1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Body of water
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A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water, generally on a planets surface. The term most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, a body of water does not have to be still or contained, Rivers, streams, canals, and other geographical features where water moves from one place to another are also considered bodies of water. Most are naturally occurring geographical features, but some are artificial, there are types that can be either. For example, most reservoirs are created by engineering dams, similarly, most harbors are naturally occurring bays, but some harbors have been created through construction. Bodies of water that are navigable are known as waterways, some bodies of water collect and move water, such as rivers and streams, and others primarily hold water, such as lakes and oceans. The term body of water can also refer to a reservoir of water held by a plant, note that there are some geographical features involving water that are not bodies of water, for example waterfalls, geysers and rapids. Arm of the sea - also sea arm, used to describe a sea loch, arroyo - a usually dry creek bed or gulch that temporarily fills with water after a heavy rain, or seasonally. Artificial lake or artificial pond - see reservoir or impoundment, barachois - a lagoon separated from the ocean by a sand bar. Bay - an area of water bordered by land on three sides, similar to, but smaller than a gulf, bayou - a slow-moving stream or a marshy lake. Bight - a large and often only slightly receding bay, or a bend in any geographical feature, billabong - see Oxbow lake, a pond or still body of water created when a river changes course and some water becomes trapped. Boil - see Seep Brook - a small stream, canal - an artificial waterway, usually connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans. Channel - the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean consisting of a bed. See also stream bed and strait, earth scientists generally use the term to describe a circular or round inlet with a narrow entrance, though colloquially the term is sometimes used to describe any sheltered bay. Basin - a region of land where water from rain or snowmelt drains downhill into another body of water, such as a river, lake, creek - an inlet of the sea, narrower than a cove. Delta - the location where a river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, distributary or distributary channel - a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Draw - a usually dry creek bed or gulch that temporarily fills with water after a heavy rain, fjord - a submergent landform which has occurred due to glacial activity. Glacier - a large collection of ice or a river that moves slowly down a mountain. Glacial Pothole - see Kettle Gulf - a part of a lake or ocean that extends so that it is surrounded by land on three sides, similar to, but larger than a bay, headland - an area of water bordered by land on three sides
3.
Endorheic basin
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Such a basin may also be referred to as a closed or terminal basin or as an internal drainage system. However, in a basin, rain that falls within it does not flow out but may only leave the drainage system by evaporation. The bottom of such a basin is occupied by a salt lake or salt pan. Endorheic regions, in contrast to regions which flow to the ocean in geologically defined patterns, are closed hydrologic systems. Their surface waters drain to inland terminal locations where the water evaporates or seeps into the ground, endorheic water bodies include some of the largest lakes in the world, such as the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea, the worlds largest saline inland sea. Most endorheic basins are arid, although there are notable exceptions, such as the Valley of Mexico, the Lake Tahoe region. Endorheic basins can be massively and rapidly affected by change and excessive water removal. An exorheic lake naturally remains at a level, so water flow into the lake may be many times more than is needed to maintain its present size. In contrast, an endorheic basin does not have enough inflow that it overflows to the ocean, endorheic lakes are bodies of water that do not flow into the sea. Most of the water falling on Earth finds its way to the oceans through a network of rivers, lakes, however, there is a class of water bodies that are located in closed or endorheic watersheds where the topography prevents their drainage to the oceans. These endorheic watersheds are often called terminal lakes or sink lakes, endorheic lakes are usually in the interior of a landmass, far from an ocean in areas of relatively low rainfall. Their watersheds are often confined by natural geologic land formations such as a mountain range, the inland water flows into dry watersheds where the water evaporates, leaving a high concentration of minerals and other inflow erosion products. Over time this input of erosion products can cause the lake to become relatively saline. Endorheic regions can occur in any climate but are most commonly found in desert locations, the Black Sea was likely such a lake, having once been an independent hydrological system before the Mediterranean Sea broke through the terrain separating the two. Lake Bonneville was another such lake, overflowing its basin in the Bonneville flood, malheur/Harney Lake in Oregon is normally cut off from drainage to the ocean, but has an outflow channel to the Malheur River that is normally dry, but flows in years of peak precipitation. Examples of relatively humid regions in endorheic basins often exist at high elevation and these regions tend to be marshy and are subject to substantial flooding in wet years. The area containing Mexico City is one case, with annual precipitation of 850 mm. Endorheic regions tend to be far inland with their boundaries defined by mountains or other features that block their access to oceans
4.
