The Ice Storm Aftermath

 

A walk through the park (Roznik) near Ljubljana a month after the ice storm ("zled").

At the bottom of the hill, the broken trees are not so numerous.

 Soon after beginning the climb following the forest path, the full extent of devastation becomes visible.

Approaching the top of the hill the damage becomes ever more evident.

The impact on the fauna is not known yet.

It'll probably take at least a couple of decades to heal the Slovenian woods from this natural catastrophe.

Nodosaur and possibly Rhabdodon finds in Quarry Stranice near Slovenske Konjice (repost from BDW 2005)

   

Mesozoic Mosaic pg #5

Illustration: Sauropelta - by Beri (graphite), Copyright © 2004-2005 Berislav Krzic

 

Mesozoic Mosaic pg #5
Photograph of Struthiosaurus austriacus (Bunzel 1870) fossil on display in Natural History Museum in Vienna Site: Muthmannsdorf near Wiener Neustadt, Austria Struthiosaurus might look like a cross between Edmontonia and Sauropelta, says Kenneth Carpenter, Ph.D. Struthiosaurus References s: (update 2014) Sympatry of two ankylosaurs (Hungarosaurus and cf. Struthiosaurus) in the Santonian of Hungary
Nodosaur and possibly Rhabdodon finds in Quarry Stranice near Slovenske Konjice   In the sediments of Quarry Stranice (kamnoloma Stranice) near SlovenskeKonjice (Campanian; gosauski razvoj) in north-east Slovenia, fossils of single and colonial corals were found. In addition to the corals, bivalves, fragments of sponges, snail shells, ostracodes, briozoa, algae and foraminifera were also found. On the west side of the site, near Lipa, fragments of fish teeth, a crocodylian tooth and the long bones of dinosaurs were discovered. These fossils were first found in 1999 by Franc Pajtler, and researched by Dr. Irena Debeljak. Dr. Debeljak (ZRC SAZU) thought the bones possibly belonged to a medium-sized quadrupedal plant-eating nodosaur, which was a member of the family Ankylosauria. This is the second discovery of dinosaurs in Slovenia. The first one, near Kozina, was in an area that was separated from Quarry Stranice in the Upper Cretaceous by the sea, precluding a comparison of the fauna from the two sites. The fossils of dinosaurs, crocodylians, turtles and freshwater fish indicate a rich vertebrate fauna at that time. The nearest site to Stranice with nodosaur remains is in the vicinity of Vienna (Muthmannsdorf -Wienerneustadt, Avstria). The locality of Quarry Stranice (kamnoloma Stranice) near Slovenske Konjice thus becomes an important palaeontological find. The fossils are on display in the Natural History Museum in Ljubljana: http://www2.pms-lj.si/oddelki/paleontologija/stranice.html English translation: Berislav Krzic Edited by: Brian Franczak Note (Feb/2014): as to my knowledge, up to this day, no further research has been conducted regarding the Quarry Stranice fossil finds.   .

Slovenia in Ice Grip

 When the weather turns bad

It's been the fifth day of the ice grip that has crippled Slovenia. The bitter grip of ice is expected to remain until Wednesday.  In places, the ice coating is more than 5cm thick, causing trees and power lines to break.
Tens of thousands of homes across the country are still without electricity and around 75% of schools and kindergartens were closed on Monday and Tuesday due to traffic and power disruptions.
 An estimated 150,000 households and other consumers are still without electric power supply. Thousands of homes are still cut off. Many roads are closed due to ice or fallen trees.


Sleet and fallen trees are also causing trouble in railway traffic, according to the national operator Slovenske železnice.
"Zled", the dreaded ice storm comes periodically, about once in a decade, but was never so extensive and the damage to the forests so severe as this time. 
Below are few of the photographs I have taken near my home in Ljubljana. The streets have been cleared of ice and fallen branches and the ice coating has already melted a bit.