![\"Vode\"](\"http:\/\/www.pp-ucka.hr\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/vode-300x225.jpg\")
Just like today, water has always been the basic requirement for human settlement of a given area. The 14,000-year-long history of human activity on Mount U\u010dka can mostly be put down to the area’s abundant water supplies.<\/p>\nJust like today, water has always been the basic requirement for human settlement of a given area. The 14,000-year-long history of human activity on Mount U\u010dka can mostly be put down to the area’s abundant water supplies.<\/p>\n
From the\u00a0hydrological and hydrogeological<\/strong>\u00a0perspective, the area of the ridge of Mount U\u010dka belongs to the River Ra\u0161a catchment area (in the west) and the coastal sources between Plominska draga and the Preluk Bay catchment area (in the east). Particularly interesting from the hydrogeological perspective is the peak ridge of northern U\u010dka. Due to its absorption capacity and permeability, fissured and karstified Upper Cretaceous limestone collects groundwater. This limestone lies onimpermeable flysch layers<\/strong>, which is why surplus accumulated groundwater overflows at the contact zones between flysch and limestone. The result is many high-quality\u00a0water sources<\/strong>\u00a0at the foot of U\u010dka ridge, many of which are used for water supply in the Liburnian area.<\/p>\n The morphology of the slopes of Mount U\u010dka is characterised by several\u00a0torrential valleys<\/strong>\u00a0that cut deep into the mountain and can be several kilometres long. Particularly interesting are the gorges of Medveja and Mo\u0161\u0107eni\u010dka Draga. These valleys are dry most of the year \u2013 the streams in them only carry large amounts of water in periods of abundant precipitation. This is why they are called torrential streams. The longest torrential watercourses in the park area are: the stream of Potok that flows into the sea in Mo\u0161\u0107eni\u010dka Draga; the torrent that flows into the cove of Medveja; and the stream of Banina, which flows into the sea in Ika.<\/p>\n It is worth mentioning here that until several decades ago, many of the present torrents were permanent watercourses. However, due to changing hydrological and climatic conditions, and because many natural water sources are today being used for the water supply system, these are now just intermittent streams.<\/p>\n In the park there are cca. 50 karst ponds<\/strong>\u00a0that were regularly maintained in the last century by the inhabitants of nearby villages for the purpose of providing water for cattle and agricultural activities in otherwise waterless areas of U\u010dka and \u0106i\u0107arija. Today such ponds no longer have this function, but due to the scarce availability of water in karst areas in general, they still have an important role for various plant and animal species as the only habitat in which they can survive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Just like today, water has always been the basic requirement for human settlement of a given area. The 14,000-year-long history of human activity on Mount U\u010dka can mostly be put down to the area’s abundant water supplies. From the\u00a0hydrological and hydrogeological\u00a0perspective, the area of the ridge of Mount U\u010dka belongs to the River Ra\u0161a catchment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14011,"parent":275,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1997","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n