The Trnava is a river in

northern Croatia Northern Croatia or North Croatia ( hr, Sjeverna Hrvatska, ) refers to the northern parts of Croatia, encompassing Zagreb, Varaždin, Međimurje, Zagorje and Koprivnica-Križevci counties, including the cities of Zagreb, Varaždin, Čakovec, ...

, a right tributary of the

Mura River The Mur () or Mura (; ; ; Prekmurje Slovene: ''Müra''Novak, Vilko. 2006. ''Slovar stare knjižne prekmurščine''. Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU, pp. 262, 269. or ''Möra'') is a river in Central Europe rising in the Hohe Tauern national park of th ...

and the last significant one to flow into Mura before its confluence with

Drava The Drava or Drave''Utrata Fachwörterbuch ...

. It flows through

Međimurje County Međimurje County (; hr, Međimurska županija ; hu, Muraköz megye) is a triangle-shaped Counties of Croatia, county in the northernmost part of Croatia, roughly corresponding to the historical and geographical region of Međimurje (region), ...

Geography and hydrography

The river is 46,9 km (29,14 mi) long and its watershed drains an area of about 250 km² (96,5 sq.mi). It has its source at an elevation of 300 meters near the village of Vukanovec in the

Gornji Mihaljevec Gornji Mihaljevec ( hu, Felsőmihályfalva) is a village and municipality in Međimurje County, in northern Croatia. History The oldest archaeological finds in Gornji Mihaljevec municipality are from the Roman period. Fragments of Roman roads we ...

municipality, which is situated in the hilly, northwestern part of the County. The upper course of the river flows southwards, then turns by the village of Macinec to the east. It flows further as a slow-moving plain stream, mouthing into the Mura. The river mouth is located near the village of

Goričan Goričan ( hu, Muracsány) is a municipality in Međimurje County, Croatia. Goričan is the only village belonging to the municipality. Its population in the 2011 census was 2,823. Of the entire population, 2,763 people identified themselves as Cr ...

at an elevation of 140 meters. Trnava is incorporated into the water

retention pond A retention basin, sometimes called a wet pond, wet detention basin, or stormwater management pond (SWMP), is an artificial pond with vegetation around the perimeter and a permanent pool of water in its design. It is used to manage stormwater r ...

s' and

irrigation canal An acequia () or séquia () is a community-operated watercourse used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation. Particularly in Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and the modern-day American Southwest particularly n ...

network of Međimurje County. Water level of the river can fluctuate throughout the year, being occasionally very low during periods of

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

and sometimes extremely high after heavier rains. Throughout its course, Trnava receives the waters of many

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...

(most of them coming from the left side, like Dragoslavec, Goričica, Pleškovec, Knezovec, Hrebec, Brezje, Boščak, Murščak, Korenatica, and a few of them from the right side, like Kopenec and Sratka), becomes wider, deeper and slower, and finally empties into the Mura. Along its banks is a chain of villages (

, Macinec, Nedelišće,

Pribislavec Pribislavec ( hu, Zalaújvár; Kajkavian: ''Prslavec'') is a village and municipality in Međimurje County, in northern Croatia. History Pribislavec is first mentioned in the 14th century as ''possessio Pobozlouhaza'' as possession of Lacković ...

, Štefanec, Mala Subotica, Palovec, Strelec, Držimurec, Turčišće) as well as the town of

Čakovec Čakovec (; hu, Csáktornya; la, Aquama; german: Tschakathurn) is a city in northern Croatia, located around north of Zagreb, the Croatian capital. Čakovec is both the county seat and the largest city of Međimurje County, the northernmost, s ...

, the County seat.

History

In the past, Trnava was a left tributary of the Drava River, but following the occasional changes of watercourses of the Drava and Mura in many centuries ago (due to

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

ing) it was cut through by Mura, becoming the latter's right tributary. The lower course of the river still exists today and is called Stara Trnava (=Old Trnava), being incorporated into the Bistrec-Rakovnica water canal network, which empties into the Drava east of Donja Dubrava. During past centuries Trnava was important for filling up the

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

s around the Zrinski Castle in Čakovec. In the first half of the 20th century the river was not yet properly regulated and this often led to flooding. The last serious flood in Čakovec occurred on 12 March 1963. Since then the river banks have been reconstructed and raised, so that flooding stopped.

Gallery

File:Most na Trnavi, Gornji Mihaljevec.jpg, Trnava as a small brook at

File:Most na Trnavi, Čakovec - kolodvor.jpg, Bridge over Trnava at

train station File: Most na Trnavi, Mala Subotica (Croatia).jpg, Bridge over Trnava in Mala Subotica File:Rijeka Trnava (Međimurje, Croatia).jpg, Trnava at

External links

Map of the Gornji Mihaljevec municipality with the upper course of Trnava

Earlier Trnava was full of fish

Drainage and irrigation works in the Trnava River basin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trnava (Medimurje) Rivers of Croatia Landforms of Međimurje County