| borders_on = Julian Alps| highest = Maja JezercÃ« in Albania| elevation_m = 26944517type:mountaindisplay=inline,title}}| geology = Sedimentary| age = Mesozoic era| orogeny =| area_km2 = 200,000| range_coordinates =| length_km = 645| length_orientation = NW-SE| width_km =| width_orientation =| map_image = Dinarisches Gebirge Topo.png| map_caption = Topography and relief of the Dinarides}}The Dinaric Alps ({{IPAc-en|d|áµ»|Ëˆ|n|Ã¦r|Éª|k}}),{{OED|Dinaric}} also Dinarides, are a mountain range in Southern and Southcentral Europe, separating the continental Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic Sea. They stretch from Italy in the northwest through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo to Albania in the southeast.Profile, dictionary.reference.com; accessed 25 August 2015.WEB,adventure-driven-vacations.com/adv/travel/dinaric-alps/, Visit Dinaric Alps, The Dinaric Alps extend for approximately {{convert|645|km|mi|0}} along the western Balkan Peninsula from the Julian Alps of the northeast Italy, downwards to the Å ar and Korab massif, where their direction changes. The Accursed Mountains are the highest section of the entire Dinaric Alps; this section stretches from Albania to Kosovo and eastern Montenegro. Maja JezercÃ«, standing at {{convert|2694|m|ft|0}} above the Adriatic, is the highest peak and is located in Albania.The Dinaric Alps are one of the most rugged and extensive mountainous areas of Europe, alongside the Caucasus Mountains, Alps, Pyrenees, Carpathian Mountains and Scandinavian Mountains.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}} They are formed largely of Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary rocks of dolomite, limestone, sandstone and conglomerates formed by seas and lakes that once covered the area. During the Alpine earth movements that occurred 50 to 100 million years ago, immense lateral pressures folded and overthrust the rocks in a great arc around the old rigid block of the northeast. The main tectonic phase of the orogenesis in the area of the Dinaric Karst took place in Cenozoic Era (Paleogene) as a result of the Adriatic Microplate (Adria) collision with Europe, and the process is still active.JOURNAL, 10.1016/j.earscirev.2009.07.004, Orogenic evolution of the External Dinarides in the NE Adriatic region: A model constrained by tectonostratigraphy of Upper Cretaceous to Paleogene carbonates, Earth-Science Reviews, 96, 4, 296â€“312, 2009, Korbar, Tvrtko, 2009ESRv...96..296K, The Dinaric Alps were thrown up in more or less parallel ranges, stretching like necklaces from the Julian Alps as far as northern Albania and Kosovo, where the mountainous terrain subsides to make way for the waters of the Drin River and the plains of Kosovo.

Name

The Dinarides are named after Mount Dinara (1,831 m), a prominent peak in the center of the mountain range on the border with the Dalmatian part of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.JOURNAL, Mladen Garasic, Davor Garasic, Speleogenesis in Dinaric karst area, EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, 17, 10058, 1 April 2015, 2015EGUGA..1710058G, Names of the chain in local languages include {{IPA-sq|alpÉ›t dinaÉ¾ikÉ›|}} or ; {{IPA-it|alpi dinarikÉ›|}}; or {{IPA-sh|dÃ¬narskÃ²Ë É¡Ã²ËrjeË|}}; {{IPA-sl|dÃ¬narskÃ²Ë É¡Ã²ËrstvÃ²Ë|}}.

