THE CHARACTERISTICS AND VALUES OF PROTECTED TECTONIC AND KARST LAKES IN ALBANIA
Keywords:
Natural Monuments, Hydro monument, protected lakes, karst lakes, tectonic lake, AlbaniaAbstract
Albania is located in the southeast of Europe, on the western part of the Balkan Peninsula, which is one of
the richest countries in the world with water. Albania is a mountainous region, part of the Dinaric-Hellenic range,
which in itself is part of the northern branch of the Mediterranean Alpine fold-thrust belt. The complex geological,
structural, geomorphological, and climatic conditions of Albania result in the presence of different aquifers with
very different hydrologic-hydrologeologic characteristics. Albania has a rich and complex continental hydrography
system, composed of both surface and underground water, intensively recharged by high precipitations. The karstic
water resource in Albania consists about 80% of the total groundwater resources. About one fourth of the discharge
of the rivers of Albania is recharged by the karst waters. The karst landscape in Albania covers about 6750 km2
consisting nearly 1/4 of the whole country's territory. In Albania, there are 23 karst regions, which composed of
Mesozoic, especially Cretaceous limestone and dolomite, and other two karst regions developed in Perm-Triassic
evaporate rocks, mainly gypsum. The geologic-tectonic factors and Mediterranean climate characterised of high
precipitations and wide variation of temperature amplitude control the development of karst phenomenon, which
favour intensive physical and chemical aeration of the rocks. Beside of many large karstic springs, in Albania there
are totally 274 lakes, 94 of them have karstic origin, from which 84 lakes are located in Dumre gypsum plateau
(dome) situated in the Central Albania. Three big tectonic lakes, namely Lake Shkodra, Ohrid Lake, Big Prespa and
Small Prespa lakes are protected at International Level. All the lakes are transboundary ones: Shkodra lake is shared
between Albania and Montenegro, Ohrid Lake is shared between Albania and North Macedonia, while both Prespa
lakes, Big and Small, are shared between Albania, North Macedonia and Greece. Beside this, 6 small karst lakes,
namely Lake of Ponareve, Kacojthi Lake, Lake of Floqi, Varri i Plakes Lake, Lake of Seferani and Dega Lake have
the status of hydro monuments, the third category of Natural Monuments. All the mentioned lakes have distinct,
scientific, geological, geomorphological, hydrological, didactic and economic value. The biggest lakes and their
surrounding territory are some of the most attractive destinations for domestic and foreign tourists, also The main
objective of this paper is to analyse and to present the necessity to digitalize the lake’s data as a basis for the
construction of the Map of Lakes of Albania; this will help the protected and the sustainable management of the
lakes. For the digitalization of the protected karstic lakes, mainly is used the program Arc Gis 10.1. The scientific
information about the lakes should seriously help the management of their big natural, economic, and tourist
potential.
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