Hypersaline lake
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A hypersaline lake is a landlocked body of water that contains significant concentrations of sodium chloride or other salts, with saline levels surpassing that of ocean water. Specific microbial and crustacean species thrive in high salinity environments that are inhospitable to most lifeforms. Some of these species enter a dormant state when desiccated, the water of hypersaline lakes has great buoyancy due to a high salt content. The most saline water body in the world is the Don Juan Pond and its volume is some 3,000 cubic meters, but is constantly changing. The Don Juan Pond has a salinity level of over 44% and its high salinity prevents the Don Juan from freezing even when temperatures are below −50 °C. There are larger water bodies, lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys such as Lake Vanda with salinity of over 35%. They are covered with ice in the winter, the most saline lake outside of Antarctica is Lake Assal, in Djibouti, which has a salinity of 34. 8%. Probably the best-known hypersaline lakes are the Dead Sea and the Great Salt Lake, the Dead Sea, dividing Israel and the Palestinian West Bank from Jordan, is the worlds deepest hypersaline lake and the Araruama Lagoon is the worlds largest hypersaline lake. The Great Salt Lake, located in Utah, while having three times the surface area of the Dead Sea, is shallower and experiences much greater fluctuations in level than the Dead Sea. At its lowest recorded levels, it approaches 7.7 times the salinity of ocean water, hypersaline lakes are found on every continent, especially in arid or semi-arid regions. Brine pool Halocline Halophile List of bodies of water by salinity Salt lake
5.
Inflow (hydrology)
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In hydrology, the inflow of a body of water is the source of the water in the body of water. It can also refer to the volume of incoming water in unit time. All bodies of water have multiple inflows, but often, one inflow may predominate, however, in many cases, no single inflow will predominate and there will be multiple primary inflows. For a lake, the inflow may be a river or stream that flows into the lake. Inflow may also be, strictly speaking, not flows, but rather precipitation, inflow can also be used to refer to groundwater recharge. The dictionary definition of inflow at Wiktionary
6.
Discharge (hydrology)
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In hydrology, discharge is the volume rate of water flow that is transported through a given cross-sectional area. It includes any suspended solids, dissolved chemicals, or biologic material in addition to the water itself, GH Dury and MJ Bradshaw are two hydrologists who devised the models showing the relationship between discharge and other variables in a river. The units that are used to express discharge include m³/s, ft³/s and/or acre-feet per day. For example, the discharge of the Rhine river in Europe is 2,200 cubic metres per second or 190,000,000 cubic metres per day. A commonly applied methodology for measuring, and estimating, the discharge of a river is based on a form of the continuity equation. In storm hydrology, an important consideration is the streams discharge hydrograph, the stream rises to a peak flow after each precipitation event, then falls in a slow recession. Because the peak flow also corresponds to the water level reached during the event. The amount of precipitation correlates to the volume of water that flows out of the river. The relationship between the discharge in the stream at a given cross-section and the level of the stream is described by a rating curve, average velocities and the cross-sectional area of the stream are measured for a given stream level. The velocity and the give the discharge for that level. After measurements are made for different levels, a rating table or rating curve may be developed. Once rated, the discharge in the stream may be determined by measuring the level, if a continuous level-recording device is located at a rated cross-section, the streams discharge may be continuously determined. Larger flows can transport more sediment and larger particles downstream than smaller flows due to their greater force, larger flows can also erode stream banks and damage public infrastructure
7.
Drainage basin
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A drainage basin or catchment area is any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water. Drainage basins connect into other drainage basins at elevations in a hierarchical pattern, with smaller sub-drainage basins. Other terms used to describe drainage basins are catchment, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin and water basin. In closed drainage basins the water converges to a point inside the basin, known as a sink, which may be a permanent lake. The drainage basin acts as a funnel by collecting all the water within the covered by the basin. Each drainage basin is separated topographically from adjacent basins by a perimeter, drainage basins are similar but not identical to hydrologic units, which are drainage areas delineated so as to nest into a multi-level hierarchical drainage system. Hydrologic units are defined to allow multiple inlets, outlets, or sinks, in a strict sense, all drainage basins are hydrologic units but not all hydrologic units are drainage basins. Drainage basins of the oceans and seas of the world. Grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the oceans, the following is a list of the major ocean basins, About 48. 7% of the worlds land drains to the Atlantic Ocean. The two major mediterranean seas of the world also flow to the Atlantic, The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico basin includes most of the U. S. The Mediterranean Sea basin includes much of North Africa, east-central Africa, Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe, Turkey, and the areas of Israel, Lebanon. Just over 13% of the land in the world drains to the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Oceans drainage basin also comprises about 13% of Earths land. It drains the eastern coast of Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, Burma, antarctica comprises approximately eight percent of the Earths land. The five largest river basins, from largest to smallest, are the basins of the Amazon, the Río de la Plata, the Congo, the Nile, and the Mississippi. The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganga, endorheic drainage basins are inland basins that do not drain to an ocean. Around 18% of all land drains to endorheic lakes or seas or sinks, the largest of these consists of much of the interior of Asia, which drains into the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea, and numerous smaller lakes. Some of these, such as the Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of separate, in endorheic bodies of standing water where evaporation is the primary means of water loss, the water is typically more saline than the oceans. An extreme example of this is the Dead Sea, drainage basins have been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in regions where trade by water has been important
8.
