Kras
There is a separate article "Karst topography". Also, there a stadium named Kras Stadion and a company called Kraš. |
An image of Italian Karst (Monfalcone). Dissolution images (as vertical grooves) are clearly visible. |
Kras (
Carso in Italian), also called the
Classical Karst or the
Kras Plateau, is a limestone borderline
plateau region of southwestern
Slovenia extending into northeastern
Italy. It lies between the
Vipava valley, the
Vipavska brda, the most westerly part of
Brkini hills,
Gulf of Trieste and a short part of Italian state border between the
Gulf of Trieste and the
Vipava River. Its western border is an old ethnic border between Italians and Slovenes. The region is famous as the inspiration for the geological term
karst topography.
The plateau rises quite steeply above the neighboring landscape, with the exception of the southeastern side, where the steepness is less prounounced. The plateau gradually descends from the southeast to the southwest. On average it lies 334 metres above sea level. Because Kras steeply descends towards the
Adriatic Sea (see:
Kraški rob), it is less exposed to the beneficial climatological effects of the sea. The main vegetation in the past were
oaks, but now are
pine forests.
Forests now cover only one third of Kras.
Kras is famous for its
caves. In Slovenia, they include
Vilenica (the oldest tourist cave in the world),
Lipica cave,
Divača cave,
Kačna cave and
Škocjan caves (
UNESCO world heritage site), while in Italy there is the
Grotta gigante (the biggest tourist cave in the world, with a special
horizontal pendulum that measures the ebb and flow effect of the
moon on the
earth).
Most of Kras is located in Southwestern Slovenia on an area of 429 square kilometres, and has a population of about 19,000 people. Kras as a whole has exactly 100 settlements. The town of
Sežana is the center of Kras on the Slovene side of the border; it is where the poet
Srečko Kosovel was born. The main rural centers are the settlements of
Divača,
Dutovlje, and
Komen.
Štanjel is a picturesque nucleate settlement at the top of the northern rim of the
plateau; its houses are tightly clustered around the Turn hill, giving it the appearance of a
medieval city.
Natural conditions, including the
bora (burja) wind, and the local way of life all shaped the elements of Kras
architecture, creating simple but well-defined forms. Kras is widely known for its
wine, named
teran, and
prosciutto. One of the main tourist centers in the area is
Lipica, with
horse stables (the home of the
Lipizzan horse breed) as well as other tourist facilities.
*
Geography of Slovenia*
Geography of Italy
