Valbona (river)
| Valbona | ||
 In narrow Valbona valley below Dragobia |
||
| Data | ||
| location | Albania | |
| River system | Buna | |
| Drain over | In → Buna → Adria | |
| muzzle | in the Koman Reservoir Coordinates: 42 ° 15 ′ 59 ″ N , 20 ° 1 ′ 19 ″ E 42 ° 15 ′ 59 ″ N , 20 ° 1 ′ 19 ″ E
|
|
| length | 50.6 km | |
| Catchment area | 657 km² | |
| Discharge at the Gria gauge |
MQ |
33 m³ / s |
| Small towns | Bajram Curr | |
| Communities | Margegaj (Valbona) , Fierza | |
Valbona is the name of a river in northern Albania . It is considered to be the largest river in the Albanian Alps , the central eastern part of which it drains.
The river rises south of the Jezerca on the east side of the pass Qafa e Valbonës in Tropoja from karst springs . At its upper reaches, the Valbona flows through an approximately 30-kilometer-long valley formed by glaciers that bears the same name. The place Rragam , the highest settlement in the Valbona valley, is hardly inhabited anymore. From here on, the valley floor is flat and wide for a few kilometers, a typical U-valley . The flat section is characterized by a wide gravel bed, in which the river does not always flow water in summer - the water searches for a path underground for around seven kilometers. The village of Valbona is at the end of the gravel bed . Shortly below the village, the valley becomes steep and narrow. The small village of Dragobia lies at a slightly wider point, and the village of Çerem in a side valley. At the end of the Valbona valley, the river passes a deep gorge and then emerges into a wide trough valley, above which the town of Bajram Curri lies. In this basin, the Valbona receives the Gash and Bistrica rivers . After another narrow passage between mountains, the Valbona flows into the Drin dammed up to the Koman reservoir at Fierza on the right .
The 50.6 kilometers long Valbona is the largest tributary of the Drin. Nevertheless, it retains its wild, alpine character throughout the course. It drains an area of 657 square kilometers. The average flow rate in the lower part of the village of Gria is 33 cubic meters per second.
The Valbona Glacier reached a length of 9.5 kilometers in the Würme Ice Age . It extended from the northeast flank of the Jezerca, where two very short, active glaciers are still located today, to a little below Valbona. At this point at around 920 m above sea level. A. the transition from the wide trough valley to a narrow notch valley can still be seen today .
Various species of fish can be found in the clear water of the river, including the marble trout .
In 2016, the local population and environmental activists protested against the planned construction of six hydropower plants on the upper reaches of the Valbonatal National Park .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Wolfgang Fremuth (editor): Albania - Guide to it's Natural Treasures , Verlag Herwig Klemp, Tirana 2000, ISBN 3-931323-06-4
- ↑ United Nations Environment Program Vienna - Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention (Ed.): Feasibility Study on establishing a transboundary protected area Prokletije / Bjeshkët e Nemuna Mountains . Vienna 2010 ( online [PDF; accessed on September 22, 2013]). Online ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Milovan Milivojevića, Ljubomir Menkovića and Jelena Ćalić: Pleistocene glacial relief of the central part of Mt. Prokletije (Albanian Alps) , in: Quaternary International, V. 190, 1, November 1, 2008, pp. 112-122
- ↑ Fatjona Mejdini: Campaigners say Power Plants will Wreck 'Albania's Alps'. In: Balkan Insight . April 13, 2016, accessed April 14, 2016 .
