The Dinaric Alps extend for approximately 645 kilometres (401 mi) along the western Balkan Peninsula from theJulian Alps of northeast Italy and northwest Slovenia, downwards to theŠar andKorabmassif, where their direction changes. TheAccursed Mountains are the highest section of the entire Dinaric Alps; this section stretches fromAlbania toKosovo and easternMontenegro.Maja Jezercë, standing at 2,694 metres (8,839 ft)above the Adriatic, is the highest peak and is located in Albania.
The Dinaric Alps are one of the most rugged and extensive mountainous areas of Europe, alongside theCaucasus Mountains,Alps,Pyrenees,Carpathian Mountains andScandinavian Mountains.[citation needed] They are formed largely ofMesozoic andCenozoicsedimentary rocks ofdolomite,limestone,sandstone and conglomerates formed by seas and lakes that once covered the area. During theAlpine earth movements that occurred 50 to 100 million years ago, immense lateral pressures folded and overthrust the rocks in a great arc around the old rigid block of the northeast. The main tectonic phase of the orogenesis in the area of the Dinaric Karst took place in Cenozoic Era (Paleogene) as a result of theAdriatic Microplate (Adria) collision with Europe, and the process is still active.[4] The Dinaric Alps were thrown up in more or less parallel ranges, stretching like necklaces from the Julian Alps as far as northern Albania and Kosovo, where the mountainous terrain subsides to make way for the waters of theDrin River and the plains of Kosovo.
The Dinaric Karst region is built mostly ofMesozoic limestone and dolomite deposited on top of a huge Bahama-type carbonate platform,[6] while a few kilometers thick carbonate successions have been deformed during the Alpine orogenesis.[7] The main tectonic phase of the Alpine orogenesis in the Dinaric Karst region took place in theCenozoic Era (Paleogene) as a result of the Adriatic microplate (Adria) collision with the Serbo-Macedonian and Rhodope Massifs,[8] and the process is still active.[4] TheMesozoic limestone forms a very distinctive region of theBalkans, notable for features such as theKarst Plateau, which has given its name to all such terrains of limestone eroded by groundwater. The Dinarides are known for being composed ofkarst –limestone rocks – as isDinara, the mountain for which they were named.[5] TheQuaternary ice ages had relatively little direct geologic influence on the Balkans. No permanentice caps existed, and there is little evidence of extensiveglaciation. Only the highest summits ofDurmitor,Orjen andPrenj have glacial valleys andmoraines as low as 600 m (1,969 ft). However, in theAccursed Mountains (Serbo-Croatian:Prokletije), a range on thenorthern Albanian border that runs east to west (thus breaking the general geographic trend of the Dinaric system), there is evidence of major glaciation.
One geological feature of great importance to the present-day landscape of the Dinarides must be considered in more detail: that of the limestone mountains, often with their attendant faulting. They are hard and slow to erode, and often persist as steep jagged escarpments, through which steep-sidedgorges andcanyons are cleft by the rivers draining the higher slopes.[citation needed] Another ispolje, in geological terminology,[9] a large, flat-floored depression within karst limestone, whose long axis develops in parallel with major structural trends and can become several miles (tens of kilometers) long. Superficial deposits tend to accumulate along the floor; drainage may be either by surface watercourses (as anopen polje) or byswallow holes (as aclosed polje) orponors. Usually, the ponors cannot transmit entire flood flows, so many poljes become wet-season lakes. The structure of some poljes is related to the geological structure, but others are purely the result of lateral dissolution andplanation. The development of poljes is fostered by any blockage in the karst drainage.[9]
The partially submerged western Dinaric Alps form the numerous islands and harbors along the Croatian coast.
The most extensive example of limestone mountains in Europe are those of the Karst of the Dinaric Alps. Here, all the characteristic features are encountered again and again as one travels through this wild and thinly populated country. Limestone is a very porous rock, yet very hard and resistant toerosion. Water is the most importantcorrosive force, dissolving the limestone by chemical action of its natural acidity. As it percolates down through cracks in the limestone it opens up fissures and channels, often of considerable depth, so that whole systems of underground drainage develop. During subsequent millennia these work deeper, leaving in their wake enormous waterlesscaverns,sinkholes andgrottoes and forming underground labyrinths of channels and shafts. The roofs of some of these caverns may eventually fall in, to produce great perpendicular-sided gorges, exposing the surface to the water once more.
