Lepenac
Lepenac | |
---|---|
Native name |
|
Location | |
Countries | |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | |
• location | Kodža Balkan mountain, Kosovo |
• elevation | 1,820 m (5,970 ft) (source), 262 m (860 ft) (mouth) |
Mouth | |
• location | Vardar, at Skopje, North Macedonia |
• coordinates | 42°00′46″N 21°22′59″E / 42.0128°N 21.3831°E |
Length | 75 km (47 mi) |
Basin size | 770 km2 (300 sq mi) |
Basin features | |
Progression | Vardar→ Aegean Sea |
The Lepenac (Albanian: Lepenci; Macedonian: ⓘ; Serbian: Лепенац, Lepenac) is a river in southern Kosovo and northern North Macedonia, a 75 km (47 mi) long left tributary to the Vardar river.
Sirinić
The Lepenac springs out on the
The Lepenac continues between the Šar Mountains in the south and
Veliko Kosovo and Kaçanik gorge
For several kilometers the Lepenac flows parallel to the Nerodimka river, flows next to the villages of Kovaçefc and Bob, and receives its major tributary the Nerodimka from the left at the town of Kaçanik, at the beginning of the Kaçanik Gorge.
The gorge, as the narrowest part of the Lepenac river valley, is located between the
Skopje depression
For the remaining 15 km (9 mi), the Lepenac flows through the low Skopje depression, part of the composite valley of the river Vardar. Immediately entering the Greater Skopje area, it receives several small streams from the left, from the Skopska Crna Gora mountain. It passes next to the ruins of the ancient city of
Characteristics
The Lepenac belongs to the Aegean Sea drainage basin, with its own drainage area of 770 km2 (297 sq mi) (695 km2 or 268 sq mi in Kosovo, 75 km2 or 29 sq mi in Macedonia). It is not navigable.
The Kačanik gorge is a route for both the road and the railway
The river has a potential for hydroelectrical production, but even though being a part of the former Ibar-Lepenac Hydrosystem project, it is not much used, either for energy production or irrigation.
The Lepenac was a part of the artificial bifurcation, as the Nerodimka connected both Lepenac and Sitnica rivers via a canal, thus connecting Aegean and Black Sea drainage basins, but the canal was covered after World War II.
References
- Mala Prosvetina Enciklopedija, Third edition (1985); Prosveta; ISBN 86-07-00001-2
- Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije; Svjetlost-Sarajevo; ISBN 86-01-02651-6