Rivers of the Coast of Montenegro

Abstract

The Montenegrin coast, thanks to its hydrological characteristics of surface and groundwater, is a very interesting area. It shows an obvious example of the mutual influence of climatic characteristics on the geological base, which manifested itself in almost all its variations. In this relatively narrow space, the characteristics of water behavior in karst and their unpredictability have been shown. The immediate hinterland of the Montenegrin coast is known for a very high amount of precipitation that is emitted during the year without any surface flow. A certain number of flows has been ascertained in this region, but a very small number can be stated to have complete flow references. The largest number of streams has a torrential character and is in a very high degree of endangerment from various factors – pollution, occupation of the riverbed, disposal of various types of waste, natural flourishing, etc.

The research was performed in two phases, through topographic analysis on maps with a scale of 1:25 and through a field tour of the area to specify details that could not be determined on the basis of data from the map. Research has established that the catchment area of the Montenegrin coast has two separate units: the immediate basin of the Adriatic Sea and the catchment area of the River Bojana. The paper is oriented towards presenting the state of surface waters and their morphometric characteristics, which have not been paid attention to in previous research. Previous inspections of watercourses in Montenegro have mostly been related to the lengths of large rivers without detailed analysis of small watercourses, which are mostly in the zone of the Montenegrin coast. A special feature of the data presented in the paper is the coordinates of the sources given for all observed watercourses and the calculation of the share of falls (from the source to the mouth) of the flow in its length. The paper presents tabular representations and data analysis by lengths, ranked by rows, as well as analysis of altitudes of sources. This is a very important element due to the characteristics of the relief that characterizes the investigated region, because the insight into the relief characteristics revealed a sudden change in altitude in a relatively small area.