Biržai Regional Park covers in northern

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

near its border with

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. It was established in 1992 to preserve a distinctive

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 ro ...

landscape. About 20% of its area is covered by forest. The park is notable for its

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

s, created by the dissolution of the

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...

underlying its soil. About 9,000 sinkholes have been identified; the most notable is the ''Karvės ola'' (Cow's Cave), which is about 20 meters deep. In 1998 the use of pesticides and fertilizers in the area was restricted.

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Titulinis

Biržai district municipality Biržai (, known also by several alternative names) is a town in northern Lithuania. Biržai is famous for its reconstructed Biržai Castle manor, and the whole region is renowned for its many traditional-recipe beer breweries. Names The name o ...

.
Directorate of Birzai regional park
Association of Lithuanian State Parks and Reserves.
Central and Eastern European Sustainable Agriculture

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

.
Sinkholes and subsidence
Tony Waltham, Frederic Gladstone Bell, M. G. Culshaw, Springer, 2005, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Birzai Regional Park Regional parks of Lithuania Sinkholes of Europe Tourist attractions in Panevėžys County

See also

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