Editing Soča (section)

==Major changes in the watershed==
[[File:Slovenija-reke-soca.png|thumb|180px|Course of the Soča/Isonzo]]
The present course of the river is the result of several dramatic changes that occurred during the past 2,000 years. According to the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] historian [[Strabo]], the river named Aesontius, which in Roman times flowed past [[Aquileia]] to the Adriatic Sea, was essentially the [[Natisone]] and [[Torre (river)|Torre River]] system.<ref>Strabo, Geography, Vol. V, Chapter 1</ref>

In 585, a landslide cut off the upper part of the Natisone riverbed, causing its [[Avulsion (river)|avulsion]] and subsequent [[stream capture]] by the Bontius River. The original subterranean discharge of the Bontius into the [[Timavo|Timavo River]] became obstructed, and another avulsion returned the new watercourse into the bed of the lower Natisone.

During the next centuries the estuary of this new river&mdash;the Soča&mdash;moved eastward until it captured the short coastal Sdobba River, through which the Isonzo now discharges into the Adriatic Sea. The former estuary (of the Aesontius, and the early Isonzo) in the newly formed lagoon of [[Grado, Friuli-Venezia Giulia|Grado]] became an independent coastal rivulet.<ref>Brockhaus' Konversations-Lexikon. 14th ed., Leipzig, Berlin and Vienna 1894; Vol. 9, p. 727.</ref>