Swis Nature

Kopački rit Nature Park

Morphology in Kopački rit

Geology and geomorphology

Holocene sediments prevail in the geological composition of the surface soil,. These are mainly fluvial sands and sandy loam as well as marshy fluvial loam and clay.

Three basic types of relief can be differed: low relief (fluvial and marshy fluvial), loess hillocks and high relief (tectonic). According to the morphological structure, flat plains belong to the tectonic-accumulation relief, whereas loess hillocks and Bansko hill belong to the denudation-accumulation relief (denudation = wearing away of the earth's surface).

The area of Kopački rit Nature Park is a flat plain i.e. flat relief, which is the most common type of relief in Baranya (80-85% of the area). Flat plains belong to the fluvial and marshy fluvial relief, created by the accumulation of the Danube, the Drava, and the floods. Relief of the later geological history was created during the Holocene and Pleistocene epochs.

The sediments contain gravel, sand, sandy and clay loam and fluvial loess. This is how Kopački rit was created as a marshy fluvial flat plain, with sediments arriving from the Drava and the Danube.

Furthermore, Kopački rit’s relief has typical characteristics of a floodplain, especially in the southern part of the Park, in the Special Zoological Reserve. This area is also the lowest part of the whole area. Kopačko Lake (the bottom of the lake is at 78 m above sea level) situated in the heart of the Reserve is also the lowest part of the Reserve. Kopačko Lake as well as Čonakut and Hulovo canals are permanently under water. Other parts of the Reserve are only temporarily flooded during the spring floods. Most of the ponds and lakes are the remains of the riverbed that once used to exist. Other lakes and ponds were created due to the river erosion during the withdrawal of water from the floodplain.

Hydrology

Kopački rit Nature Park is located partly in the flood-protected and flooded area between our largest rivers, the Drava and the Danube, therefore the area depends on their water levels.

Besides the two rivers, part of the hydrographic network is made up by the following canals: Hulovo, Čonakut, Novi, Renovo or Pusta fok, Nađhat, Vemeljski Dunavac, Kopačko, Bijelo, and Sakadaš lakes. Most of the ponds and lakes are actually remains of the riverbed that once used to exist. Other lakes and ponds were created due to the river erosion during the withdrawal of water from the flood plain.

The Danube’s floodplain can be divided into two main areas:

1.The current floodplain – it stretches between the rivers and dykes;

2.The former floodplain – it was not influenced by floods due to the dykes, which used to divide it from the current floodplain.

The flood dynamics create this area, which give Kopački rit a specific appearance.