Geographical and Geological Features

Sečovlje Salina is an area of habitats with rare, endangered and characteristic plant and animal species, where a typical salt-pan ecosystem has been formed owing to the prolonged human activities within it.

With the Act on notification of succession with regard to UNESCO's conventions, the Parliament of Slovenia inscribed the Sečovlje Salina on the list of wetlands of international concern, particularly as habitats of marsh birds.

Today, the salt-pans' economic role is intertwined with nature conservational and cultural roles: owing to its quality and mineral content, the produced salt is highly esteemed by its users; conservation of salt-making practices is sustained by the awareness of this rich cultural heritage; the salt-pans area provides shelter for rare and special plant and animal species; at the same time, the reserve of ecologically precious living environment is highly valuable to humans as well, and is a  memory of once rich Mediterranean cultural heritage and landscape that is rapidly disappearing in front of our very eyes. 

Sečovlje Salina is a technological facility, which must be constantly maintained in a suitable state. The protective salina's levees are at the same time protective levees for the salina's hinterland with its agricultural land, important thoroughfare, airport and other economic activities.

The traditional salt-making at Sečovlje salt-pans has created a special space and is retaining, through traditional salt-making procedures, high biodiversity in it.

The salt-pans are located within the protected area of SSNP and outside the influences of large industrial centres. They lie far enough from urban and tourist areas to be supplied by quality seawater needed for salt production. Piran Bay excels do to its clear water and strong current running along the eastern Adriatic coast towards the north. Clear seawater, mild Mediterranean climate and fertile Istrian soil are the main elements of this exceptional and unique environment.

Salt is produced in the area covering ca. 593 ha, 435 ha of which are used for traditional salt-making in the  Fontanigge and Lera areas. Fontanigge is used for the preparation of brine, while Lera serves for the preparation of brine and crystallization of salt. Salt is made exclusively from seawater reaching the pans from Piran Bay during high tides. Inflow of outside waters is not possible owing to the marginal channels and levees. The  water transport system is made of network of inflow and outflow channels, pumping station, sluice for the regulation of discharges and main sluice with return flaps for the filling or emptying of basins directly into the sea or channels connected with it.

Channels for the transport of waters are made of sediments of the former alluvial deposits by the Dragonja River and are subjected to erosion. Erosion is particularly fast during heavy rains and at times when basins are inundated and when strong winds cause strong wave motion.

The sediments at Sečovlje salt-pans were mostly deposited there by the Dragonja River. It cut its wide bed along the contact area between flysch layers and Šavrini Hillocks that surround the pans in the north and cretaceous limestone of Savudrija Peninsula in the south. In the lower part, the layers of sandy clay and argillaceous gravel alternate, while in the upper part the alluvial sediments and sea mud are alternating in the upper part. Well perceptible are individual changes in the sediment (seashells and snails) and dark organic matter sediments (leaves, stems, roots), which indicates that the mouth of Dragonja River was periodically boggy for shorter periods of time. The fossil remains of sea mud show that the marine environment of sedimentation alternated several times with the semi-salty environment in the Sečovlje dale. Through depositing of alluvial sediments, the bottom at the Dragonja outfall rose, thus creating the conditions suitable for the construction of salt fields.

  

Sediment is the basic material for the building of salt-pan structures such as levees and channels. The levees are partially protected with wood or stone to reduce the effects of erosion, which is to a certain extent also mitigated by the larger levees being overgrown here and there with rare halophilous and other vegetation. The bottoms of the basins in which brine is made are lined with clay, whereas the crystallization beds' clayey bottoms are covered with a layer of petola.