The Idrija fault is a an active fault crossing Slovenia for more than 100 km in a NW-SE direction and is responsible for several important geological features in the country. Among them, we can mention the former-active mercury mine of Idrija which has registered as a Unesco World Heritage site since 2012.
Another example that demonstrates the impact of this fault is it’s effect on the regional hydrology. Due to its strike-slip movement, this fault generated a set of four successive ‘poljes‘ or large depressions in a limestone karst, belonging to the catchment of the Ljubljanica River. These large flat depressions are regularly flooded and can form several meter high temporary lakes that can last for months! The largest of them is named Cerknisko jezero (Cerknica Lake) and reaches a surface height of more than 20km2!
Description by Cyril Mayaud as it originally appeared on imaggeo.eu.
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