Western Macedonian Zone

The West-Macedonian Zone (WMZ) is a single block unit located in the Internal Dinarides. It is located along the western border of the country, and like all the other units runs more or less north-south. The unit is bordered by the crystalline Pelagonian Massif (PM) to the east. To the west there is a small patch of volcanic rocks called Cukali-Krasta zone (CKZ). The westernmost part is sometimes called the Korabides. This is the main limestone area and thus the area were most caves of the country are located. There are Triassic and Jurassic sediments as well as Tertiary sediments. The carbonaceous rocks have the specific lithological composition of the Dinarides. But there are also low grade metamorphic rocks and anchimetamorphic Paleozoic rocks and magmatites.

At the southern end, there are two huge lakes, which are of touristic as well as of speleological interest. The Lake Ohrid and the Lake Prespa are actually water filled polje which are connected by caves, the water flows underground from one lake to the other. The result are numerous swallow holes, karst springs, caves and other karst related features. We could list only a part of them. And as both lakes are on the border with Albania and/or Greece, the sites are split on these three countries. Lake Ohrid is most famous for its numerous cave churches, small caves which were painted with frescoes, or better cave paintings, during the 13th century.

One word about the name: a search for "West-Macedonian Zone" on google will only show links for West Macedonia, which is a region of Greece. The name West-Macedonian Zone is the name of a geologic unit, and not used outside scientific geological literature. There is no corresponding political or geographical unit, which is why we used the geological unit in the first place.