The Lebnitsa () is a river in southwestern

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

and southeastern

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 ...

, a right tributary of the Struma. The river is 50 km long; of them 42 km are in Bulgaria. The Lebnitsa drains part of the southern sections of the

Maleshevo Mountain The Maleshevo Mountain () or Maleševo Mountain (), is situated in southwestern Bulgaria and eastern North Macedonia. It is the third of the five mountains of the Osogovo-Belasica mountain group, known also as the Western Border Mountains. The ...

and the northern section of the Ograzhden Mountain, forming the boundary between the two ranges along its whole course. The river takes its source on the territory of

at an altitude of 1,480 m, at about 1.4 km southeast of the summit of Ograzhdenets (1,748 m), the highest in Ograzhden. It flows in eastern direction and after 8 km crosses the border into Bulgaria. On Bulgarian territory the Lebnitsa flows in northeastern direction to the village of Nikudin, where it turns to the southeast to the village of Dragush; following Dragush it turns eastwards. Near the village of Lebnitsa the river enters the

Sandanski–Petrich Valley Sandanski–Petrich Valley () is situated in southwestern Bulgaria along the river Struma (river), Struma and its right tributary Strumica (river), Strumeshnitsa, with a very small part of the territory extending to Greece. The valley is enclosed ...

, forming an extensive alluvial cone. It flows into the Struma at an altitude of 104 m near the industrial zone of the town of

Sandanski Sandanski ( ; , formerly known as Sveti Vrach, , until 1947) is a town and a recreation center in southwestern Bulgaria, part of Blagoevgrad Province. Named after the Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary Yane Sandanski, it is situated in Sanda ...

. Its river valley is deeply incised in metamorphic rocks and granites, forming numerous meanders. The slopes of its valley are ofter heavily deforested and eroded. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which 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, ...

covers a territory of 318 km² or 1.84% of Struma's total. The Lebnitsa has predominantly rain-snow feed with high water in March and low water in August. The average annual flow at its mouth is 2.64 m³/s; the maximum flow is 101 m³/s. There is one settlement along the river, the village of Nikudin in

Strumyani Municipality Strumyani Municipality is a municipality in Blagoevgrad Province in Southwestern Bulgaria. Demographics Religion According to the latest Bulgarian census of 2011, the religious composition, among those who answered the optional question on rel ...

Blagoevgrad Province Blagoevgrad Province (, ''oblast Blagoevgrad'' or Благоевградска област, ''Blagoevgradska oblast''), also known as Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia (), (''Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya'') is a province ('' ...

. The river's waters are utilised for irrigation. Fish species include Struma barbel,

common nase The common nase (''Chondrostoma nasus'') is a European potamodromous cyprinid fish. It is often simply called the nase, but that can refer to any species of its genus '' Chondrostoma''. Another name is sneep. Distribution The nase is found natur ...

and common chub. Along its left banks in Maleshevo Mountains on Bulgarian territory is situated Sokolata nature reserve, established to protect old-growth ''

Quercus frainetto ''Quercus frainetto'' (Synonym (taxonomy), synonyms ''Quercus conferta'', ''Quercus farnetto''), commonly known as the Hungarian oak, is a species of oak, native plant, native to southeastern Europe (parts of Italy, the Balkans, parts of Hungary, ...

'' forests.

Citations

References

* * {{cite book , ref={{harvid, Encyclopaedia "Pirin Region", 1995 , title = Енциклопедия "Пирински край", том I , trans-title = Encyclopaedia "Pirin Region", Volume I , last1 = , first1 = , year = 1995 , language = Bulgarian , publisher = Редакция „Енциклопедия“ (Editorial "Encyclopaedia") , location = Благоевград (

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultura ...

) , isbn = Rivers of Bulgaria Rivers of North Macedonia Landforms of Blagoevgrad Province