Geomorphology of the Durmitor Mountains and surrounding plateau Jezerska Povrs (Montenegro)

Abstract

The geomorphological map of the northeastern Durmitor Mountains and the plateau Jezerska Povrs. (1: 10,000, 47 km(2), Montenegro, Dinaric Alps) was prepared from an intensive fieldwork campaign and remote sensing analysis, and was compiled within a GIS. The basic components of the legend are (i) processes/genesis, (ii) materials, (iii) morphometry/morphography, (iv) hydrography, (v) vegetation and (vi) anthropogenic features. The geomorphological setting of the area consists of Mesozoic limestones which are physically deformed by Quaternary glacial and periglacial activity and chemically affected during interglacials. Glacial deposits on the plateau of three middle-to-late Pleistocene glacial phases are intersected by a well-developed network of palaeo meltwater channels. In the mountains, Holocene glacier retreat left behind a series of well-preserved recessional moraines. The map serves as a valuable tool for Quaternary research in the Durmitor Mountains, and also in other mountains of the Western Balkans.