Škocjan Caves Regional Park is located in the Škocjan

Karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

, a vast flat landscape that lies at an elevation between 420 and 450 m in the southeast part of the

area. Following its independence,

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

committed itself to protecting the

Škocjan Caves Škocjan Caves (; , ) is a cave system located in Slovenia. Škocjan Caves was included on UNESCO’s list of natural and cultural World Heritage Sites in 1986. Škocjan Caves is a significant underground phenomenon on the Karst Plateau and in ...

area; for this reason, it established Škocjan Caves Regional Park and its managing authority, the Škocjan Caves Park Public Service Agency.

Position and surface

The narrow protected area covers 4.15 km² and encompasses the area above

, the

Reka Reka may refer to: Places * Řeka, a village in the Czech Republic * Reka, Cerkno, a village near Cerkno, Slovenia * Reka, Laško, a village near Laško, Slovenia * Reka (Kladovo), a village near Kladovo, Serbia * Reka, Koprivnica, a village n ...

Gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

, and the surrounding collapse dolines. It comprises the villages of Škocjan, Betanja, and Matavun. The area of influence of the park comprises the entire Reka River watershed and covers 450 km². It lies at the extensive junction of the karst and nonkarst areas. At the easternmost border of the area of influence, the 1,796 m Mount Snežnik reigns; it is the highest non-alpine mountain in Slovenia.
At first sight, the Škocjan Karst surface appears to be flat, but in reality it is very dynamic. This characteristic

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

that developed in

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

s is named karst, derived from the name of the Karst area. The solubility of rocks that form the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

's surface is the most effective agent of karstification. Falling water in the Karst sinks and drains underground through fissures. The caves are formed in this way; on the surface this occurs in different karst depressions of various sizes. The most frequent karst depressions are sinkholes.

Natural heritage

Natural heritage Natural heritage refers to the sum total of the elements of biodiversity, includes flora and fauna, ecosystems and geological structures. It forms part of our natural resources. Definition Definitions: * Natural heritage refers to natural feat ...

in the protected area is protected by law. In 1996, the following natural

phenomena A phenomenon ( phenomena), sometimes spelled phaenomenon, is an observable Event (philosophy), event. The term came into its modern Philosophy, philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be ...

from Škocjan Caves Regional Park were declared to be natural monuments due to their outstanding natural and aesthetic value: * ''Mala dolina'' and ''Velika dolina'' all the way to the collapse doline edge * Okroglica abyss * Walls and banks of the Reka Valley in the

radius In classical geometry, a radius (: radii or radiuses) of a circle or sphere is any of the line segments from its Centre (geometry), center to its perimeter, and in more modern usage, it is also their length. The radius of a regular polygon is th ...

of 150 m before the entry into Mahorčič Cave * Caves in the area of the Park: :* Škocjan Caves (Škocjan cave system) :* ''Jama na Prevali II.'' (''Mušja jama'') :* ''Mala jama na Prevali'' (''Skeletna jama'') :* Škrlica Cave * the

stalactite A stalactite (, ; , ) is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble and that can be deposited as a colloid, or is in suspension (chemistry ...

in Lipje Caves near Divača.

Flora and fauna

Škocjan Caves, a well-known and well-explored outstanding natural phenomenon, has long been recognized as exceptional due to its extremely varied terrain and exceptionally diverse

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

and

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

. Collapse dolines and their surroundings offer shelter to rare and endangered bird species and several bat species, and an extraordinary

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

that has developed due to particular geomorphologic and microclimatic conditions has been preserved. The underground is rich with several species of cave animals: both those living on land and those living in water.

The Reka River

The cave was formed by the disappearing

Reka River The Reka (literally, 'river' in Slovene), also the Inner Carniola Reka (), is a river that starts as Big Creek () in Croatia, on the southern side of Mount Snežnik, and flows through western Slovenia, where it is also initially known as Big Cre ...

, which gathers most of its waters on the impermeable

flysch Flysch () is a sequence of sedimentary rock layers that progress from deep-water and turbidity flow deposits to shallow-water shales and sandstones. It is deposited when a deep basin forms rapidly on the continental side of a mountain building ep ...

rock. It flows from the Škocjan Caves through the Karst underground and emerges to the surface in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

some 35 km away at the springs of the

Timavo The Timavo River, known in Slovene as the or ', is a two-kilometre stream in the Province of Trieste. It has four sources near San Giovanni () near Duino () and outflows in the Gulf of Panzano (part of the Gulf of Trieste) southeast of Monfa ...

River. Its flow is for the most part unknown and can only be reached in few deep shafts (up to 320 m deep), but the siphons hinder any further exploration along the underground channels.
During a high water period, the Reka River flow can exceed 300 cubic m per second. Because of this, following heavy rains, it floods in the cave, usually reaching levels up to 30 m; the highest recorded rise in the water level was 132 m.

Cultural heritage

From time immemorial, the landscape in the area of

Park has attracted people; it is exceptionally rich in archaeological sites. The nature of this area is also reflected in the preserved

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

ground plan of the village of Škocjan and its position on a large natural bridge beneath which the Reka River carved out Mahorčič and Marinič caves. This position is not coincidental. The village of Škocjan, named after the church of St. Cantianius (''sv. Kancijan''), was presumably settled in the prehistoric period and undoubtedly in the

Roman period The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. It was around this church that the village developed, leaning on the partly preserved

hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

walls inside which it is situated.
In present times, the village is almost deserted except for during the tourist season, when visitors to the two permanent museum exhibitions bring it back to life. Škocjan is so far registered as settlement monument in the park.
Cultural heritage properties in the area are protected by law and since 1996 some structures have been declared as cultural monuments due to their special value. Since then, the park contains various settlement monuments, archaeological monuments, historical art monuments, ethnological monuments, technical monuments, and historical monuments.Tomaž Zorman et al.: Škocjan education trail guidebook.(2003)

Area of influence

The

area Area is the measure of a region's size on a surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-di ...

of influence of

Regional Park encompasses the entire

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

and covers 450 km². It includes the Snežnik mountain chain, the Reka

Valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

, Brkini, Vremščica, the Košana Valley, ''Prestranško-slavinski ravnik'', ''Sajevško polje'', and the Škocjan Caves Park area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skocjan Caves Regional parks of Slovenia Protected areas in the Slovene Littoral