Rastoke area -
picturesque area by main road to Plitvica lake. Its made by interesting play of nature which overflows where green - blue water of Slunjcica over cliffs into river Korana and creates many waterfalls, little lakes, cascades and rapid sterams.
The Slunjcica river was protected in 1964 as the category of the Important Landscape because of its landscape value. The Important Landscape covers 147,88 ha, spreading from the spring of the Slunjcica river, along its 6 km long course and includes Rastoke area and one km of the Korana river downstream from the bridge. The Slunjcica has carved the canyon up to 50 m deep. The most attractive features are numerous waterfalls on travertine barriers in Rastoke, where the Slunjcica enters into the Korana river 30 m below. The important Landscape of the Slunjcica is a part of the National Ecological Network. Its purpose is to conserve the populations of European and stone crayfish, brown trout, grayling and black maidenhair fern community.
In Rastoke, the river Slunjcica pours off in several watercourses forming cascades and waterfalls while it enters into Korana river 30 m below. The travertine is built in the rivers rich in calcium carbonate. Same as other karst rivers, the Slunjcica receives calcium carbonate during its flow trough the limestone and dolomite. When water reaches the surface and starts to disperse into small droplets, a part of the water evaporates causing the crystallization of the calcium carbonate. Specific bacteria produce mucous to which tiny crystals are attached and calcium carbonate settles down on moss, algae, leaves, roots and twigs. That is how the travertine is built. It is often called "live stone", because of the role that bacteria and algaes play its creation. On the place where the travertine settles in dense layer, the barriers are formed. Apart from the characteristic moss communities, those barriers are inhabited by the maidenhair fern. The travertine barriers are protected by EU Habitat Directive and at the national level.
To log this cache, please do the following:
1. In an email, answer the following questions:
a. What is name one of waterfalls in this area? (look for one of the information panels)
b. What is chemical sign of calcium carbonate?
c. What temperature reaches the river Korana during summer? (only recognized the value of the temperature written on the panel on earthcache coordinates or HINT :-)))
2. Voluntary: post a photo of you and/or your GPS in your log. Take picture in front of one panels with informations about Rastoke area or with a waterfall in the background.
Rastoke
je smješten u živopisnom krajoliku uz glavnu magistralnu cestu prema Plitvickim jezerima. Nastalo je igrom prirode koja zeleno – modre vode Slunjcice prelijeva preko sedrenih stijena u Koranu stvarajuci pritom mnoštvo slapova, brzaca, malih jezera i kaskada.
Zbog svoje krajobrazne vrijednosti rijeka Slunjcica zašticena je 1964. g. u kategoriji znacajnog krajobraza. Znacajni krajobraz Slunjcica obuhvaca površinu od 147,88 ha i proteže se od izvora rijeke Slunjcice, duž cijelog njenog 6 kilometara dugog toka, te ukljucuje Rastoke i kilometar toka Korane nizvodno od mosta. Slunjcica je citavim tokom usjekla kanjon dubok oko 50 m. Najatraktivniji dio znacajnog krajobraza predstavljaju brojna slapišta na sedrenim barijerama u Rastokama, gdje se Slunjcica bucno ulijeva u 30 m nižu Koranu. Znacajni krajobraz Slunjcica dio je Nacionalne ekološke mreže proglašen sa ciljem ocuvanja populacija potocnog i rijecnog raka, potocne pastrve, lipljena i puzavog celera, kao i zajednice gospinog vlaska.
Rijeka Slunjcica se u Rastokama rastace na mnoštvo malih tokova koji se preko bucnih slapova obrušavaju u 30 m nižu Koranu. Sedra nastaje u rijekama bogatim kalcijevim karbonatom. Slunjcica, kao i druge krške rijeke, obogacuje se kalcijevim karbonatom dok tece kroz vapence i dolomite. Kada voda izbije na površinu i pocne sa rasprskavati u sitne kapi, dio vode isparava, a kalcijev karbonat sa kristalizira u obliku sitnih kristalica. Pod utjecajem sedrotvornih bakterija za koje se lijepe kristalici, kalcijev karbonat taloži se na mahovinama, algama, lišcu, korijenju i grancicama. Tako nastaje sedra ili travertin, koju zbog uloge bakterija i algi cesto nazivaju i „živi kamen“. Na mjestima gdje se sedra taloži u debljem sloju nastaju sedrene barijere. Osim osebujnih zajednica mahovina, na sedrenim barijerama nalazimo paprat "Gospin vlasak". Stanište sedrenih barijera sa osebujnim biljnim zajednicama zašticeno je europskom Direktivom o staništima, a u Hrvatskoj Pravilnikom o vrstama stanišnih tipov
Kako biste upisali ovaj cache, molim ucinite sljedece:
1. Emailom, odgovorite na sljedeca pitanja:
a. Kako se zovu vodopadi na ovom podrucju? (pogledajte na info ploci)
b. Koji je kemijski znak za kalcijev karbonat?
c. Koju temperaturu dostiže Korana tijekom ljeta? (prihvaca se jedino vrijednost temperature napisana na ploci koja se nalazi na koordinatama cache-a i HINT :-) ).
2. Po izboru: Pošalji fotografiju sebe i svog GPS-a u log. Slikaj se ispred info ploce o Rastocima ili s vodopadom u pozadini.