Slovenia - Photo enquiry 2 A disappearing lake

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	2.1. How can people fish by hand in this lake? I don't mean tickling trout.  But walk up to fish and pick them up.
	2.2. This is Lake Cerknica - it shrinks and expands every year, and sometimes it disappears altogether. How come? You can see in this picture that the lake shore is growing.
	2.3 All across this landscape pools appear and disappear in hollows. Long periods of heavy rain produce pools.
	2.4 This can be very close to houses and farms.
	2.5 This is a model of the Cerknica basin when the lake has disappeared. You can see the villages on higher ground.
	2.6 This is a model when the lake is almost at its maximum extent. What is your theory?
	2.7 This is the Postojna region of Slovenia - a karst landscape. This is a portrait of a limestone landscape.
	2.8 Here is a depression with no water in it, typical of the karst landscape.
	2.9 These are sink holes - Limestone type rocks are made of Calcium Carbonate which dissolves in water. Solution beneath the ground over many centuries have dissolved the rocks and then the roof has collapsed.
	2.10 Water up-wells from depressions and flows allow the valleys
	2.11 Farm tracks are inundated
	2.12 Trees and bushes are inundated
	2.13 Beautiful blue clear streams disappear underground
	2.14 Lake Cerknica is a Karst Polje - this is a depression in the ground. It is simple water in > water out = rising lake water in< water out = shrinking lake
	2.13 It can even disappear altogether. This is Lake Cerknica when the rainfall is low - the water table is below ground. If this was in summer - you would be able to pick up the fish by hand.
	2.15 After a wet winter, and prolonged rain Lake Cerknica is full of water. This is the largest lake albeit a fluctuating scene.
	Have a look at a panorama of the lake when it is full and when it is empty.

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This page last updated 14 March 2007