Turkish language
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Outside of Turkey, significant smaller groups of speakers exist in Germany, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Northern Cyprus, Greece, the Caucasus, and other parts of Europe and Central Asia. Cyprus has requested that the European Union add Turkish as an official EU language, in 1928, as one of Atatürks Reforms in the early years of the Republic of Turkey, the Ottoman Turkish alphabet was replaced with a Latin alphabet. The distinctive characteristics of Turkish are vowel harmony and extensive agglutination, the basic word order of Turkish is subject–object–verb. Turkish has no classes or grammatical gender. Turkish has a strong T–V distinction and usage of honorifics, Turkish uses second-person pronouns that distinguish varying levels of politeness, social distance, age, courtesy or familiarity toward the addressee. The plural second-person pronoun and verb forms are used referring to a person out of respect. Turkic languages belong to the Altaic language group, the Turkic family comprises some 30 living languages spoken across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Siberia. Turkish is a member of the Oghuz group of languages, a subgroup of the Turkic language family, there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between Turkish and the other Oghuz Turkic languages, including Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Qashqai, Gagauz, and Balkan Gagauz Turkish. The earliest known Old Turkic inscriptions are the three monumental Orkhon inscriptions found in modern Mongolia, erected in honour of the prince Kul Tigin and his brother Emperor Bilge Khagan, these date back to the second Turk Kaghanate. The Seljuqs of the Oghuz Turks, in particular, brought their language, following the adoption of Islam c. Turkish literature during the Ottoman period, particularly Divan poetry, was influenced by Persian, including the adoption of poetic meters. One of the tasks of the newly established association was to initiate a reform to replace loanwords of Arabic. By banning the usage of imported words in the press, the association succeeded in removing several hundred words from the language. While most of the words introduced to the language by the TDK were newly derived from Turkic roots, owing to this sudden change in the language, older and younger people in Turkey started to differ in their vocabularies. While the generations born before the 1940s tend to use the terms of Arabic or Persian origin. The past few decades have seen the work of the TDK to coin new Turkish words to express new concepts and technologies as they enter the language. Many of these new words, particularly information technology terms, have received widespread acceptance, however, the TDK is occasionally criticized for coining words which sound contrived and artificial. Some earlier changes—such as bölem to replace fırka, political party—also failed to meet with popular approval, some words restored from Old Turkic have taken on specialized meanings, for example betik is now used to mean script in computer science
9.
Lake
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A lake is an area of variable size filled with water, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land, apart from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, and therefore are distinct from lagoons, Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams, which are usually flowing. Most lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams, natural lakes are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers, in some parts of the world there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them. The word lake comes from Middle English lake, from Old English lacu, from Proto-Germanic *lakō, cognates include Dutch laak, Middle Low German lāke as in, de, Moorlake, de, Wolfslake, de, Butterlake, German Lache, and Icelandic lækur. Also related are the English words leak and leach, none of these definitions completely excludes ponds and all are difficult to measure. For this reason, simple size-based definitions are used to separate ponds. One definition of lake is a body of water of 2 hectares or more in area, however, others have defined lakes as waterbodies of 5 hectares and above, or 8 hectares and above. Charles Elton, one of the founders of ecology, regarded lakes as waterbodies of 40 hectares or more. The term lake is used to describe a feature such as Lake Eyre. In common usage, many bear names ending with the word pond. One textbook illustrates this point with the following, In Newfoundland, for example, almost every lake is called a pond, whereas in Wisconsin, the majority of lakes on Earth are fresh water, and most lie in the Northern Hemisphere at higher latitudes. Canada, with a drainage system has an estimated 31,752 lakes larger than 3 square kilometres and an unknown total number of lakes. Finland has 187,888 lakes 500 square metres or larger, most lakes have at least one natural outflow in the form of a river or stream, which maintain a lakes average level by allowing the drainage of excess water. Some lakes do not have an outflow and lose water solely by evaporation or underground seepage or both. Many lakes are artificial and are constructed for power generation, aesthetic purposes, recreational purposes, industrial use. Globally, lakes are greatly outnumbered by ponds, of an estimated 304 million standing water bodies worldwide, 91% are 1 hectare or less in area
10.
Turkey
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Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
11.
