Planina Cave ( sl, Planinska jama), formerly also Little Castle Cave () after Little Castle in the vicinity of its entrance, is one of the longest

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

n active caves. It is a huge tunnel and the subterranean bed of the Unica River. It is located in

Inner Carniola Inner Carniola ( sl, Notranjska; german: Innerkrain) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the southwestern part of the larger Carniola region. It comprises the Hrušica karst plateau up to Postojna Gate, bordering the Slovenian Littoral (the ...

. Five hundred meters from the entrance into the cave is a

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

of two underground

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

s: the Pivka River, flowing from the Postojna Polje through Postojna Cave, and the Rak River, flowing to Planina Cave through

Weaver Cave Weaver Cave ( sl, Tkalca jama), also known as Inlet Cave (), is a long ponor cave in southwest Slovenia. It runs from the west (downstream) side of the Rak Škocjan Valley, where it has two entrances, and continues into Planina Cave. It is tra ...

from

Rak Škocjan Rak Škocjan ( sl, Rakov Škocjan; ) is a valley and a landscape park, part of Inner Carniola Regional Park in southwestern Slovenia. Administratively, it belongs to the settlement of Rakov Škocjan. Rak Škocjan has been protected since 194 ...

. This is one of the largest confluences of subterranean rivers in Europe. Entrance into the cave is at the southwestern part of Planina Polje in the gable end valley below 65 high rocks. The length of the cave is . It has been shown by water tracing that there is a connection between the systems of Planina Cave and Postojna Cave, and the administration of Postojna Cave estimates the connection will also be explored by cavers. The length of the joint system would be over .

Geographical data

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north ...

: 45°49'12" N (

WGS 84 The World Geodetic System (WGS) is a standard used in cartography, geodesy, and satellite navigation including GPS. The current version, WGS 84, defines an Earth-centered, Earth-fixed coordinate system and a geodetic datum, and also descri ...

) *

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek let ...

: 14°14'45" E *

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

: *length of the cave: *subterranean depth:

Gallery

File:Planina Cave Slovenia - entrance.JPG, Inside the mouth of Planina Cave File:Planina Cave Slovenia - Unica River.JPG, The Unica River emerging from the cave File:Planina Cave, Slovenia (Planinska jama).ogv, A video of the Unica emerging from the cave

References

External links

*
Planinska jama: lokacije s prostorskimi slikami
lanina Cave: Locations with Surround Photography Burger.si. Boštjan Burger. (Viewable with FlashPlayer). Retrieved 19 February 2012. {{coord, 45, 49, 14.9, N, 14, 14, 47.36, E, type:landmark_region:SI, display=title Limestone caves Caves of Inner Carniola Show caves in Slovenia Postojna Cave Municipality of Postojna Articles containing video clips