Moslavačka Gora is a small mountain located in Central Croatia at the borders of

Bjelovar-Bilogora County Bjelovar-Bilogora County (; ) is a Counties of Croatia, county in central Croatia. The central city of Bjelovar was first mentioned in 1413, and it only gained importance when a new fort was built in 1756 to defend against the Ottoman Empire, O ...

and Sisak–Moslavina County. They belong to the sunken boulder Highlands of palaeogeological origin, rich in mineral resources (

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

, and oil and gas). The highest peak is ''Humka'' at 489 m. Other prominent peaks include ''Vis'' (444 m) ''Kaluđerov grob'' (437 m) and ''Mjesec'' (Moon) (354 m). The area of Moslavačka Gora is about 1350 km². The Moslavačka mountains are covered with dense

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s of

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

, sessile oak,

hornbeam Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the family Betulaceae. Its species occur across much of the temperateness, temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Common names The common English name ''hornbeam'' derives ...

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

, black alder and

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

, and in the lower regions there are cultivated

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

s and

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s. The southern slopes are particularly impressive. Prehistoric elephants (such as '' Gomphotherium angustidens'', '' Prodeinotherium bavaricum'' and rhinoceroses fossils ('' Brachypotherium brachypus'') were found inside the oldest sediments in bentonite clay mine near the village

Gornja Jelenska Gornja Jelenska is a village in the municipality Popovača, Sisak-Moslavina County in Croatia. According to the 2001 census, there are 887 inhabitants, in 279 of family households. Gornja Jelenska is located on the south slopes of Moslavačka go ...

in 1994 around 17 million years and are among the oldest on the European continent. There are several quarries, some of them abandoned. The most important include ''Pleterac'' and ''Mikleuška''. Rare and

endangered plants In September 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed 3654 endangered plant species. Of all evaluated plant species, 17% are listed as endangered. The IUCN also lists 99 subspecies and 101 varieties as endangered. ...

that grow here include: star sedge (''Carex echinata'') and

Lesser Butterfly-orchid ''Platanthera bifolia'', commonly known as the lesser butterfly-orchid, is a species of orchid in the genus ''Platanthera'', having certain relations with the genus ''Orchis'', where it was previously included and also with the genus ''Habenari ...

(''Platanthera bifolia''). In the

watercourse A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s live endangered fish such as the white chub (''Leuciscus cavedanus''), and amphibians include the

fire Salamander The fire salamander (''Salamandra salamandra'') is a common species of salamander found in Europe. It is black with yellow spots or stripes to a varying degree; some specimens can be nearly completely black while on others the yellow is dominant ...

, Agile Frog and Yellow-bellied toad. In the Moslavačka Gora area, there are remains of ancient

fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

s, of which the best known is ''Garić-grad'', built by Ban Stjepan Šubić in 1256 AD.Turistička zajednica Bjelovarsko-bilogorske županije - uživajte u kulturnoj ponudi Bjelovarsko-bilogorske županije, muzeji, galerije, spomenici, dvorci, kulturna događanja.
The area has been protected since 2007, having been classified as a

regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government. Definition A regional park can be a special park distr ...

. Moslavačka Gora has very interesting geological features and rich geological heritage. Characteristic is the appearance of various

igneous Igneous rock ( ), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial ...

and

metamorphic rock Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock ( protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, caus ...

s in interesting structural relationships.

References

Bibliography

Alpinism

Geology

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moslavacka Gora Mountains of Croatia Landforms of Bjelovar-Bilogora County Landforms of Sisak-Moslavina County