Geomorphological Characteristics of Dugi Otok Island, Croatia

Abstract

Dugi Otok Island is the biggest (114 km2) and the longest (44.4 km) of all Zadar archipelago islands. According to the coast indentedness (4.5), it is the second island in the Adriatic Sea. Basic geomorphological characteristics of the island are relatively great concordance of orography and basic geological structure and predominance of the karstic type of relief on the carbonate lithological basis. Marine type of relief is very characteristic, especially the features formed by abrasion process. Parallelism of the island with relief and geological structures of neighbouring mainland classifies the island into the type of continental islands extended in Dinaric NW-SE direction. Today's relief characteristics are primarily the result of the post-Pleistocene sea ingresion, which is the consequence of the general raising of the world sea level for ca. 100 m.