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Salted Landscapes in the Tuz Gölü (Central Anatolia): The End Stage of a Tertiary Basin

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Landscapes and Landforms of Turkey

Part of the book series: World Geomorphological Landscapes ((WGLC))

Abstract

Tuz Gölü (Salt Lake) is a large salt lake located in the heart of Anatolia. Long-term morphological development of the lake is controlled by the Tuz Gölü Fault Zone and the İnönü-Eskişehir Fault System. The Central Black Sea Mountains in the north and the Taurus Mountain Belt in the south are major climatic barriers generating a precipitation shadow effect on the Anatolian Plateau that worsens the continental climatic conditions characterized here by cold winter, hot summer and relative dryness. Climate, together with active tectonics, let Tuz Gölü to preserve a water depth of maximum 1.5 m. Besides the natural beauty of the outstanding landscapes provided by this shining white lake, numerous salt farms are spread over the lake and neighbouring small lakes. Archaeological data evidence that salt exploitation and trade centres around Tuz Gölü were established since prehistoric and during ancient historic times. This natural and cultural heritage is now threatened by anthropogenic and climatic factors that might lead to its disappearance in a foreseeable future.

In memoriam Prof. Dr. Oğuz EROL (1926–2014).

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Mr. Yahya Cihan Darıcı and his company Vecihi Yüksek Çekim Teknolojisi for the visualization of aerial photographs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Engineering, Hacettepe University, 06800, Cankaya , Ankara, Turkey

    Erman Özsayın

  2. Department of Geological Engineering, Niğde University, 51240, Niğde, Turkey

    Alper Gürbüz

  3. Laboratory of Physical Geography (LGP, UMR 8591), CNRS, Universities of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Paris 12 U-Pec, Meudon, France

    Catherine Kuzucuoğlu

  4. Department of Archaeology, Trakya University, 22030, Edirne, Turkey

    Burçin Erdoğu

Authors
  1. Erman Özsayın
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  2. Alper Gürbüz
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  3. Catherine Kuzucuoğlu
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  4. Burçin Erdoğu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Erman Özsayın .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Physical Geography (LGP, UMR 8591), CNRS, Universities of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Paris 12 U-Pec, Meudon, France

    Catherine Kuzucuoğlu

  2. Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Attila Çiner

  3. Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey

    Nizamettin Kazancı

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Özsayın, E., Gürbüz, A., Kuzucuoğlu, C., Erdoğu, B. (2019). Salted Landscapes in the Tuz Gölü (Central Anatolia): The End Stage of a Tertiary Basin. In: Kuzucuoğlu, C., Çiner, A., Kazancı, N. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of Turkey. World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03515-0_16

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