A stream cascades over a natural terrace in Plitvice Lakes National Park (Nacionalni park Plitvicka jezera, in Croatia, Europe), which was founded in 1949 and is honored by UNESCO as World Heritage Site. Waters flowing over limestone, dolomite, and chalk in this karstic landscape have, over thousands of years, deposited travertine barriers, creating natural dams, beautiful lakes and waterfalls. Warming conditions after the last Ice Age (less than 12,000 years ago) allowed the natural dams to form from tufa (calcium carbonate) and chalk depositing in layers, bound by plants. Plitvicka Jezera is a municipality of Lika-Senj County, in the Republic of Croatia.
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