Zala (Idrijca)

The Zala is a stream in western Slovenia and a right tributary of the Idrijca River. It originates in a basin below Jelični Vrh and Medvedje Brdo near Godovič, and it discharges into the Idrijca near the hamlet of Podroteja. For the last few kilometers before flowing into the Idrijca, it flows through a canyon made of Lower Cretaceous limestone. The stream is subparallel to the local Dinarid Zala tectonic fault, and they are geomorphologically connected. After peneplenization, Zala Canyon was created as a result of both raising of the surrounding terrain and the sudden deepening of the stream bed. It runs along the edge of the Trnovo Forest Plateau and Črni Vrh Plateau. Three kilometers (1.9 mi) before the confluence, Govekar Creek ends in a waterfall flowing into the right side of Zala Canyon. There is a small cave on a slope below Big Peak.