Only along the Dinaric gorges is communication possible across the Karst, and roads and railways tunnel through precipitous cliffs and traverse narrow ledges above roaring torrents. A number of springs and rivers rise in the Dinaric range, includingJadro Spring noted for having been the source of water forDiocletian's Palace at Split.[10] At the same time, the purity of these rocks is such that the rivers are crystal clear, and there is little soil-making residue. Water quality testing of theJadro River, for example, indicates the lowpollutant levels present.[11] Rock faces are often bare of vegetation and glaring white, but what little soil there is may collect in the hollows and support lush lime-tolerant vegetation, or yield narrow strips of cultivation.[citation needed]
Ruins of fortresses dot the mountainous landscape, illustrating evidence of centuries of war and the refuge that the Dinaric Alps have provided to various armed forces. During the Roman period, the Dinarides provided shelter to theIllyrians resistingRoman conquest of the Balkans, which began with the conquest of the easternAdriatic coast in the 3rd century BC. Rome conquered the whole ofIllyria in 168 BC, but these mountains sheltered Illyrian resistance forces for many years until the area's complete subjugation by 14 AD. More recently, theOttoman Empire failed to fully subjugate the mountainous areas ofMontenegro. In the 20th century, too, the mountains provided favourable terrain forguerrilla warfare, withYugoslav Partisans organising one of the most successfulAllied resistance movements ofWorld War II.[citation needed]
The area remains underpopulated, and forestry and mining remain the chief economic activities in the Dinaric Alps. The people of the Dinaric Alps are on record as being the tallest in the world, with an average male adolescent height of 185.6 cm (6 ft 1.1 in).[12] The people ofBosnia and Herzegovina have the highest recorded average of any single country, with 183.9 cm average for men and 171.8 cm for women.[13][14][15]
Geomorphological subdivisions of Dinaric Alps Legend: A1: The area of the North Adriatic – the territory of Istria and the Kras area A2: Northern Adriatic – North Adriatic islands A3: Mountains of Dalmatia – Central mountain range A4: Dalmatian Mountains – Coastal Mountain Range A5: The mountains of southern Dalmatia and Mediterranean Herzegovina A6: The islands of Central and South Adriatic and Peljesac A7: Primorje Mountains of Montenegro A8: Coastal and Central Montenegro Mountains –Garač and Katun plateau A9: Mountains of the Montenegrin Rudina A10/11: Mountains of Low Herzegovina B1: Group ofTrnovski gozd B2:Snežnik andRisnjak plateaus B3: Plateaus ofInner Carniola andLower Carniola B4:Velika Kapela B5: MassiveVelebit B6:Mala Kapela and centralLika B7: MassifLička Plješivica B8: MassifDinara B9:Šator B10:Cincar B11:Klekovača (S) andGrmeč (N) B12:Raduša B13:Čvrsnica B14: MassifPrenj B15: High mountains of Herzegovina –Velež and Herzegovinian Rudine B16: Mountains of High Herzegovina – Mountain range ofCrvanj-Lebršnik B17:Zelengora Group B18:Bioč-Maglic-Volujak Group B19:Vranica Group B20:Bjelašnica (Southern Sarajevo Mountains) B21: Mountain rangeGolija-Vojnik B22:Prekornica [sr] B23:Durmitor area B24:Sinjajevina B25: The Morača Mountains andMaganik B26:Ljubišnja B27: MassifBjelasica B28:Komovi B29:Visitor B30: Kučke planine (Žijovo [sr]) B31:Albanian Alps C1: Group ofKočevski Rog C2:Žumberak /Gorjanci Group C3: Central and Eastern Bosnia Mountains –Vlašić Group C4: Central Bosnia Mountains C5: Eastern Bosnia Mountains C6: Central and Eastern Bosnia Mountains –Jahorina Group C7: Mountains ofStari Vlah andRaška (Sandžak) –Kovač-Podrinje Group C8: Mountains of Stari Vlah and Raška (Sandžak) –Zlatar-Pešter Group C9: Mountains of theStari Vlah – the central group C10: Mountains of Serbia –Podrinje-Valjevo mountains C11: Pre-Dinaric Mountains:Kozara (NW) ochMajevica (SE).
The Dinaric Alps are often divided into theAdriatic Platform, the Inner Dinarides and the Outer Dinarides, and sometimes theSupradinaric Nappe.[17] But geologists often differ on which mountains belong to which group.
The mountains and plateaus within the Dinarides are found in the following regions:
^abKorbar, Tvrtko (2009). "Orogenic evolution of the External Dinarides in the NE Adriatic region: A model constrained by tectonostratigraphy of Upper Cretaceous to Paleogene carbonates".Earth-Science Reviews.96 (4):296–312.Bibcode:2009ESRv...96..296K.doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2009.07.004.
^abMladen Garasic; Davor Garasic (1 April 2015). "Speleogenesis in Dinaric karst area".EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts.17: 10058.Bibcode:2015EGUGA..1710058G.
^Vlahović, Igor; Tišljar, Josip; Velić, Ivo; Matičec, Dubravko (2005). "Evolution of the Adriatic Carbonate Platform: Palaeogeography, main events and depositional dynamics".Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.220 (3–4):333–360.doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.01.011.
^Pineau, JC; Delamarche, P; Bozinovic, S (1 September 2005)."Les Alpes Dinariques : un peuple de sujets de grande taille Average height of adolescents in the Dinaric Alps".Comptes Rendus Biologies.328 (9):841–6.doi:10.1016/j.crvi.2005.07.004.PMID16168365.This study contributes to an update of average heights among European populations. Our investigation covering 2705 boys and 2842 girls aged 17 years, shows that, contrary to the general belief, adolescents of the Dinaric Alps are, on average, the tallest in Europe. With an average height of 185.6 cm, they are taller than Dutch adolescents (184 cm on average).
^Stevo Popović; Gabriela Doina Tanase; Duško Bjelica (2015)."Body Height and Arm Span in Bosnian and Herzegovinian Adults"(.pdf).mjssm.me. Montennegro Journal of Sports Sci. Medicine 4 (2015) 1: Original scientific paper. pp. 29–36. Retrieved4 September 2016.
^Summitpost.Dinaric Alps: Passes in the Dinaric Alps, Retrieved 19 November 2008
^Matišić, Tomica; Ozimec, Roman (2014). "Speleološki objekti Ivanščice – primjer katastra supradinarika Hrvatske".Skup speleologa Hrvatske, lepoglava 21.-23. studeni 2014 [Speleological Objects of Ivanščica – An Example of a Cadastre of the Supradinarics of Croatia](PDF) (in Croatian). pp. 14–15.ISBN978-953-58320-0-3.
