Nenad Buzjak
This show cave is located in Croatian Dinaric karst region of Lika near settlement Perušić. It has long recorded history of visits since 1792. Samograd is the largest cave of the protected area in the Grabovača Cave Park, Significant landscape Risovac-Grabovača, protected as the geomorphological monument of nature. It is a simple cave consisting of one large passage 345.8 m long. The deepest point of the cave is 52.7 m below the surface. The hight of the passage in the 3rd chamber is 32.5 m. The cave is formed in Upper Cretaceous limestone by the karstification along fissure system of N-S and NW-SE directions. In the interior of the cave there are numerous deposits of calcite speleothems of many forms. At the bottom of the cave, several small periodically ponds are formed from the accumulation of dripping water, which seeps through the rocks in the ceiling or is formed by condensation. During winter time in the entrance zone the dripping water freezing forming ice speleothems and ice crusts due to the colder surface air inflow.
Microclimatic measurements were taken intermittently in the Samograd. In the past three years, monthly measurements of selected microclimatic parameters have been performed: temperature, relative humidity and air flow, CO2 concentration.
Literature:
Buzjak, N., Bočić, N., Pahernik, M. 2019: Geomorphological Heritage Of The Significant Landscape Risovac – Grabovača [In Croatian]. Acta Geographica Croatica, Vol. 45/46, No. 1, https://doi.org/10.21861/AGC.2019.45-46.04