Polje
A polje, also called karst polje or karst field,
Geology
A polje, in geological terminology,
A polje covers the flatbottomed lands of closed basins[6] which may extend over large areas, up to 1,000 km2. The flat floor of a polje may consist of bare limestone, of a nonsoluble formation (as with rolling topography), or of soil. A polje typically shows complex hydrogeological characteristics such as exsurgences, estavelles, swallow holes, and lost rivers. In colloquial use, the term "polje" designates flat-bottomed lands which are overgrown or are under cultivation. The Dinaric Karst has many poljes.[6]
They are mostly distributed in subtropical and tropical latitudes but some also appear in temperate or, rarely, boreal regions. Usually covered with thick sediments, called "terra rossa", they are used extensively for agricultural purposes.
Some poljes of the Dinaric Alps are inundated during the rainy winters and spring seasons as masses of water called izvor or vrelo appears at the margins. The water disappears through shafts called ponor.
Prominent karst poljes are
In Portugal, the town of Minde is located in a landscape of intensive karst. In the summer the polje is fertile fields, in winter, in case of heavy rain, a temporary lake.
The former Lake Copais in Boeotia, Greece, fed subterranean channels (some artificial) until a 1957 land reclamation project drained it completely.
Etymology
In its original languages, the word is synonymous with interior valley. The word polje (
Notes
- ISBN 9780826350497
- ^ Weber, Rudolf O. et al. 1997. "20th-Century Changes of Temperature in the Mountain Regions of Central Europe." In Henry F. Diaz et al. (eds.), Climatic Change at High Elevation Sites, pp. 327–344. Dordrecht: Kluwer, p. 329.
- ^ White, William Blaine, & David C. Culver (eds.). 2012. Encyclopedia of Caves. Waltham, MA: Academic Press, p. 443.
- ^ De Waele, Jo; Gutierrez, Francisco (2022). Karst Hydrogeology, Geomorphology and Caves. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. p. 466.
The word polje in Slavic languages means a flat field with arable soil.
- ^ White, William B.; Culver, David C. (2012). Encyclopedia of Caves (2 ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier. p. 435.
The typical polje (a Slavic word meaning 'field') ...
- ^ a b c d e f "Glossary of Cave and Karst Terms" (letter "P"), Speliogenesis.info, 2009, webpage: Spelio-gloss-P.
- ^ Lazarević, Radenko (2000) [1975]. Geomorfologija (second ed.). Belgrade: Želnid, preduzeće za železničku novinsko-izdavačku delatnost d.o.o. Beograd, Nemanjina 6. p. 469.
- ^ Herries Davies, G. L. (1978). "The Earth Sciences in Irish Serial Publications 1787–1977". Journal of Earth Sciences Royal Dublin Society. 1 (1): 1–23.
- ^ "Merriam-Webster". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved September 26, 2017.