page_title: Lake Cerknica
section_title: Research history
hierarchical_section_title: Lake Cerknica / Research history
caption_attribution_description: Illustration
context_page_description: Lake Cerknica is an intermittent lake in the southern part of the Cerknica Polje, a karst polje in Inner Carniola, a region in southwestern Slovenia. The lake, oriented in the Dinaric direction from northwest to southeast, is present for the most part of the year. When full, it is the largest lake in the country. The plain is surrounded by the Javornik Hills to the south and Slivnica to the north, both belonging to Dinaric Alps. The area of the lake mainly reaches 28 square kilometres, but can reach up to 38 km² and the surface level varies from 546 m to 551 m above sea level. The lake is an important wildlife resort, especially as a nesting place for many bird species. Botanically, it is distinguished by amphibious plants. It is therefore a part of two Natura 2000 areas of protection and the focus of the Inner Carniola Regional Park, which covers additional Natura 2000 areas in the broader region. The climate in the area is continental, with a mean temperature of 9.2 °C and the annual precipitation about 1,700 millimetres. The largest settlement at the border of the lake is Cerknica, located north of the lake. Various watersports, including rowing, are popular on the lake.
context_section_description: Strabo in his Geography mentions a "marsh called Lugeon" (helos Lougeon kaloumenon) which has been identified with Lake Cerknica, Lougeon being Strabo's Greek rendition of a local toponym, perhaps of Illyrian origin. It is Romanized as Lugeum. In November 1687 the Carniolan polymath Johann Weikhard von Valvasor described the lake in his letter to the Royal Society, an excerpt of which was published in the Society's Philosophical Transactions in December that year. He proposed a model of filling and emptying the lake, based on Cartesian mechanics. The first to accurately describe the functioning of Lake Cerknica was Tobias Gruber in 1781, followed in 1784 by Belsazar Hacquet.
caption: Illustration of Lacus Cirknicensis potiora phaenomena published in Acta Eruditorum, 1689
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