The Lahinja is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...

White Carniola White Carniola ( sl, Bela krajina; german: Weißkrain or ''Weiße Mark'') is a traditional region in southeastern Slovenia on the border with Croatia. Due to its smallness, it is often considered a subunit of the broader Lower Carniola region, alth ...

, the extreme southeastern part of

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

. It is long and originates from several

karst spring A karst spring or karstic spring is a spring (outflow of groundwater) that is part of a karst hydrological system. Description Because of their often conical or inverted bowl shape, karst springs are also known in German-speaking lands as a ''T ...

s at the end of a

steephead valley A steephead valley, steephead or blind valley is a deep, narrow, flat bottomed valley with an abrupt ending. Such closed valleys may arise in limestone or karst landscapes, where a layer of permeable rock lies above an impermeable substract such ...

between the villages of Knežina,

Belčji Vrh Belčji Vrh (; german: Weltschberg''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 6.) is a village south of the town of Črnomelj in the White Car ...

, and

Mali Nerajec Mali Nerajec (; german: Kleinnaraiz''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 7.) is a small settlement south of Dragatuš in the Municipality ...

. In its upper course the river flows towards the north in a narrow bed with a very shallow gradient, resulting in the fact that it meanders significantly. All of its major affluents join it from the west and all of them start from karst springs. At Dragatuš it is joined by its major tributary Podturnščica Creek, and at

Črnomelj Črnomelj (; in older sources also ''Černomelj'', german: Tschernembl''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 4.) is a town in southeastern S ...

by Dobličica Creek. From the outflow of Podturnščica Creek the bed of the Lahinja is narrow and up to 20 m deep, with numerous bends. At the vicinity of one of them stands Gradac Castle. From Črnomelj to Gradac the river has no surface affluents, but below Gradac it is joined by the high-volume and faster-flowing Krupa. After its confluence with the Krupa, the Lahinja turns towards the east. It joins the Kolpa at Primostek. The Lahinja's

river basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

is asymmetric because it receives the majority of its surface affluents from the right side. It is a part of the

Sava The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...

Basin. The Lahinja Regional Park extends from Knežina to Pusti Gradec, along the first seven km (4.5 mi) of the Lahinja.

References

External links

* {{Hydrology of Slovenia Rivers of White Carniola Natura 2000 in Slovenia