Lake Skadar

Lake Skadar
Lake Shkodër / Lake Scutari
Location Albania–Montenegro border
Coordinates 42°10′N 19°19′E / 42.167°N 19.317°E / 42.167; 19.317Coordinates: 42°10′N 19°19′E / 42.167°N 19.317°E / 42.167; 19.317
Primary inflows Morača
Primary outflows Bojana
Basin countries Albania, Montenegro
Max. length 44 km (27 mi)
Max. width 14 km (8.7 mi)
Surface area 370–530 km2 (140–200 sq mi)
Average depth 5.01 m (16.4 ft)
Max. depth 8.3 m (27 ft)[1] 44 m (144 ft)
Water volume 1,931.62×10^6 m3 (68.215×10^9 cu ft)
Shore length1 207 km (129 mi) is total length of coastline (including islands).
Surface elevation 6 m (20 ft)
References [1]
Designated 2 February 2006
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Lake Skadar (Albanian: Liqeni i Shkodrës, pronounced [liˈcɛni i ˈʃkɔdrəs]; Montenegrin and Serbian: Скадарско језеро, Skadarsko jezero, pronounced [skâdarskɔː jɛ̂zɛrɔ]) — also called Lake Scutari, Lake Shkodër and Lake Shkodra — lies on the border of Albania and Montenegro, the largest lake in the Balkan Peninsula. It is named after the city of Shkodër in northern Albania (Albanian: Shkodër or Shkodra, Serbian: Скадар, Skadar, Italian: Scutari). It is a karst lake.

Geography

Skadar Lake is the largest lake in the Balkan Peninsula with a surface area that seasonally fluctuates between 370 km2 (140 sq mi) to 530 km2 (200 sq mi).[1] Skadar Lake itself is located on the western Balkan with approximately two-third (229 km2 (88 sq mi)) of its surface belonging to Montenegro and about one-third (142 km2 (55 sq mi)) to Albania.[1] The lake’s water level also varies seasonally from 4.7 to 9.8 m above sea level.[1] The lake extends in the NW-SE direction, and it is approximately 44 km long.[1]

The Bojana River connects the lake with the Adriatic Sea, and the Drin River provides a link with the Ohrid Lake.[1] The lake is a cryptodepression, filled by the river Morača and drained into the Adriatic by the 41 km (25 mi) long Bojana (Albanian: Buna), which forms the international border on the lower half of its length. The largest inflow is from the Morača, which provides about 62% of the lake’s water.[1] Total drainage area is 5490 km2.[1]

There are additionally some fresh water sources at the lake bottom. A characteristic feature of Lake Skadar’s water balance is the high inflow from a number of temporary and permanent karstic springs, some of which are sublacustrine in cryptodepressians (so called ‘oko’).[1] The Southern and southwestern sides of the lake are rocky, barren and steep, having bays in which the sublacustrine springs, are usually to be found.[1] On the northern side there is an enormous inundated area, the boundaries of which change as water levels fluctuate.[1]

Some small islands like Beška, with two churches on it and Grmožur, a former fortress and prison can be found on the southwest side of the lake.

The climate type is hot-summer Mediterranean climate with dry summers (Csa), under Köppen climate classification.[1]

Lake Skadar National Park
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)

Lake Skadar and surrounding area
Location Albania, Montenegro
Area 400 km2 (150 sq mi; 40,000 ha)
Established 1983

The Montenegrin part of the lake and its surrounding area were declared a national park in 1983. The Albanian part has been designated as a Managed Nature Reserve. In 1996, by Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, it was included in the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance.[2] Near the mouth of Rijeka Crnojevića, 11 m (36 ft) below the surface of the water there is a well preserved wreck of the steamboat Skanderbeg sank by Partisans in 1942, during the Second World War.[3]

Geology

Skadar Lake is presumably an ancient lake, although it is a relatively young ancient lake.[1]

