Lake Palić

Lake Palić
Palićko jezero / Палићко језеро
Coordinates 46°03′N 19°45′E / 46.050°N 19.750°E / 46.050; 19.750Coordinates: 46°03′N 19°45′E / 46.050°N 19.750°E / 46.050; 19.750
Basin countries Serbia
Max. length 8 km (26,000 ft)
Max. width 1 km (3,300 ft)
Surface area 4.2 km2 (1.6 sq mi)
Average depth 2 m (6.6 ft)
Max. depth 3.5 m (11 ft)

Lake Palić (Serbian: Палићко језеро, translit. Palićko jezero; Hungarian: Palicsi-tó) is a lake 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from Subotica, near the town of Palić, in Serbia. It covers an area of 3.8 square kilometres (1.5 sq mi). The average depth of the lake is 2 metres (6 ft 7 in).

Geology

Despite popular belief, Lake Palić is not a remnant of the vast Pannonian Sea which covered this area and completely drained out some 600,000 years ago. It is estimated that both the Palić and Ludoš lakes originated in the early Holocene, around 10,000 years ago, when the last major changes in the surrounding terrain occurred. Prior to that, since the draining of the sea, the European climate was much colder, with the exchange of the cold and dry and the warm and wet periods. Alternatively being frozen and defrosted, the rocks crushed under the ice and crumbled into the dust, which formed sand and loess. The winds would then disperse the loess into the valleys of the Danube and Tisza rivers to the southeast. On the wet grounds, the loess became more compact, becoming thinner and claylike. The surrounding dried land became more and more elevated thus creating the depressions which began to collect water. The process was helped with the erosion which was caused by the water flowing into the depressions. Due to the unstable hydrological regime, the lake constantly disappeared and reappeared through history.[1][2]

The lake is shallow, with an average depth of 1.5 to 2 m (4 ft 11 in to 6 ft 7 in), while the deepest point is 3.5 m (11 ft). It is 8 km (26,000 ft) long and up to 1 km (3,300 ft) wide.[2]

The idea that the lake was remnant of the sea was influenced by its geographical location (in the bed of the former sea) and the fact that the water in the lake was salty. It is more likely that both lakes and the nearby river of Körös-ér are remnants of the former rivers which spilled over the Pannonian basin. Surveys showed that the loess layers are younger than the alluvial ones, so the lakes can't be remains of the former Danube's flow as the wind would naturally cover them with sand and loess.[1]

Human history

The popular local legend of the lake's origin, which also explains the name, says that the shepherd Paul (Pal in Hungarian, Pavle in Serbian) was pasturing his sheep in the area. He had a lamb with the golden fleece but the lamb disappeared one day and the inconsolable Paul cried so much that his tears flooded the pasture and created the salty lake. The lake was then named Paligo Palus in Latin, Palics in Hungarian or Pavlova bara in Serbian.[1][2][3]

The lake was mentioned for the first time in June 1462 when Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus bestowed it to his mother, Queen Mother of Hungary, Erzsébet Szilágyi,[4] as part of the puszta-like Csongrád County. It was mentioned as Palij. In Ottoman inscription from 1580, it was recorded as the village of Palegyhaza in Subotica nahiyah. The writing says the village has 10 houses. and that all pay taxes.[2]

In 1845 the first spa bathroom with wooden baths and an inn were built.[2] Data on the quality of the water originate from 1847 when the first chemical analysis was done. The lake became a spa and the water was used for the soda water production. From the late 19th and into the most of the 20th century, the cyclic development of the overgrowth followed by the fish kill were common. In 1970 the eutrophication reached its peak and almost all the wildlife in the lake died. In 1971 the lake was dried, the sludge was dredged and removed, the filters were placed and the lake was refilled in 1976, but in the next decades, the lake got polluted again.[3]

Wildlife

Over 200 bird species live in the protected section of the lake. During the emptying and refilling of the lake in the 1970s, artificial island made of the dried sludge were formed. They became known as the birds islands, and are today the only nesting location of black-headed gull in Serbia. Surrounding shrubs are habitats of some of the most endangered birds in Serbia, like the migrating pygmy cormorant and razorbill.[2]

Preservation

Only in 2015 a spatial plan was finished, which included the area between the lakes Palić and the neighboring Krvavo Lake, which is divided from Palić by a small embankment. The covered area includes 8.7 ha (21 acres) on which the lots were enlarged in an effort to make it easier for the construction of the future complex (closed and opened swimming pools, aqua park, hotel complex, etc.) All previous plans also include the revitalization of the Palić Spa. Works on improving the lake area include: removal of all sources which pollute the lake with nitrogen and phosphorus, which effectively kills the lake; construction of the sewage system around the lake; creation of the protective 25-metre-wide (82 ft) buffer zone which would prevent the nutrients from the arable land in the vicinity to reach the lake; replacement of the fish species in the lake; tightened regime of the purifying sewage water from Subotica, which still empties into the lake. Some of the experimental works on a small section of the lake which is not opened for tourists showed some success, but as of 2017 everything is still just at the planning stage.[4] Expropriation of the surrounding land is expected to be finished by the end of 2017 which would allow the formation of the buffer zone and the sewage in the town of Palić was to be done by 2018.[3]

The sand filter apparatus (peskolov, "sand catcher") managed to remove enough phosphate from the water to lower it down to below 1 mm/l (0.18 in/imp gal) while the nitrogen level remained a bit above the allowed quantities even though the purifier removed 70% of nitrogen. Still, the pinky foam formed on the lake several times in the 2017-18 period and the results showed that the quality of the water deteriorated. Experts involved in the process of preservation don't have a definite answer why: a long period of previous pollution, weather conditions, draught, several malfunctions of the filter (January-March and August-September 2017), etc.[5] The 2018 tests showed that the major pollutant of the water are fecal bacteria. It is estimated that it will take at least 5 years for the lake to heal.[6]

Tourism

Lake Palić has a relatively short summer season. Influenced by the Hungarian border wellness and spa centers which operate the entire year (Mórahalom, Szeged, Makó, Gyula), the idea of building a wellness complex with the spa was launched in 2006. Master plan for Palić was made in 2007 and the revitalization plan in 2014.[3]

The lake is partially encircled with the 4.5 km (2.8 mi) long pedestrian and bicycle path.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Istine i zablude o Palićkom jezeru" (in Serbian). Subotica.info. 18 March 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Andrijana Cvetićanin (29 October 2017), "Miholjsko leto na Panonskom moru" [Indian summer on Pannonian Sea], Politika-Magazin, No. 1048 (in Serbian), pp. 20–21
  3. 1 2 3 4 Milica Barjaktarević (1 July 2017). "Trag u prostoru: Pavlova bara ili Palić" (in Serbian). Radio Television Serbia.
  4. 1 2 Aleksandra Isakov (30 May 2017), "Palić, banja i kupalište bez kupanja", Politika (in Serbian)
  5. ↑ Aleksandra Isakov (11 February 2018). "Havarija na prečistaču, jezero pati" [Malfunction of the purifier, the lake suffers]. Politika (in Serbian).
  6. ↑ Aleksandra Isakov (17 August 2018). "Настављају се радови на спасавању Палића" [Works on the saving of the Palić continue]. Politika (in Serbian). p. 09.

Sources

  • Seleši, Đ. (2006): Voda Ludaškog jezera, JP „Palić-Ludaš“
  • Seleši, Đ (2000): Voda Palićkog jezera od 1781. do 1999. godine
  • Treitz, P (1903): A Palicsi tó környékének talajismereti leírasa. - Földtani közlöny, 33. K. 316-321
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