Opuvani do

About

The Opuvani do (Serbian: Windy valley) is a sinkhole at the northern slope of the Velika Jastrebica in the Orjen mountain range located in Montenegro. It creates a major refugium to arcto-alpine and alpine biota in a region with warm winters. As the 60 m deep sinkhole is prone to cold-air pooling, frequent freeze-thaw cycles create favourable conditions for periglacially formed features (i.e. solifluction, periglacially patterned ground). The sinkhole is at 1584 m elevation and consists of 4 interconnected sinks. The major sink is laterally elongated, 440 m long. The outflow of the cold air is at 1647 m and the depth of the basin atmosphere is 63 m. In 2020, a relict population of the Alpine salamander (Salamandra atra) was reported from the sink, which fills a 200 km wide distribution gap in the species range.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.