 Though most of the soil in the region developed from carbonate rock, flysch is significantly represented on the Kvarner Gulf coast opposite Krk.The karst topography developed from the Adriatic Carbonate Platform, where karstification largely began after the final raising of the Dinarides in the Oligocene and Miocene epochs, when carbonate rock was exposed to atmospheric effects such as rain; this extended to below the present sea level, exposed during the Last Glacial Maximum's sea level drop.It is surmised that some karst formations are related to earlier drops of sea level, most notably the Messinian salinity crisis.