A geomorphological study of the Sultansazliǧi lake, central Anatolia

Abstract The Sultansazliǧi lake lies in a round-shaped deep basin in the eastern part of Central Anatolia, at the northern end of the ‘Ecemis, Tectonic Trench’ which is the result of a left lateral horizontal fault belt crossing the Middle Taurus Mountain Chain. The Sultan Basin developed contemporaneously with the Erciyes volcanic cone and the Kayseri Tectonic Basin to the north, at the crossing point of two main fault zones, following the formation of extensive ignimbritic plateaux in the Cappadocian area. The basin was occupied from time to time by lake waters during the Pliocene, but it was open to outward drainage during the early Pleistocene and glacis-type fluvial terraces which were developed around Incesu in the north. According to geomorphological studies and detailed photogeomorphological mapping by the author, the Sultan Lake Basin became closed as the result of the development of the volcanic Aliboren barrier to the north near Incesu town and the first ‘pluvial’ lake developed in the Sultan Basin to the south. This lake is believed to have had an outflow to the north via the Aliboran lava threshold. Two sets of lake coastline traces at 1110–1125 and 1155 m were mapped and are named as Aliboran and Calbama coastlines. There are some geomorphological arguments to correlate the Calbama phase lake terraces and shorelines with the moraines and sandur deposits of the Last Glacial Maximum on Mt. Erciyes. It is concluded that the modern lake is not simply a relict of Pleistocene and older lakes but that its water level and coastlines are in equilibrium with modern climatic and environmental conditions.