Biržai Regional Park covers in northern

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

near its border with

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. It was established in 1992 to preserve a distinctive

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 ...

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 also known as shakeholes, and to openings where surface water ...

s, created by the dissolution of the

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate Hydrate, 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, drywall and blackboard or sidewalk ...

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.

Footnotes

References

*
Titulinis
Biržai district municipality.
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) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates t ...

.
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

Footnotes

References