Musala Lakes
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| Musala Lakes | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Musala Lakes | |
| Coordinates | 42°12′0″N 23°36′0″E / 42.20000°N 23.60000°E |
| Primary inflows | precipitation |
| Basin countries | Bulgaria |
| Surface area | 9,650 m2 (103,900 sq ft) |
| Max. depth | 16.4 m (54 ft) |
| Surface elevation | 2,322 m (7,618 ft) to 2,709 m (8,888 ft) |
Musala Lakes (Bulgarian: Мусаленски езера) are a group of seven glacial lakes situated in the Rila mountain range of southwestern Bulgaria at an altitude between 2,322 m and 2,709 m.
Administratively, the group of lakes belongs to Samokov Municipality of Sofia Province. The seven Musala lakes are situated in the homonymous cirque and belong to the basin of the river Musalenska Bistritsa, a tributary of the Iskar. To the east is situated the summit of Deno (2,790 m), to the southeast is Irechek (2,852 m), to the south are Musala (2,925 m) and Malka Musala (2,902 m), to the west is the valley of Beli Iskar river.[1]
The lakes are formed in three interconnected cascading cirques, giving rise to the glacial valley of the Musalenska Bistritsa, which starts at Rila's highest summit Musala and reaches the winter resort of Borovets further downstream in a northern direction, in the northern foothills of Rila. The first cirque, measuring 740 × 490 m, hosts the first lake. The second, third and fourth lakes are located on three levels in the second cascade cirque Aleko. The next three lakes are located in another cascading cirque measuring 1500 × 500 m, known as the Karakashev cirque. The connection of the last two circuses takes place between the fourth and seventh lakes.
Geology
Geologically, the Musale Lakes fall entirely within the Musala body of the Rila-Western Rhodope batholith, built up of medium- to coarse-grained granite dating from the Bartonian age 40 to 35 million years old. The granite are leucocratic, light gray to gray-white, with a massive uniform-grained texture. The structure is poikilitic and hypidiomorpho-grained. The main rock-forming minerals are plagioclase, orthoclase, quartz and biotite. Amphibole is rare; the accessory minerals are allanite, zircon, xenotime, monazite, apatite and ore minerals.