Konya
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Konya is a major city in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. It is the city in Turkey. As of 2014, Konya has a population of 1,174,536, Konya is an economically and industrially developed city and the capital of Konya Province. Konya was historically the capital of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, Konya, was known in classical antiquity and during the medieval period as Ἰκόνιον in Greek and as Iconium in Latin. In some historic English texts, the name appears as Konia or Koniah. Excavations have shown that the region was inhabited during the Late Copper Age, the city came under the influence of the Hittites around 1500 BC. These were overtaken by the Sea Peoples around 1200 BC, the Phrygians established their kingdom in central Anatolia in the 8th century BC. Xenophon describes Iconium, as the city was called, as the last city of Phrygia, the region was overwhelmed by Cimmerian invaders c.690 BC. It was later part of the Persian Empire, until Darius III was defeated by Alexander the Great in 333 BC, alexanders empire broke up shortly after his death and the town came under the rule of Seleucus I Nicator. During the Hellenistic period the town was ruled by the kings of Pergamon, as Attalus III, the last king of Pergamon, was about to die without an heir, he bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman Republic. During the Roman Empire, under the rule of emperor Claudius, the name was changed to Claudioconium. They fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, Paul recalled this experience in his second letter to Timothy, Albert Barnes therefore suggesting that Timothy had been present with Paul in Iconium, Antioch and Lystra. The city became the seat of a bishop, which in ca.370 was raised to the status of a metropolitan see for Lycaonia, with Saint Amphilochius as the first metropolitan bishop. In Christian legend, based on the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla, Iconium was also the birthplace of Saint Thecla, under the Byzantine Empire, the city was part of the Anatolic Theme. During the 8th–10th centuries, the town and the nearby Kabala Fortress were a frequent target of Arab attacks as part of the Arab–Byzantine wars, the city was finally conquered by the Seljuks in 1084. From 1097 to 1243 it was the capital of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum and it was briefly occupied by the Crusaders Godfrey of Bouillon, and Frederick Barbarossa after the Battle of Iconium. The area was retaken by the Turks, the name of the town was changed to Konya by Mesud I in 1134. This golden age lasted until the first decades of the 13th century, by the 1220s, the city of Konya was filled with refugees from the Khwarezmid Empire
12.
Ankara
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Ankara, formerly known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of the Republic of Turkey. With a population of 4,587,558 in the center and 5,150,072 in its province. Ankara was Atatürks headquarters from 1920 and has been the capital of the Republic since its founding in 1923, the government is a prominent employer, but Ankara is also an important commercial and industrial city, located at the center of Turkeys road and railway networks. The city gave its name to the Angora wool shorn from Angora rabbits, the long-haired Angora goat, the area is also known for its pears, honey, and muscat grapes. Ankara is an old city with various Hittite, Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine. The historical center of town is a hill rising 150 m over the left bank of the Ankara Çayı, a tributary of the Sakarya River. The hill remains crowned by the ruins of the old citadel, as with many ancient cities, Ankara has gone by several names over the ages. It has been identified with the Hittite cult center Ankuwaš, although remains a matter of debate. In classical antiquity and during the period, the city was known as Ánkyra in Greek and Ancyra in Latin. Following its annexation by the Seljuk Turks in 1073, the city known in many European languages as Angora. The form Angora is preserved in the names of breeds of different kinds of animals. The oldest settlements in and around the city center of Ankara belonged to the Hattic civilization which existed during the Bronze Age and was gradually absorbed c, 2000–1700 BC by the Indo-European Hittites. In Phrygian tradition, King Midas was venerated as the founder of Ancyra, but Pausanias mentions that the city was far older. Persian sovereignty lasted until the Persians defeat at the hands of Alexander the Great who conquered the city in 333 BC, Alexander came from Gordion to Ankara and stayed in the city for a short period. After his death at Babylon in 323 BC and the subsequent division of his empire among his generals, Ankara, by that time the city also took its name Ἄγκυρα which, in slightly modified form, provides the modern name of Ankara. Other centers were Pessinos, todays Balhisar, for the Trocmi tribe, the city was then known as Ancyra. The Celtic element was probably relatively small in numbers, an aristocracy which ruled over Phrygian-speaking peasants. However, the Celtic language continued to be spoken in Galatia for many centuries
13.
Aksaray
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Aksaray is a city in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital district of Aksaray Province. According to 2009 census figures, the population of the province is 376907 of which 171,423 live in the city of Aksaray. The district covers an area of 4,589 km2, Aksaray region was an important stopover along the Silk Road that crossed through Anatolia for centuries and the city of Aksaray has a long history. The town of Garsaura was named Archelaïs by Archelaus of Cappadocia, in Roman times, the town was known as Colonia and was a bishopric and an important military centre, holding an imperial aplekton. No longer a residential bishopric, Colonia in Cappadocia is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see, Colonia is also a titular metropolis in Turkey of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The town was prosperous during Ottoman times due to its proximity to Tuz Gölü. The region came under the control of the Seljuk Turks after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate they founded left important landmarks in and around Aksaray. Today Aksaray is a quiet mid-size city, ihlara Valley and the other tourist attractions of Cappadocia are close, but as yet, Aksaray has not been very successful in attracting visitors to the city itself. A new attraction in Aksaray city is Hünkarland, a theme park with artificial waterfalls. This is an agricultural region producing grains, meat and dairy and many kinds of fruit. Therefore, the cuisine of the town is of high standard, Aksaray has a cold semi-arid climate under the Köppen and either a hot summer continental climate or hot summer oceanic under the Trewartha classification. Hasan Dağı – a 3, 000m volcano between Aksaray and Niğde, visible from the city, aşıklı Höyük – a burial mound 25 km east of the city of Aksaray. Acemhöyük – an early Bronze Age settlement,18 km north-west of the city of Aksaray, the ancient Roman and Byzantine city of Nora, in the village of Helvadere near the city of Aksaray. Ihlara – a canyon,40 km from the city of Aksaray, contains ancient churches, carved into the valley walls, ervah cemetery in the city contains the tombs of 14th century Islamic leader Somuncu Baba and the scholar Cemaleddini Aksaray. The race tours 244 km in six days through several places across Cappadocia reaching out to Lake Tuz, karamanoğlu Camii – a large mosque in the city centre. Eğri Minare – a Seljuk Turkish minaret 1221–1236, built under the rule of Aläettin Keykubat I The high church – on a steep rock 3 km from the city, there are three monumental caravanserais in the neighbourhood of Aksaray. The best known is Sultan Han, located in the village Sultanhan about 40 km west of Aksaray. After it was destroyed by a fire, it was restored and extended in 1278 by the governor Seraceddin Ahmed Kerimeddin bin El Hasan during the reign of the sultan Kaykhusraw III
14.
