The Lika is a river in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

which gives its name to the

Lika Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by t ...

region. It is long and it has a basin with an area of . Its average discharge at the measurement station in Bilaj (covering 225 km² of the basin) is 7.33 m³/s, and it can go completely dry. It is known as a sinking river because at the end of its course, it flows into a series of

ponor A ponor is a natural opening where surface water enters into underground passages; they may be found in Karst topography, karst landscapes where the geology and the geomorphology is typically dominated by porous limestone rock. Ponors can drain s ...

s or swallow-holes and disappears from the surface. The Lika River rises near the village of Kukljić at the foot of the

Velebit Velebit (; ; ) is the largest, though not the highest, mountain range in Croatia. The range forms a part of the Dinaric Alps and is located along the Adriatic coast, separating it from Lika in the interior. Velebit begins in the northwest near ...

Mountains, flows in a northwesterly direction past the town of

Gospić Gospić () is a town in Lika, Croatia. It is the seat of the Lika-Senj County. Geography Gospić is located in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Lika. It is the administrative center of Lika-Senj County. Gospić is located n ...

, enters and leaves Lake Krušćica, and continues to the northwest until it sinks into the

karst topography 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 ...

at ponors near Lipovo Polje.

Etymology and names

The name is mostly likely to derive from the Proto-Indo European root *u̯leiku̯- ‘to be(come) moist, to moisten’.Bichlmeier, H. (2023). The Croatian Hydronym and Choronym Líka and its Presumed Relatives Lech, Liẽkė, etc.. Folia onomastica Croatica, (32), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.21857/9e31lh642m

References

Bonacci, Ognjen and Andric, Ivo. carsologica.zrc-sazu.si ''Sinking Karst Rivers Hydrology: Case of the Lika and Gacka (Croatia)''
Rivers of Croatia Landforms of Lika-Senj County Lika {{Croatia-river-stub