The area of Šolta is 57,886 km2. Šolta is 13th largest of Croatian islands and it belongs to midsize Dalmatian islands. Šolta’s length is 19 km and its width is 4.9 km. It spreads in the direction of west-northwest-southeast.

It was made of sedimentary rocks and various limestones from the Cretaceous Age; in some places dolomites can be found. Sediments were elevated from the sea probably at the end of the Cretaceous Age, and they were folded during the Tertiary folding: in the Tertiary Age developed middle Dalmatian islands and the Dinaric Alps. On the island there are two faults along which the movements of the rocks were made. They determined today’s appearance of the island.

One fault spreads in the direction of Nečujam-Maslinica and is parallel to the southern part of the island, and the other spreads in the direction of Nečujam-Senjska, and is transverse to the first fault. To the west of the transverse fault Šolta spreads in the direction of east-west, and to the east it spreads in the direction of northwest-southeast (the direction of Dinaric Alps). The western part of the island in the cross-section view is in the shape of a saddle, while the eastern part is a tableland that gradually slopes towards Brač.

If we look Šolta we can see that it is mostly mountainous. In the eastern part of the island the highest peak is 237 m (Vela Straža), while in the western part it is 208 m (also Vela Straža). Today’s area of Šolta in the Pleistocene was a part of the mainland. 25000 years ago the sea level was 96m lower than today’s and 10000 years ago in the beginning of the Holocene it was 31m. In that time Šolta was much more larger and it was connected to Brač.

In the last 2000 years the sea level raised 1,7 m. The proof for that are many limekilns that used to be away from the coast, and today are near the coast or even on the bottom. Limekilns and other proofs that show the raise of the sea level can be found in all Šolta’s coves (Zagradina bok, Drazetina valica Zorzini bocici, Milotinja bok, etc.).

The raise of the sea level started during the last Pleistocene glaciation (wurm), and the calculation show that it will continue the following 1900-2000 years. It is thought that the sea level will rise for 1-1,2 m.

Šolta’s coast is mainly steep especially on the open-sea side. It is well indented by numerous coves that were made by sinking of parts of valleys (dry cove) that were cut into less resistant limestone. On the northern part there are larger coves: Nečujam (the largest Šolta’s cove – its length is 1,8 km, and width is to 1,2 km), Rogač, Stomorska, Donja Kru‘ica, Gornja Kru‘ica, Lestimer’s vala. On the southern part there are larger coves: Tatinja, Senjska, Stračinska, Livka and Poganica.

The western coast is the most indented part of the island. There are three coves: Šešula, Maslinica and Sikova vala. The coastline is 73,1 km long, and together with the coast of its 7 islets it is 81,1 km long. Index of relative indentedness is 2,71, and together with islets it is 2,98. That means that the length of its coast is almost three times larger than the circle’s circumference that encloses the same area as the area of the island. According to the index of relative indentedness Šolta is one of the most indent Croatian islands.

Two highest peaks of Šolta have the same name: "Vela Straža". The eastern is 237 m, and the western is 208 m. Šolta is mainly mountainous and inside it there is a 15 km2 field.

Although the history in its many-year series of events wiped out the true reasons how originally this beautiful island was named there are different hypothesis but some of them are just wild guesses.

The most acceptable is the hypothesis of a professor Miro A. Mihovilovic. It connects today’s name of the island to its Greek name Olyntha (translation is unripe fig) and its full name would be Nesos Olynthia (nesos-island). Gradually after many centuries the first syllables of the name were dropped out and the old name was already forgotten. So, only the name Solynthia remained. The Greek "y" was pronounced "u" so Solyntha was pronounced Soluta.

During the history and after the arrival of the Romans the name was Latinized. The pronunciation was the same but the meaning changed. Soluta meant untied, unbound, an island separated from the mainland. And this is very important for today’s name of the island because it was imposed by Venetians when they became the rulers of our coast.

Namely, they found it in the Roman toponym Soluta, and since the Latin letter "u" was regularly written as "v" it couldn’t be accented, so the accent went to the first syllable and "u" in fact "v" was dropped out. So Šolta remained (That is how it was written in Šolta’s parish books until 1679, and even Split Statute from 14th ct). Under the Italian influence the letter "s" at the beginning of the name is softly pronounced and the Croats changed it to Šolta!

But Šolta has another less known name and that is "Sulet". The origin of the name traces back in the 2nd century when Croatian people came to Dalmatia and heard from its inhabitants different names for the island (Solenta, Solentia, Soluta). The first part of the word was pronounced "su", and the second "lent"-"Sulent" which in Croatian language turned into "Sulet".

The name Šolta prevailed because Austro-Hungarian sea experts in the 19th century put on the maps mostly Italian toponyms. In that way the name "Sulet" disappeared from the geographical maps and later also from usage while the name "Šolta" remained.

It is important to mention that even today pupils on the island are taught about the name "Sulet", and similar surnames (Sule) are very frequent even today on the island.

The Eastern Adriatic euro Mediterranean zone includes the largest part of our coast from the southern Istria and Kvarner islands to Albania. Šolta is also a part of this zone, and has all the climate characteristics. It has long and very warm summers, almost completely dry and with no precipitation, while winters are very cold, rainy and very often blow sirocco (south wind) and bora (north wind).

Another characteristic of Šolta’s summer are very high air temperatures (over 30°C) and also high sea temperatures (21°C - 22°C).
In In July an average temperature in shade is around 30°C what is the temperature maximum. Temperature gradually drops during August, September and October. In November and December it is constant (around 15°C), while the lowest temperature is in January (10°C) that represents the temperature minimum.
Šolta with its 16°C average annual air temperature and medium precipitation (807 mm) is in a medium warm and medium dry zone so it is pleasant for living and very good for tourism development.