Geology

File:ValbonaPass.jpg|thumb|upright=1.04|Valbona Pass, northern Albania AlbaniaThe Dinaric Karst region is built mostly of Mesozoic limestone and dolomite deposited on top of a huge Bahama-type carbonate platform,JOURNAL, 10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.01.011, Evolution of the Adriatic Carbonate Platform: Palaeogeography, main events and depositional dynamics, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 220, 3â€“4, 333â€“360, 2005, VlahoviÄ‡, Igor, TiÅ¡ljar, Josip, VeliÄ‡, Ivo, MatiÄec, Dubravko, while a few kilometers thick carbonate successions have been deformed during the Alpine orogenesis.JOURNAL, 10.1007/s00015-008-1247-3, The Alpine-Carpathian-Dinaridic orogenic system: Correlation and evolution of tectonic units, Swiss Journal of Geosciences, 101, 139â€“183, 2008, Schmid, Stefan M., Bernoulli, Daniel, FÃ¼genschuh, Bernhard, Matenco, Liviu, Schefer, Senecio, Schuster, Ralf, Tischler, Matthias, Ustaszewski, Kamil, 55108896,doc.rero.ch/record/313359/files/15_2008_Article_1247.pdf, The main tectonic phase of the Alpine orogenesis in the Dinaric Karst region took place in the Cenozoic Era (Paleogene) as a result of the Adriatic microplate (Adria) collision with the Serbo-Macedonian and Rhodope Massifs,JOURNAL, Kilibarda, Zoran, Schassburger, Alec, 1 October 2018, A diverse deep-sea trace fossil assemblage from the Adriatic Flysch Formation (middle Eocene â€“ middle Miocene), Montenegro (central Mediterranean),www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018217310568, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 506, 112â€“127, 10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.06.023, 134665429, 23 November 2022, and the process is still active. The Mesozoic limestone forms a very distinctive region of the Balkans, notable for features such as the Karst Plateau, which has given its name to all such terrains of limestone eroded by groundwater. The Dinarides are known for being composed of karst â€“ limestone rocks â€“ as is Dinara, the mountain for which they were named. The Quaternary ice ages had relatively little direct geologic influence on the Balkans. No permanent ice caps existed, and there is little evidence of extensive glaciation. Only the highest summits of Durmitor, Orjen and Prenj have glacial valleys and moraines as low as {{convert|600|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}. However, in the Accursed Mountains (), a range on the northern Albanian border that runs east to west (thus breaking the general geographic trend of the Dinaric system), there is evidence of major glaciation. One geological feature of great importance to the present-day landscape of the Dinarides must be considered in more detail: that of the limestone mountains, often with their attendant faulting. They are hard and slow to erode, and often persist as steep jagged escarpments, through which steep-sided gorges and canyons are cleft by the rivers draining the higher slopes.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}The partially submerged western Dinaric Alps form the numerous islands and harbors along the Croatian coast.File:ÐŸÐ»Ð°Ð½Ð¸Ð½Ð° ÐœÑƒÑ‡Ð°Ñš.jpg|thumb|upright=1.04|Mount MuÄanj, lower Dinarides, western Serbia Serbia

Rivers in Dinaric karst

File:Balkan mountains near the city FoÄa. Dinaric Alps 04.jpg|thumb|upright=1.04|The surroundings of FoÄa. Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and HerzegovinaThe most extensive example of limestone mountains in Europe are those of the Karst of the Dinaric Alps. Here, all the characteristic features are encountered again and again as one travels through this wild and thinly populated country. Limestone is a very porous rock, yet very hard and resistant to erosion. Water is the most important corrosive force, dissolving the limestone by chemical action of its natural acidity. As it percolates down through cracks in the limestone it opens up fissures and channels, often of considerable depth, so that whole systems of underground drainage develop. During subsequent millennia these work deeper, leaving in their wake enormous waterless caverns, sinkholes and grottoes and forming underground labyrinths of channels and shafts. The roofs of some of these caverns may eventually fall in, to produce great perpendicular-sided gorges, exposing the surface to the water once more.The Dinaric rivers carved many canyons characteristic for Dinaric Alps, and in particular karst. Among the largest and most well known are the Neretva, the Rakitnica, the PraÄa, the Drina, the Sutjeska, the Vrbas, the Ugar, the Piva, the Tara, the Komarnica, the MoraÄa, the Cem/Ciijevna, the Lim, and the Drin.Only along the Dinaric gorges is communication possible across the Karst, and roads and railways tunnel through precipitous cliffs and traverse narrow ledges above roaring torrents. A number of springs and rivers rise in the Dinaric range, including Jadro Spring noted for having been the source of water for Diocletian’s Palace at Split.WEB,www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=17691, C.Michael Hogan, “Diocletian’s Palace”, A. Burnham ed, 6 October 2007, The Megalithic Portal, 19 August 2012, At the same time, the purity of these rocks is such that the rivers are crystal clear, and there is little soil-making residue. Water quality testing of the Jadro River, for example, indicates the low pollutant levels present.JOURNAL, The Pollution Load by Nitrogen and Phosphorus in the Jadro River, 10.1007/s10661-005-9066-8, 123, 1â€“3, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 13â€“30, 2006, Å tambuk-GiljanoviÄ‡, Nives, 17054013, 21572417, Rock faces are often bare of vegetation and glaring white, but what little soil there is may collect in the hollows and support lush lime-tolerant vegetation, or yield narrow strips of cultivation.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

