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Karst phenomena recorded in Alberto Fortis' Viaggio in Dalmazia (1774)

Karst landscape occupies almost half of Croatian territory, including its coastal part – Dalmatia. It is a part of Dinaric Karst which, due to exceptional development of almost all karst features, referred to as Classical Karst. By attracting various scientists, it was also a cradle of modern karstology from the end of 18th until the beginning of 20th century. But prior to studies of well-known scholars such as Cvijic, Grund, Katzer etc., an Italian abbot had noted both physical and social particularities of Dalmatian karst. It was Alberto Fortis (1741-1805), theologian by vocation, but naturalist in his heart. With no formal education in Earth science, but taught by eminent 18th-century geologists, mineralogists, petrologists and palaeontologists, in the early 1770's he preformed several travels into Dalmatia. It was the first comprehensive study of this part of Europe subsequently published as the book Viaggio in Dalmazia (Travels into Dalmatia) in Venice in 1774. Records concerning karst features and processes were mostly obtained by observation due to rather poor and simple equipment of that time. Nevertheless, Fortis provided some excellent explanations of various processes. Some twenty years before Hutton's theory of role of carbonic acid in the dissolution of limestone, Fortis ascribed rock roughness (in fact surface corrosion) to 'airborne acid'. Furthermore, he described speleothem precipitation from the 'drops full of salty atoms and particles that can crystallize', and tufa formations from 'lime scale (or tartar) rivers'. Descriptions of polje hydrgeology, sinking rivers, estaveles, and vruljas functions were also quite correct. Of course, some misinterpretations also occurred such as tidal notch formation attributed to 'corrosion because of the sea salt' or ascribing initial straw of stalactites to stalagmites as well, and some other. However, although Fortis' work on karst phenomena was not recognized at the time and was unjustly neglected in years to come, his contribution to the understanding of karst genesis and processes cannot be denied.

karst; Alberto Fortis; Dalmatia; Croatia

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