As to winds the most important as in the whole Adriatic are jugo (sirocco), bura (bora) and maestral (mistral, maestrale).

Mistral is a typical summer wind and blows constantly all day from the northwest.
Bora is a dry and cold wind, which blows from the direction of Split. The coast to the west of Rogač (mostly uninhabited) is the most exposed to the strongest blows of bora. During winter it gusts up for 4 to 6 days and can cause problems in regular lines to Split.
Sirocco with its frequent galeforce gusts completely changed the southern part of Šolta that is mostly wild and steep so very inconvenient for living. It can last 5 to 10 days, it gradually becomes stronger and bringing rain it causes huge waves. The wind and the sea are constant (force 7 to 8). During sirocco the water is high and the air warm and humid (cyclonic sirocco). There is also anticyclonic sirocco. It is dry and without clouds.

HYDROLOGIC FEATURES

The last study of Šolta’s sea characteristics was done in 1984. Transparency and salinity level together with sea temperature were measured.
It was done at a depth of 20, 50 and 100 m. (P1, P2 and P3). The study showed the following results:

a) Temperature

month	III	VI	IX	XII
P1-20m	12,18°	17,86°	19,05°	16,22°
P2-50m	12,43°	21,91°	21,55°	14,96°
P3-100m	13,03°	16,77°	17,76°	16,30°

A very important phenomenon concerning the sea temperature is thermocline (sudden fall of temperature) that appears in summer months. From the following data we can see that thermocline in that area appears in June and September. The highest thermocline is at the P1 station in June - between 0 and 10 m and it is 5.39°C.

b) Transparency

The following chart shows us the sea transparence level in meters for that area.

month	III	VI	IX	XII
P1-20m	23	16	19	15
P2-50m	23	21	23	17
P3-100m	26	33	30	23

c) Salinity

month	III	VI	IX	XII
P1-20m	37,94	37,54	37,94	37,68
P2-50m	38,01	37,52	37,95	38,05
P3-100m	38,09	38,00	38,43	38,83

The sea salinity is expressed by grams in a liter and in the following chart there are average month (during season) salinity values at different stations.
You can see that the sea in the area of Maslinica (P 3) has a higher salinity because it is under the influence of the open sea as opposed to the northern side that is under the influence of the mainland.

If you take a map of Croatia and look at middle Dalmatian islands, to the west of the island of Brač you’ll see a very developed but not very large island of Šolta.

To the west of the island is Brač and to the west is Drvenik Veliki. To the southeast is Hvar, and to the north is Split. Šolta belongs to the middle Dalmatian islands. It lies in the central part of the Adriatic Sea, near its eastern coast. In the northwest Šolta is ca 360km away from the coast of Marunska lagoon (the most drawn in part of the Adriatic) while from the Strait of Otranto (the border between the Adriatic and the Mediterranean Sea) in the southeast it is distant 390 km. Šolta is 185km distant from the Italian coast and from the Croatian mainland 10,7km (Uranjica). It is at a distance of 15 km (9 nautical miles) from Split.

To the north it is separated from the mainland by Split channel, to the east it is separated from the island of Brač by the Strait of Split (0,7 km) and to the west it is separated from Drvenik Veli by the Šolta channel (3,5 km). In the north of Šolta is the Čiovo peninsula (distant 7,3 km), to the southeast is the island of Hvar (14,5 km) and to the south is the island of Vis (29 km).
Šolta is 19 km long (from the promontory Livka in the east of the island opened on Brač to the promontory Obinu‘ki bok in the west). The largest width is from the peninsula Rata in the eastern part of Nečujam to the peninsula in the western part of the cove of Senj and it is 4,9 km.

It spreads in the direction of west-northwest-southeast. Its exact topographic position is determined by geographical coordinates:

43° 19' 31" N (promontory Motika)
43°24' 26 " N (promontory Duboke vale)
16° 12' 13" E (promontory Obinu‘ki bok)
16° 24' 13" E (promontory Livka)

The island’s coastline is 73,1km long.

Beside the main island, Šolta also consists of 7 islets in front of the west port Maslinica.

The area of Šolta is 57,886 km2 and together with small islands in front of the cove of Maslinica (Polebrnjak, Saskinja, Balkun, Kamik, Šarac, Grmej, Stipanska) it is 58,875 km2.

Šolta is 13th largest of Croatian islands and it belongs to midsize Dalmatian islands. Krk, Cres, Brač, Hvar, Pag, Korcula, Dugi otok, Mljet, Rab, Vis, Lo‘inj, Pa‘man are larger than Šolta while smaller nearby islands are Čiovo and Drvenik Veli.

Geographical position of the island of Šolta in the Adriatic, especially its position in the middle Dalmatia gives Šolta a very important place in Split area towards which the island gravitates. The development of maritime activities in the Adriatic, especially of nautical tourism, sport fishing and other tourist activities depends largely on its location.

More important places on the island of Šolta are ports:

MASLINICA (43° 24' N 16° 12' E) fishing village
ROGAČ (43° 24' N 16° 18' E) main port
NEČUJAM (43° 23' N 16° 19' E) tourist village
STOMORSKA (43° 22' N 16° 21' E) fishing village

coves:

TATINJA (43° 22' N 16° 17' E)

and villages:

DONJE SELO, SREDNJE SELO I GORNJE SELO.

The main village and the center of the island is GROHOTE.