Surface runoff
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Surface runoff is the flow of water that occurs when excess stormwater, meltwater, or other sources flows over the Earths surface. Surface runoff is a component of the water cycle. It is the agent in soil erosion by water. Runoff that occurs on the surface before reaching a channel is also called a nonpoint source. If a nonpoint source contains man-made contaminants, or natural forms of pollution the runoff is called nonpoint source pollution, a land area which produces runoff that drains to a common point is called a drainage basin. When runoff flows along the ground, it can pick up soil contaminants including petroleum, pesticides, surface runoff can be generated either by rainfall, snowfall or by the melting of snow, or glaciers. Snow and glacier melt occur only in areas cold enough for these to form permanently, typically snowmelt will peak in the spring and glacier melt in the summer, leading to pronounced flow maxima in rivers affected by them. The determining factor of the rate of melting of snow or glaciers is both air temperature and the duration of sunlight, in high mountain regions, streams frequently rise on sunny days and fall on cloudy ones for this reason. In areas where there is no snow, runoff will come from rainfall, however, not all rainfall will produce runoff because storage from soils can absorb light showers. This occurs when the rate of rainfall on a surface exceeds the rate at which water can infiltrate the ground and this is called flooding excess overland flow, Hortonian overland flow, or unsaturated overland flow. This more commonly occurs in arid and semi-arid regions, where rainfall intensities are high and this occurs largely in city areas where pavements prevent water from flooding. When the soil is saturated and the depression storage filled, and rain continues to fall, the level of antecedent soil moisture is one factor affecting the time until soil becomes saturated. This runoff is called saturation excess overland flow or saturated overland flow, soil retains a degree of moisture after a rainfall. This residual water moisture affects the soils infiltration capacity, during the next rainfall event, the infiltration capacity will cause the soil to be saturated at a different rate. The higher the level of antecedent soil moisture, the more quickly the soil becomes saturated, once the soil is saturated, runoff occurs. After water infiltrates the soil on a portion of a hill, the water may flow laterally through the soil. This is called subsurface return flow or throughflow, any remaining surface water eventually flows into a receiving water body such as a river, lake, estuary or ocean. Urbanization increases surface runoff by creating more impervious surfaces such as pavement and it is instead forced directly into streams or storm water runoff drains, where erosion and siltation can be major problems, even when flooding is not
15.
Salinity
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Salinity is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water. This is usually measured in g salt k g sea water, a contour line of constant salinity is called an isohaline – or sometimes isohale. Salinity in rivers, lakes, and the ocean is conceptually simple, conceptually the salinity is the quantity of dissolved salt content of the water. Salts are compounds like sodium chloride, magnesium sulfate, potassium nitrate, the concentration of dissolved chloride ions is sometimes referred to as chlorinity. Operationally, dissolved matter is defined as that which can pass through a fine filter. Salinity can be expressed in the form of a mass fraction, Seawater typically has a mass salinity of around 35 g/kg, although lower values are typical near coasts where rivers enter the ocean. Rivers and lakes can have a range of salinities, from less than 0.01 g/kg to a few g/kg. The Dead Sea has a salinity of more than 200 g/kg, whatever pore size is used in the definition, the resulting salinity value of a given sample of natural water will not vary by more than a few percent. A bottled seawater product known as IAPSO Standard Seawater is used by oceanographers to standardize their measurements with enough precision to meet this requirement, measurement and definition difficulties arise because natural waters contain a complex mixture of many different elements from different sources in different molecular forms. The chemical properties of some of these depend on temperature and pressure. Many of these forms are difficult to measure with high accuracy, different practical definitions of salinity result from different attempts to account for these problems, to different levels of precision, while still remaining reasonably easy to use. For many purposes this sum can be limited to a set of eight major ions in natural waters, the major ions dominate the inorganic composition of most natural waters. Exceptions include some pit lakes and waters from some hydrothermal springs, the concentrations of dissolved gases like oxygen and nitrogen are not usually included in descriptions of salinity. However, carbon dioxide gas, which when dissolved is partially converted into carbonates and bicarbonates, is often included. Silicon in the form of acid, which usually appears as a neutral molecule in the pH range of most natural waters. The term salinity is, for oceanographers, usually associated with one of a set of measurement techniques. As the dominant techniques evolve, so do different descriptions of salinity, the distinctions between these different descriptions are important to physical oceanographers but are obscure and confusing to nonspecialists. Salinities were largely measured using titration-based techniques before the 1980s, titration with silver nitrate could be used to determine the concentration of halide ions to give a chlorinity
16.
Greater flamingo
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The greater flamingo is the most widespread species of the flamingo family. It is found in Africa, on the Indian subcontinent, in the Middle East and this is the largest species of flamingo, averaging 110–150 cm tall and weighing 2–4 kg. The largest male flamingos have been recorded at up to 187 cm tall and 4.5 kg and it is closely related to the American flamingo and Chilean flamingo, with which it has sometimes been considered conspecific. Like all flamingos, this species lays a single egg on a mud mound. Most of the plumage is white, but the wing coverts are red. The bill is pink with a black tip, and the legs are entirely pink. The call is a goose-like honking, sub-adult flamingos are whitish grey and only attain the pink coloration several years into their adult life. The coloration comes from the pigments in the organisms that live in their feeding grounds. Secretions of the uropygial gland also contain carotenoids, during the breeding season, greater flamingos increase the frequency of their spreading uropygial secretions over their feathers and thereby enhance their color. This cosmetic use of uropygial secretions has been described as applying make-up, the bird resides in mudflats and shallow coastal lagoons with salt water. Using its feet, the bird stirs up the mud, then sucks water through its bill and filters out small shrimp, seeds, blue-green algae, microscopic organisms and mollusks. The greater flamingo feeds with its head down and its jaw is movable. It is found in parts of Africa, southern Asia, the Middle East, the most northern breeding spot is the Zwillbrocker Venn in Western Germany, close to the border with the Netherlands. In Gujarat, a state of India, flamingos can be observed at the Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary, Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary, Flamingo City and they remain here during entire winter season. The average lifespan in captivity, according to Zoo Basel, is over 60 years, the first recorded zoo hatch was in 1959 at Zoo Basel. In Zoo Basels breeding program over 400 birds have been hatched with an average of between 20 and 27 per year since 2000, the oldest known greater flamingo was a bird at the Adelaide Zoo in Australia who died aged at least 83 years old. The birds exact age is not known, he was already an adult when he arrived in Adelaide in 1933. He was euthanized in January 2014 due to complications of old age, adult flamingos have few natural predators
17.
Greater white-fronted goose
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The greater white-fronted goose is a species of goose related to the smaller lesser white-fronted goose. It is named for the patch of white bordering the base of its bill, in fact albifrons comes from the Latin albus white. In Europe it has known as simply white-fronted goose, in North America it is known as the greater white-fronted goose. Even more distinctive are the markings on the breast of adult birds. Greater white-fronted geese are 64–81 cm in length, have a 130–165 cm wingspan and they have bright orange legs and mouse-coloured upper wing-coverts. They are smaller than greylag geese, the male is typical larger in size, both sexes are similar in appearance—greyish brown birds with light grey breasts dappled with dark brown to black blotches and bars. Both males and females also have a bill and orange legs. The appearance of European or Russian white-fronted geese, of the race albifrons and Greenland white-fronted geese, of the race flavirostris, the Greenland white-fronted goose, in all plumages, looks darker and more oily-looking than the European white-fronted goose, both at rest and in flight. The greater white-fronted goose is divided into five subspecies, the nominate subspecies A. a. albifrons breeds in the far north of Europe and Asia, and winters further south and west in Europe. All these races are similar in plumage, differing only in size and it winters in Ireland and western Scotland. Another putative East Asian subspecies albicans has also been described, ecological studies in 2002 suggest the Greenland birds should probably be considered a separate species from A. albifrons. Of particular interest is its long period of parental care and association. The Pacific birds migrate south down the Pacific coast, staging primarily in the Klamath Basin of southern Oregon and northern California and wintering, eventually, in Californias Central Valley. The tule goose is somewhat rare and has been since the latter half of the 19th century, in the British Isles, two races overwinter, Greenland birds in Scotland and Ireland, and Russian birds in England and Wales. They gather on farmland at favoured sites, with a famous flock gathering at WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire. Greenland birds also overwinter in Ireland and from late September and through the winter months, a. a. albifrons and A. a. flavirostis are among the taxa to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds applies. Weather conditions are a key factor in the breeding success of white-fronted geese. In the Arctic, the window of opportunity for nesting, incubating eggs, arriving in late May or early June, white-fronted geese begin departing for fall staging areas in early September
18.
Lesser kestrel
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The lesser kestrel is a small falcon. This species breeds from the Mediterranean across Afghanistan and Central Asia, to China and it is a summer migrant, wintering in Africa and Pakistan and sometimes even to India and Iraq. It is rare north of its range, and declining in its European range. It looks very much like the common kestrel but has proportionally shorter wings. It shares a back and barred grey underparts with the larger species. The male has a head and tail like male common kestrels, but lacks the dark spotting on the back, the black malar stripe. The female and young birds are paler than their relative. The call is a diagnostic harsh chay-chay-chay, unlike the common kestrels kee-kee-kee, neither sex has dark talons as is usual in falcons, those of this species are a peculiar whitish-horn color. This, however, is conspicuous when birds are seen at very close range. Despite its outward similarity, this appears not to be closely related to the common kestrel. In fact, mtDNA cytochrome b sequence analysis places it at a position with regards to the other true kestrels. Its divergence is tentatively placed to around the Miocene-Pliocene boundary, the lesser kestrel is, as the name implies, a smaller and more delicate bird than the common kestrel, and it is entirely sympatric in its breeding range with it, they compete to a limited extent. Thus, the possibility there is some form of adaptive advantage to the similar coloration deserves study. The lesser kestrel eats insects, but also birds, reptiles and rodents. It nests colonially on buildings, cliffs, or in tree holes, no nest structure is built, which is typical for falcons. On their wintering grounds in West Africa, lesser kestrels favor a latitude belt through Senegal where locusts, surveys of lesser kestrels wintering in January 2007 by the Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux revealed them roosting communally. A roost in Senegal discovered during one of the surveys held 28,600 birds and it is widespread and plentiful on a global scale, and the IUCN have classed it as Least Concern. Apart from possible destruction, it appears that indiscriminate use of pesticides has a strong effect on this species due to its insectivorous habits
19.
Lake Abant Nature Park
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Lake Abant is a freshwater lake in Turkeys Bolu Province in northwest Anatolia, formed as a result of a great landslide. The lake lies at an altitude of 1,328 m at a distance of 32 km from the seat of Bolu city. It is a vacation and excursion spot for both Turkish and foreign travellers thanks to the natural beauty of its surroundings, which are covered with dense forests. Lake Abant is a natural park, the lake covers an area of 1.28 km2 and its deepest spot is 18 m. To the north of the lake, at a distance of 8 km from Bolu city, is the campus of Abant Izzet Baysal University. The lake is inhabited by the Abant trout Salmo abanticus, a species of trout which is endemic to this lake only
20.
Kartsakhi Lake
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Kartsakhi Lake, or Lake Khozapini, or Lake Aktaş, is a lake in the Caucasus Mountains. It sits on the border between Georgia and Turkey. It is the second largest lake in Georgia, covering an area of 26.3 or 26.6 square kilometres at an altitude of 1799 m. An important bird habitat, it one of the largest populations of Eurasian eagle-owl in the country, with the Dalmatian pelican. The village of Kartsakhi lies near its northeastern bank
21.
Akyatan Lagoon
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Akyatan Lagoon is a 14700-hectare wetland ecosystem that is designated as Wetland of International Importance by Ramsar Convention. A major stop over for migrating birds, Akyatan is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International and it is the single largest green turtle rookery at the Mediterranean, holding 43% of the Mediterranean nesting population. The lagoon is located at the edge of Mediterranean Sea,30 km south of the city of Adana. The entrance to the lagoon is either from Tuzla or through Küçük Karataş Village, Akyatan lake and the lagoons were formed during the 4th era when water levels at the Mediterranean started changing. As the rivers that make the delta flooded, a large swamp came into being at the location there is Akyatan lake. The swamp then disconnected from the sea and took its shape today with the sand brought by the waves that formed a cord and it is a typical alluvial dam lake. With the decrease in the amount of water feeds the lake and with high levels of evaporation. At the dried areas, mud surfaces form and by the end of summer the lake completely dries, mud surfaces are seen especially at the west and northeast part of the lake. Around Kapı village, some reach the land. The lake has a connection to the sea through a 2 km narrow canal on the southwest side, there is a flow of water from the canal to the sea, when the water levels of the lake is high. When the water levels on the lake is low, the flow is from the sea to the lake and this results in the salt ratio of the lake varying throughout the year. In winter and spring, the water is fresh with rain. In the summer time, lake is very salty due to the high evaporation, also, salt ratio is high at the areas close to the sea connection, and low at the northern sections of the lake where the drainage waters and leakage is effective. Turkeys largest sand dunes are in the area between the lake and the sea, the dunes extend as wide as 3 kilometers and rise as high as 20 meters. In between the hills, that line up along the coast, depression goes below the sea level. At the shores of the lake, there are swamps and reedbeds which vary in size depending on the water leakage. North of the lake is surrounded with vast farmland, deltas in the conservation area are one of the most fertile lands in the world, where the micro and the macro flora production reaches very high levels. The food network, that is formed by high fertility, feeds, deltas are places for fish to lay their eggs and young fish to feed and get protected
22.
Lake Bafa Nature Park
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The lake used to be a gulf of the Aegean Sea until the Classical period, when the sea passage was gradually closed by the alluvial mass brought by Büyük Menderes River. The gulf, and later the lake, was named Latmus in antiquity, the southern shore of the lake is traced by the highway connecting İzmir-Kuşadası-Söke to towns such as Milas and Bodrum that are situated in the south. The northern shore of the lake, where steep slopes are covered by wild or semi-domesticated olive trees, is virtually untouched to this day. At the innermost north-east tip of the lake is the village of Kapıkırı, as well as the ruins of Heraclea by Latmus, to distinguish from other ancient Greek sites named Heraclea. The mountain chain of Beşparmak -also named in antiquity- rises on the back, yet another monastery is situated on an islet on the lake just across the village. The village of Kapıkırı has recently developed important facitilies catering to visiting tourists, although agriculture, Milas Heraclea Lake Bafa Turkey Bafa Lake Pictures and Map
23.
Lake Burdur
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Lake Burdur is a large saline lake of tectonic origin, positioned at the frontier between Burdur and Isparta provinces, in southwestern Turkey. It is located at around 37. 75°N30. 18°E /37.75,30.18 and it has an area of 250.00 km² and maximum depth variously reported at between 50 and 110 m. Water level in the lake fluctuates, Lake Burdur is also an important wetland site for many bird species and is designated a Ramsar site. Lake Burdur is among the largest and deepest lakes of Turkey, located at the Lake District Region in south-western Anatolia, the average depth is 40 m and maximum depth 68 m. Maximum surface area is 140 km2 at 854 m elevation and it is salty and highly alkaline and it never freezes. Lake Burdur is one of the deepest lakes of Turkey, the aquatic plants are not observed in the lake because of the amount of sodium sulphate and chlorine content. Since the lake does not freeze in winter, it serves as a refuge for the birds. The ecosystem of the lake is threatened by the presence of an industrial complex, the decrease of water levels, increasing of sedimentation, organic pollution and inorganic effluent represent long-term threats to the integrity of the lake. The water level has decreased from 1975 to 2002 due to construction of dams and ponds in catchment basin, nowadays the estimated lake area ranges between 140 km2 or 153 km2. Lake Burdur has great ornithological importance harbouring numerous wintering bird species and it is the most important wintering site in the world for the white-headed duck, a globally threatened species. It has also served habitats to 10 other internationally important waterfowl species, Lake Burdur has been a Ramsar Site since 1993 and Wildlife Reserve since 1994. Aphanius anatoliae sureyanus and A. burduricus are endemic species of the lake, the formation of the lake began 5 million years ago as a tectonic depression. It is known that the lake maintained fresh water character for long period of time, the altitude in Plio-pleistocene period was 100 m higher, so the lake extended in NE–SW direction. In late Pleistocene period salinization and shrinking of the lake began, since 1975 an altitude change of −10 m and 27% volume loss has been recorded. Notes Sources Lake Burdur at BirdLife International
24.
Lake Eymir
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Lake Eymir is a small lake in Ankara Province, Turkey. According to notes of Seyyah Kandemir published by the governorate of Ankara in 1932, the lake is about 20 kilometres south of the Ankara city center within the intracity district of Gölbaşı at about 39°49′N 32°49′E. The southern shore lies along the road of Ankara. The altitude of the surface with respect to sea level is about 969 metres. The shape of the lake resembles the letter S. The lake has an area of 108.8 hectars. The length of the lake is approximately 4.2 km, the width is about 250 m. The deepest point is at -5.5 meters with a depth of the lake at 3.80 meters and 5.00 meters. The lake is an alluvial set lake, the main water input is a channel from the nearby Lake Mogan, some 3 kilometres at the south west. When the level of Lake Eymir increases beyond a certain level, during the flood in 1910, Lake Mogan and Lake Eymir temporarily merged. According to 1930 travel notes of Nahit Sırrı Örik the area surrounding the lake was arid land devoid of any green plantation, in 1956,45 square kilometres land including Lake Eymir was allocated to the Middle East Technical University campus. Now ODTÜ is the university in Turkey with a lake in the campus area. Immediately after 1956, the first rector of the university Kemal Kurdaş began a project around the lake. Now most of the land is a pine forest. The lake has two entrances to the east and west, and it is open to public, only cars with a special permit are admitted inside the lake area in order to eliminate the pollution and risk of traffic accidents. However the parking lots located near both entrances are free for use, for public use, there is a transportation services at the door to recreational areas
Media related to Lake Tuz at Wikimedia Commons
