Relief evolution in the hinterland of the Pivka river

Abstract

The article discusses relief evolution in the catchment area of the highest situated permanent spring of the Pivka river – the Pivšce karst spring near the village Zagorje. The discussed landscape, which lies on the southernmost edge of the Upper Pivka valley, shows several geomorphological particularities, which are the result of different geomorphogenetic processes in the past. The basic characteristics of the present relief were shaped in the Pliocene when also the original valley of the Pivka river was formed. The region was more profoundly transformed by Pleistocene processes, which strongly altered the surface. Apart from karstic relief forms, there are several small dry stream channels on the land surface, which were carved by torrents. The two most distinctive relief features are the karst polje situated between the villages Koritnice, Bač and Knežak, which is covered with rubble and gravel-like clastic sediments, and the dry valley of the former Pivka river lying southwest from Koritnice.