Fossil flora of Kızılcahamam district
This fossil flora in Turkey stems from at least six Pliocene deposits in Güvem and Beşkonak villages, 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Ankara, 22 kilometres (14 mi) north of Kızılcahamam and 125 kilometres (78 mi) south of the Black Sea coast. They are 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) above sea level, extending 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) north-south and 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) east-west. Between six and seven million years ago, a fresh water lake existed there in a forested area with mostly broad leaved deciduous tree species, dominated by sequoia and oak.
Leaf fossils of Glyptostrobus europaeus (left) and Quercus drymeya (right) from the Pliocene of Kizilcahamam, found near Belpınar village by Osman Güldemir, a teacher at the Anadolu University in Eskişehir, Turkey.
Güvem village with the Seyhamamı mosque.
Columnar basalt formed by lava flows at Beşkonak village.
Due to drying and cooling of the climate at the onset of the Pleistocene ice age in Kizilcahamam, the Sequoia forests with their many exotic plant species disappeared and have now been replaced by Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) forests.
Kızılcahamam is a municipality and district of Ankara Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,623 km2, and its population is 26,872 (2022). It is 70 km north of the city of Ankara, near the motorway to Istanbul. Its elevation is 975 m. The area is mountain and forest, a geographical boundary between central Anatolia and the Black Sea regions.
A nature scene from Kızılcahamam
