as dolomitic limestone. The "dolomite problem" refers to the vast worldwide depositions of dolomite in the past geologic record in contrast to the limited amounts of dolomite formed in modern times. Recent research has revealed sulfate-reducing bacteria living in anoxic conditions precipitate dolomite which ind ...
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Limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms when these minerals precipitate out of water containing dissolved calcium. This can take place through both biological and nonbiological processes, though biological processes, such as the accumulation of corals and shells in the sea, have likely been more important for the last 540 million years. Limestone often contains fossils which provide scientists with information on ancient environments and on the evolution of life. About 20% to 25% of sedimentary rock is carbonate rock, and most of this is limestone. The remaining carbonate rock is mostly dolomite, a closely related rock, which contains a high percentage of the mineral dolomite, . ''Magnesian limestone'' is an obsolete and poorly-defined term used variously for dolomite, for limes ...
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Himalaya Mountains
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 peaks exceeding in elevation lie in the Himalayas. By contrast, the highest peak outside Asia (Aconcagua, in the Andes) is tall. The Himalayas abut or cross five countries: Bhutan, India, Nepal, China, and Pakistan. The sovereignty of the range in the Kashmir region is disputed among India, Pakistan, and China. The Himalayan range is bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Some of the world's major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges, and the Tsangpo–Brahmaputra, rise in the vicinity of the Himalayas, and their combined drainage basin is home to some 600 million people; 53 million people live in the Himalayas. The Himalayas have pro ...
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Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe and Asia from the "New World" of the Americas in the European perception of the World. The Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Europe and Africa to the east, and North and South America to the west. As one component of the interconnected World Ocean, it is connected in the north to the Arctic Ocean, to the Pacific Ocean in the southwest, the Indian Ocean in the southeast, and the Southern Ocean in the south (other definitions describe the Atlantic as extending southward to Antarctica). The Atlantic Ocean is divided in two parts, by the Equatorial Counter Current, with the North(ern) Atlantic Ocean and the South(ern) Atlantic Ocean split at about 8°N. Scientific explorations of the A ...
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Orogenic Belt
An orogenic belt, or orogen, is a zone of Earth's crust affected by orogeny. An orogenic belt develops when a continental plate crumples and is uplifted to form one or more mountain ranges; this involves a series of geological processes collectively called ''orogenesis''. Overview Orogeny typically produces ''orogenic belts'', which are elongated regions of deformation bordering continental cratons. Young orogenic belts, in which subduction is still taking place, are characterized by frequent volcanic activity and earthquakes. Older orogenic belts are typically deeply eroded to expose displaced and deformed strata. These are often highly metamorphosed and include vast bodies of intrusive igneous rock called batholiths. File:Active Margin.svg, Subduction of an oceanic plate beneath a continental plate to form an accretionary orogen. (example: the Andes) File:Continental-continental convergence Fig21contcont.gif, Continental collision of two continental plates to form a collis ...
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Alpide Belt
The Alpide belt or Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt,K.M. Storetvedt, K. M., ''The Tethys Sea and the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt; mega-elements in a new global tectonic system,'' Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, Volume 62, Issues 1–2, 1990, Pages 141–18Abstract/ref> or more recently and rarely the Tethyan orogenic belt, is a seismic and orogenic belt that includes an array of mountain ranges extending for more than along the southern margin of Eurasia, stretching from Java and Sumatra, through the Indochinese Peninsula, the Himalayas and Transhimalayas, the mountains of Iran, Caucasus, Anatolia, the Mediterranean, and out into the Atlantic. It includes, from west to east, the major ranges of the Atlas Mountains, the Alps, the Caucasus Mountains, Alborz, Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and the Himalayas. It is the second most seismically active region in the world, after the circum-Pacific belt (the Ring of Fire), with 17% of the world's largest earthquakes. The belt is ...
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Dinaric Alps
The Dinaric Alps (), also Dinarides, are a mountain range in Southern and Southcentral Europe, separating the continental Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic Sea. They stretch from Italy in the northwest through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo to Albania in the southeast. The Dinaric Alps extend for approximately along the western Balkan peninsula from the Julian Alps of the northeast Italy, downwards to the Šar and Korab massif, where their direction changes. The Accursed Mountains, is the highest section of the entire Dinaric Alps; this section stretches from Albania to Kosovo and eastern Montenegro. Maja Jezercë is the highest peak and is located in Albania, standing at Metres above the Adriatic, above the Adriatic. The Dinaric Alps are one of the most rugged and extensive mountainous areas of Europe, alongside the Caucasus Mountains, Alps, Pyrenees, Carpathian Mountains and Scandinavian Mountains. They are formed largely of Mesoz ...
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Topography
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary science and is concerned with local detail in general, including not only relief, but also natural, artificial, and cultural features such as roads, land boundaries, and buildings. In the United States, topography often means specifically ''relief'', even though the USGS topographic maps record not just elevation contours, but also roads, populated places, structures, land boundaries, and so on. Topography in a narrow sense involves the recording of relief or terrain, the three-dimensional quality of the surface, and the identification of specific landforms; this is also known as geomorphometry. In modern usage, this involves generation of elevation data in digital form (DEM). It is often considered to include the graphic representation of t ...
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Bjeshkët E Nemuna National Park
The Bjeshkët e Nemuna National Park ( sq, Parku Kombëtar Bjeshkët e Nemuna) is a national park in the districts of Gjakova and Peja in western Kosovo. It encompasses of mountainous terrain, with numerous lakes, dense deciduous and coniferous forests and alpine landscapes. The park was established to protect its ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as the cultural and historical heritage. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the park as Category II. Notably, the park has been recognised as an important bird area of international importance by designation under the BirdLife International Convention. It borders the Valbonë Valley National Park in Albania to the south. The Accursed mountains are the southernmost geological continuation of the Dinaric Alps. The portion within the country's territory extends approximately from east to west, and from north to south. Rising to an elevation of , the Gjeravica mountain peak is the second highest na ...
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