Sinking River Trebižat EarthCache

River Trebižat

Geography and hydrology

River Trebižat is located in the south-western region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It's a part of the Neretva basin and it is the Neretva major tributary.

The Trebižat is 51 km long and it is second largest "sinking river" that drains into the underground and reappears at resurgences various times in Bosnia and Herzegovina, next to the Trebišnjica river which is largest river of that kind on the world and also part of the Neretva watershed.

The water regime of the Trebižat river is affected by the abstraction of its water for hydropower plants, irrigation and fish farming. The Trebižat river flows through an area of remarkable ecological value hosting a protected area such as the travertine-formation around Kravica waterfall. 

Travertine  is a form of limestone deposited by mineral springs, especially hot springs. Travertine often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan and cream-colored varieties. It is formed by a process of rapid precipitation of calcium carbonate, often at the mouth of a hot spring or in a limestone cave. In the latter it can form stalactites, stalagmites and other speleothems. It is frequently used in Italy and elsewhere as a building material.

Travertine is a terrestrial sedimentary rock, formed by the precipitation of carbonate minerals from solution in ground and surface waters, and/or geothermally heated hot-springs. Similar (but softer and extremely porous) deposits formed from ambient-temperature water are known as tufa.

Although there have been many negative impacts in recent years on the Trebižat river, the analyses of aquatic organisms, river ecology and river morphology showed a high diversity. Various actions are considered with the aim of preserving the Trebižat river and its riparian ecosystem. The area was assessed in terms of its geography, climate conditions, historic heritage of the river, demography, geology of the river and its tributaries, river hydrology and morphology, ecological characteristics, river pollution, river use and river management.

Nine names of the river Trebižat

Thanks to the fact that the Trebižat river looses and reappears at resurgences various times people used to call it with different names. Exactly nine names are known, every time it resurfaces or enters the next area on its path the river got a new name. 

Kravica waterfalls

A special characteristic of Bosnia and Herzegovina's water systems are the plethora of waterfalls dotting the landscape. Among the most beautiful and biggest are the: Štrbacki cascade (23,5 m high – quantitively the biggest waterfall in BiH), Martin Brod on the Una river, the Pliva waterfalls in Jajce (27 m) and Kravica waterfall on the Trebižat River.

The most attractive landmark on the Trebižat River is the Kravica waterfall, located 3 km downstream from the Vitaljina, in Studenci near Ljubuški. Here the river drops into a horseshoe-shaped canyon with a lake below the falls of 120 m in radius. The calcium scale layer from the bottom to the top of the falls is covered by grass and moss. The same as the Krka Waterfalls and Plitvice Lakes, the Trebižat river is also in a constant process of natural tufa deposit. It is known that travertine barriers and waterfalls can grow only in a water of high purity and quality, so it is not strange that the landscape of a natural phenomenon the Trebižat was declared as a Nature Park.

To log this Earth Cache you have to answer following questions and send it to my e-mail adress in my profile.

1. Please tell me at least three different names of the river Trebizat

2. Tufa is a variaty of which sort of stone?

3. Estimate the altitude of the Kravica waterfalls?

Please upload also a photo of you or your GPS-Device with Kravica waterfalls.

Bosanski:

Trebižat je rijeka u Hercegovini, u južnom dijelu Bosne i Hercegovine, duga od svojega izvora u Pec-Mlinima do ušca u Neretvu u Strugama ukupno 50 km. Ona je nastavak toka od Posušja (Tribistovo, kota 903), tako da je de facto susrecemo pod devet imena. 

Kravice su vodopad koji se nalazi tri km nizvodno od Vitaljine, u Studencima blizu Ljubuškog. Stvoren je radom sedronosne rijeke Trebižat. Visina slapa krece se od ??? metara, s vodenim amfiteatrom ispod slapa promjera 120 metara. Preko sedronosna sloja od dna do vrha slapa izrasla je trava, mahovina, alge i lišajevi. Uz slap su nikle konopljika, smokve i topole. Nekada su uz slap bili aktivni mnogobrojni mlinovi i stupe za valjanje sukna.

Sedrena podrucja oko vodopada Kravice spadaju u geološke spomenike prirode Bosne i Hercegovine.

Pored Kravica na Trebižatu se nalazi i vodopad Kocuša.