Stability of travertine barrier on Milino Lake

Abstract

In March 2018, part of the travertine barrier at Milino Lake, in Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia, broke off, significantly altering the flow of water over the barrier. Encouraged by this event, the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Rijeka conducted a monitoring and analysis of the erosion dynamics of the travertine barriers on Plitvice Lakes. Within the project, the analyses of the stability of the travertine barriers were carried out. To the author's knowledge, physical and mechanical properties of travertine have been determined for the first time on samples excluded from travertine barriers between cascading lakes. In addition, no one has previously checked the stability of the travertine barrier located between the two lakes. The maximum compressive and tensile stresses calculated on a numerical model of the broken part of the barrier are compared with the compressive and tensile strength determined by laboratory tests on travertine samples taken from the broken barrier. By comparing the calculated stresses and determined travertine strength, it was found that the stability of the analysed part of the broken travertine barrier at Milino Lake was compromised even if only the self-weight of the collapsed part of the barrier is taken into account.