Human activity

{{See also|Dinaric race}}Ruins of fortresses dot the mountainous landscape, evidence of centuries of war and the refuge the Dinaric Alps have provided to various armed forces. During the Roman period, the Dinarides provided shelter to the Illyrians resisting Roman conquest of the Balkans, which began with the conquest of the eastern Adriatic coast in the 3rd century BC. Rome conquered the whole of Illyria in 168 BC, but these mountains sheltered Illyrian resistance forces for many years until the area’s complete subjugation by 14 AD. More recently, the Ottoman Empire failed to fully subjugate the mountainous areas of Montenegro{{Broken anchor|date=2024-03-25|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Montenegro#Ottoman period|reason= The anchor (Ottoman period) (Special:Diff/1016614352|has been deleted).}}. In the 20th century, too, the mountains provided favourable terrain for guerrilla warfare, with Yugoslav Partisans organising one of the most successful Allied resistance movements of World War II.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}The area remains underpopulated, and forestry and mining remain the chief economic activities in the Dinaric Alps. The people of the Dinaric Alps are on record as being the tallest in the world, with an average male adolescent height of {{convert|185.6|cm|ftin|abbr=on}}.JOURNAL, Les Alpes Dinariques : un peuple de sujets de grande taille Average height of adolescents in the Dinaric Alps, 1 September 2005, 16168365, 10.1016/j.crvi.2005.07.004, 328, 9, Comptes Rendus Biologies, 841â€“6, Pineau, JC, Delamarche, P, Bozinovic, S,comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/biologies/articles/10.1016/j.crvi.2005.07.004/, This study contributes to an update of average heights among European populations. Our investigation covering 2705 boys and 2842 girls aged 17 years, shows that, contrary to the general belief, adolescents of the Dinaric Alps are, on average, the tallest in Europe. With an average height of 185.6 cm, they are taller than Dutch adolescents (184 cm on average)., The people of Bosnia and Herzegovina have the highest recorded average of any single country, with 183.9 cm average for men and 171.8 cm for women.WEB, Stevo PopoviÄ‡, Gabriela Doina Tanase, DuÅ¡ko Bjelica, Body Height and Arm Span in Bosnian and Herzegovinian Adults,www.mjssm.me/clanci/MJSSM_March_2015_Popovic_29-36.pdf, mjssm.me, Montennegro Journal of Sports Sci. Medicine 4 (2015) 1: Original scientific paper, 4 September 2016, 29â€“36, en, .pdf, 2015, WEB,www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-tallest-average-heights.html, Countries with the Tallest Average Heights, WEB,www.klix.ba/magazin/zanimljivosti/bih-na-prvom-mjestu-liste-zemalja-s-najvisim-ljudima-u-svijetu/160517141, BiH na prvom mjestu liste zemalja s najviÅ¡im ljudima u svijetu,

Mountain passes

The main mountain passes of the Dinaric Alps are:Summitpost. Dinaric Alps: Passes in the Dinaric Alps, Retrieved 19 November 2008

