41°46′16″N 23°24′17″E / 41.77111°N 23.40472°E / 41.77111; 23.40472

Vihren seen from Kazanite

Golemiya Kazan (Bulgarian: Големия казан) is one of the two cirques that form an area called Kazanite (the Cauldrons), situated in Bulgaria's Pirin mountain range.[1] Kazanite are located below the two highest summits Vihren (2,914 m) to the south and Kutelo (2,908 m) to the north.[2] It is composed of two cirques, Malkiya Kazan (The Small Cauldron), which is the lower one (2,200 m) and is grassy, and Golemiya Kazan (The Big Cauldron), situated at 2,400 m and with stony slopes.[2] The size of Golemiya Kazan is 1,200 m by 1,100 m.[1] They were named like that because there is often fog rising from the cirques.[2] Due to the karst in the region there are no lakes or streams in Kazanite.[1][2] A 450 m-high face of Vihren begins from Golemiya Kazan and at its foot a small glacier called Snezhnika is located,[1] whose size is 80x90 m in summer,[2] with a latitude of 41°46′09″ N it is the southernmost glacial mass in Europe.[3] Chamois are abundant in this area.

Citations

edit
  1. ^ a b c d Geographic Dictionary of Bulgaria 1980, p. 230
  2. ^ a b c d e Dushkov 1972, p. 80
  3. ^ Grunewald, p. 129.

References

edit
  • Мичев (Michev), Николай (Nikolay); Михайлов (Mihaylov), Цветко (Tsvetko); Вапцаров (Vaptsarov), Иван (Ivan); Кираджиев (Kiradzhiev), Светлин (Svetlin) (1980). Географски речник на България [Geographic Dictionary of Bulgaria] (in Bulgarian). София (Sofia): Наука и култура (Nauka i kultura).
  • Душков (Dushkov), Добри (Dobri) (1972). Пирин. Туристически речник [Pirin. Tourist Dictionary] (in Bulgarian). София (Sofia): Наука и култура (Nauka i kultura).