Most authors agree that the Skadar Lake basin is of tectonic origin which had been formed due to the complex folding and faulting within north eastern wing of Old Montenegro anticlynorium (High Karst Zone).[1] These movements took place during the Cenozoic period. The Lake basin has been formed as the result of sinking of blocks in the Neogene period or even in Paleogene.[1] In the Miocene and the Pliocene marine conditions prevailed in the Zeta Plain, which was sunk at the beginning of the upper Miocene, and that the sea inundated this plain up to Podgorica during the Pliocene.[1] Radoman (1985)[4] pointed out that sea must have destroyed all the freshwater populations on this plane and in Skadar Lake area.[1] The connection of Skadar Lake with the sea was interrupted during the younger Pliocene.[1] The question of the origin of its water is of particular interest for biologists as these waters may have provided its first species and been the basis for its present high degree of endemism.[1]

Fauna

The Skadar Lake system is a well-known hotspot of freshwater biodiversity and harbors a highly diverse mollusc fauna.[1]

Lake Skadër is one of the largest bird reserves in Europe, having 270 bird species, among which are some of the last pelicans in Europe, and thus popular with birders. The lake also contains habitats of seagulls and herons.

It is abundant in fish, especially in carp, bleak and eel. Of the 34 native fish species, 7 are endemic to Lake Skadar.[5]

At the scale of Skadar Lake, about 31% of freshwater snails (12 out of 39 species sampled in the lake) are endemic.[1] At the scale of the Skadar Lake basin, 38% (19 species) of the total freshwater gastropod fauna appear to be endemic.[1] There were reliably recorded 50 species of freshwater snails from the Lake Skadar basin.[1] The index of freshwater gastropod endemism is 0.478.[1] With this relatively high value, Skadar Lake exceeds such famous lakes as Lake Malawi and Lake Titicaca.[1] The Lake Skadar is inhabited by five species of Bithynia and it is a hot spot of Bithynia evolution.[1]

There are 17 amphipod species for the Skadar lake watershed, 10 of them being endemic (mainly from the subterranean habitat).[1]

The small range of many endemic species living in Skadar Lake system together with ever increasing human pressure make its fauna particularly vulnerable.[1] This becomes even more important in light of ongoing eutrophication, water pollution and sand and gravel exploration activities in the lake and its basin.[1] Research of the phytoplankton community and chlorophyllbased trophic state indices show that the lake is on a betamesosaprobic level of saprobity, which means moderately polluted with organic compounds.[1] Effects of human-induced environmental changes are especially evident for sublacustrine springs, with eutrophication and using for water supplying (e.g., sublacustrine spring Karuč) being the most serious threats.[1]

The 2011 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species includes 21 endemic species from the Skadar Lake basin.[1]

Cultural impact

Radio Skadar Lake, radio station in Montenegro, based in Podgorica is named after the Lake Skadar.

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-3.0 text from the reference[1]

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Pešić V. & Glöer P. (2013). "A new freshwater snail genus (Hydrobiidae, Gastropoda) from Montenegro, with a discussion on gastropod diversity and endemism in Skadar Lake". ZooKeys 281: 69-90. doi:10.3897/zookeys.281.4409
  2. ↑ Ramsar (August 4, 2010). "The list of wetlands of international importance" (PDF) (in English and Spanish). Ramsar. p. 5. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
  3. ↑ Vukotić, Jovan D. (1983). Borbena dejstva u savlađivanju vodenih prepreka u NOR-u: 1941-1945. Vojnoizdavački zavod. p. 14. Батаљон Ловћенског НОП одреда »Царев Лаз« је у садејству са деловима батаљона »13. јули« 12. фебруара 1942. извршио препад на италијански пароброд »Скендербег« на Скадарском језеру...
  4. ↑ Radoman P. (1985). "Hydrobioidea a superfamily Prosobranchia (Gastropoda), II. Origin, Zoogeography, Evolution in the Balkans and Asia Minor". Monographs Institute of Zoology Belgrade 1: 1-173.
  5. ↑ Talevski, Milošević, Marić, Petrović, Talevska and Talevska (2009). Biodiversity of Ichthyofauna from Lake Prespa, Lake Ohrid and Lake Skadar. Biotechnology & Biotechnological Equipment, 23(2). ISSN 1310-2818

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