Postojna Gate (Postojnska vrata), Slovenia ({{convert|606|m|ft|0|abbr=on|disp=or}}),
Vratnik pass, Croatia ({{convert|700|m|ft|0|abbr=on|disp=or}})
Debelo brdo, Serbia ({{convert|1094|m|ft|0|abbr=on|disp=or}})
Knin Gate (Kninska vrata), Croatia (about {{convert|700|m|ft|0|abbr=on|disp=or}})
Vaganj, Croatia/Bosnia-Herzegovina ({{convert|1137|m|ft|0|abbr=on|disp=or}})
Ivan-Saddle (Ivan-sedlo), Bosnia-Herzegovina ({{convert|967|m|ft|0|abbr=on|disp=or}})
Kupres Gate (KupreÅ¡ka vrata), Bosnia-Herzegovina ({{convert|1384|m|ft|0|abbr=on|disp=or}})
ÄŒemerno, Bosnia-Herzegovina ({{convert|1329|m|ft|0|abbr=on|disp=or}})
Crkvine, Montenegro ({{convert|1045|m|ft|0|abbr=on|disp=or}})
ÄŒakor, Montenegro ({{convert|1849|m|ft|0|abbr=on|disp=or}})

Tunnels

Major tunnels transversing the Dinaric Alps include:

Mountains and plateaus

File:Dinaric Alps subdivisions-fr.svg|thumb|upright=1.36|Geomorphological subdivisions of Dinaric Alps

Legend:

A1: The area of the North Adriatic - the territory of Istria and the Kras area A2: Northern Adriatic - North Adriatic islands A3: Mountains of Dalmatia - Central mountain range A4: Dalmatian Mountains - Coastal Mountain Range A5: The mountains of southern Dalmatia and Mediterranean Herzegovina A6: The islands of Central and South Adriatic and Peljesac A7: Primorje Mountains of Montenegro A8: Coastal and Central Montenegro Mountains - Katunska karst flattening A9: Mountains of the Montenegrin Rudina A10/11: Mountains of Low Herzegovina B1: Group of Trnova herod B2: SneÅ¾nik and Gorski kotar plateaus B3: Notran plateau B4: Great Chapel (Velika Kapela)B5: Massive Velebit B6: Little Chapel (Mala Kapela) and Lika Center B7: Massif LiÄka PljeÅ¡ivica (PljeÅ¡evica) B8: Massive Dinara B9: Å ator B10: Cincar B11: KlekovaÄa (S) and GrmeÄ (N) B12: RaduÅ¡a B13: ÄŒvrsnica B14: Massive Prenj B15: High mountains of Herzegovina - VeleÅ¾ and Herzegovinian Rudine B16: Mountains of High Herzegovina - Mountain range of Crvanj-LebrÅ¡nik B17: Zelengora Group B18: BioÄ-Maglic-Volujak Group B19: Vranica Group B20: BjelaÅ¡nica (Southern Sarajevo Mountains) B21: Mountain range Golija-Vojnik B22: Group Switches B23: Durmitor area B24: Sinjajevina B25: The Moravian-Fallen Mountains and Maganik B26: LjubiÅ¡nja B27: Massive Bjelasica B28: Komovi B29: Visitor B30: KuÄke planine (Å½ijovo) B31: Albanian Alps C1: Group of KoÄevski Rog C2: Å½umberak / Gorjanci Group C3: Central and Eastern Bosnia Mountains - VlaÅ¡iÄ‡ Group C4: Central Bosnia Mountains C5: Eastern Bosnia Mountains C6: Central and Eastern Bosnia Mountains - Jahorina Group C7: Mountains of Stara Vlaha and Raska (SandÅ¾ak) - Polymers-Podrinje Group C8: Mountains of Stara Vlaha and RaÅ¡ka (SandÅ¾ak) - Zlatarsko-peÅ¡terska Group C9: Mountains of the Old Mountains - the central group C10: Mountains of Serbia - Podrinje-valjevo mountains C11: Pre-Dinaric Mountains: Kozara (NW) och Majevica MajevicaThe mountains and plateaus within the Dinarides are found in the following regions: