Abyss of Pazin is an example of a specific evolution of Karst hydrography and morphology. It is a unique hydro-geologic speleology occurrence in Istria and the Dinaric karst. The Pazin Cave inspired the famous writer Jules Verne, who in his novel Mathias Sandorf, takes his characters throughout the underground of the cave from Pazin to the Lim Canal. First research and the elaboration of the study was undertaken by the French caver E. A. Martel and the subterranean waters expert W. Putick, 1893-1896. The Pazinčica River ends its above ground flow in an abyss located at the end of the several metres long and deep canyon. The entrance into the abyss is arched by a semicircular cave (Dante's lobby). The Pazinčica runs on through a narrow subterranean canal. At about 100 metres from the entrance to the abyss, it enlarges the passage thus forming a hall (80 x 20 m) with a lake (Martel's lake). The lake waters flow on into the underground through a siphon building up a following smaller hall with a lake (Mitar's lake).

The Pazin Abyss is legally protected as significant landscape. The protected area comprises the canyon and the abyss of the Pazinčica, about 500 metres long and about 100 metres deep, and the Pazin Cave.