Jablanica ( ; ) is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

stretching between the state borders of

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

and

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. The larger section of the range is located within Albania, where it forms part of the Shebenik National Park, bounded by the municipalities of

Librazhd Librazhd ( sq-definite, Librazhdi) is a town and a municipality in Elbasan County, southeast Albania. The municipality was reformed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Hotolisht, Librazhd, Lunik, Orenj ...

to the southeast and Dibër to the northwest. On the North Macedonia side, it lies within the limits of

Struga Struga ( ; , sq-definite, Struga) is a town and popular tourist destination situated in the south-western region of North Macedonia, lying on the shore of Lake Ohrid. The town of Struga is the seat of Struga Municipality. Name The name Struga ...

municipality. Its highest peak, ''Black Rock'' (; ), reaches a height of , marking the delineation point for both countries.

Geology

Composed primarily of

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

s, the range features a complex

anticlinal Anticlinal may refer to: *Anticline, in structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is convex up and has its oldest beds at its core *Anticlinal, in stereochemistry, a torsion angle between 90° to 150°, and –90° to –150°; see Alkane_st ...

structure with tectonic detachments. It resembles a large elevated horst surrounded by tectonic-erosive slopes, the most prominent of which are found on the western and eastern edges, near Rrethi i Kurorës and Rajcë, respectively. As the mountain range descends southeastward, it becomes less elevated due to subsidence in the

Ohrid Ohrid ( ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording a population of over 42,000 inhabitants as of ...

graben. The northwestern section of the range is rugged and shaped by glacial and karst processes, while the southeastern side contains predominantly flat and pitted surfaces bounded by steep slopes. The ridge features several

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

plateaus, namely Rrethi i Kurorës and Trishilka, that display various karst formations, predominantly small-sized karst pits. Glacial forms like

cirque A (; from the Latin word ) is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by Glacier#Erosion, glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from , meaning a pot or cauldron) and ; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform a ...

s are fewer and less developed on the western slope, while the eastern slope includes numerous complex ones that transition into glacial troughs.

Biodiversity

Forest vegetation is sparse, mainly covered by beech trees and summer pastures. Jablanica serves as a rare habitat for the Balkan lynx, a subspecies of the

Eurasian lynx The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is one of the four wikt:extant, extant species within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. It is widely distributed from Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe to Cent ...

, whose vulnerable population is estimated to be less than 100, making this area particularly significant for their conservation.

References

{{Authority control Mountains of Albania Mountain ranges of Albania Two-thousanders of Albania Two-thousanders of North Macedonia Albania–North Macedonia border International mountains of Europe Shebenik National Park

Geology

Biodiversity

See also

References