Karst Regions of Montenegro and Environmental Degradation and Remediation

Montenegro is an area of vast mountain ridges and terrain, deep and narrow river valleys, and only a small number of low-level planes. In its total area, with just over 90% share, the area over 200 meters above sea level dominates. Hilly and mountainous areas of 200 - 1000 meters above sea level cover about 35% of the territory. The mountainous region of 1000-1500 meters above sea level covers about 45%, while the highest parts of the mountains over 1500 meters above sea level accounts for about 15% of the territory. Below 1000 m above sea level is approximately 45% of the territory, in which about 15% are areas up to 500 meters above sea level and 29% of the area of 500 - 1000 meters above sea level. The territory of over 1700 meters above sea level qualifies as a very high mountain, and thus, in terms of the development of restrictive category area covers about 8.5% of the area. Karst in Montenegro covers more than 75%. Here, deep karst (Holokarst) is represented, followed by Jure-type karst, and shallow karst is the least present, with about 12% of total karst. Karst is most stronlgly pronounced in the mountainous area from Orjen via Lovcen to Rumija. High mountain karst covers the Central Zone of Montenegro, and shallow karst is represented in the northeastern zone towards the Serbian border.