Folia Historico-Naturalia Musei Matraensis - A Mátra Múzeum Természetrajzi Közleményei 19. (1994)

János Hír–Onur Özbek: Review Of Karst Research In Western Taurus (Turkey)

- 3 000 meters and deep valleys and narrow gorges are found. Central Taurus Mountains comprise Ala Mountain (Aladag), Bolkar Mountains (Bolkardag) and Geyik Mountains (Geyikdag) units with the Hadim-Ta§kent Triassic formations (ÖNDER, 1984). In the South, this area begins from Alanya to Silifke region (Demirtajli, 1984) which embodies the deepest karst formation of Turkey with its more than 1000 m depth (MILNER, 1992). The area between Silifke and Southeast Anatolia forms the Eastern Taurus Belt. ATALAY (1988) indicates the flora and the karst relationship of the Taurus with its sink holes and karstic depressions which has thic and moist soil covers and that hydrophytic plants of the Euro-Siberian species once covered the Dedegöl and Davraz Mountains in the Quaternary period. The stratigraphy of the region contains different carbonate units ranging from Devonian to Quaternary. Quaternary climatic fluctuations and sea level changes have formed most of the coastal and fluvial terraces in Anatolia which reflect the neotectonic movements (EROL, 1984). 1. The connection of the large lakes in the North and the large springs in the South In the Northern border of the Western Taurus there are three large lakes: Burdur, Egirdir, and Bey§ehir. These are important water reservoirs of the karst system which among these lakes, the Bey§ehir Lake has been studied most for the subterranean flow relations between the karstic outflows located in the South and in the lake itself, using fluorescent dye water tracing. Despite the fact during the Mio-Pliocene, Burdur Lake shaped up as an intramountain basin, it resembles the Tuzgölü (Salt Lake) basin because of its Quaternary history. This region took shape from the Middle Jurassic - Eocene carbonates in a shallow-marine environment. In addition to the carbonates, flysch has a continuation to the late Oligocène. The lake became closed during the Upper Pleistocene easing a brackish water to be filled in the basin (EROL, 1984). The other lakes have salty water because of the lack of subterranaean and surface flow (TLHAN, 1976). Surface area of Beygehir Lake (1116 meters in altitude) is 680 km2 and according to the local authorities, the water level has dropped during the recent years diminishing this surface area. Its maximum depth is reported as 1125 meters The Lake is fed by rain and snow melt. Its input is 621 600 000 m3 and its output is 343 000 000 m3 a year (BILGIN, 1991). It looses an important amount of water through numerous sinkholes located along the Western coast of the lake. These sinkholes are katavotras (estavel) working as springs after the rainy seasons. Beysehir Lake is belived as the main supplier of water to Manavgat and Köprücay basins through karstic channels. The lake has a surface flow through the Beysehir Lake to Sugla Lake which is now a dry region. The present situation of the lake has not been adequately studied. Due to the previous irrigation utilizations of the State Hydraulic Works (DSI) and some other factors, Sugla is now not a lake but a large agricultural land. EROL (1984) explains the lack of information about the Quaternary climatic fluctuations in Egridir and Bey^ehir-Sugla basins by that karstic discharges controlled the lake levels in the past. NAZIK (1986) specifies the faulting and fluvial dissection of the area as an "orogenetic dissected karst". West of Sugla basin is very important for observing the inflow-outflow relations between the Tinaztepe sinkhole and Susuz and Fasih karst water springs which provide a crucial amount of water to this region. These waters join in a number of siphons or "düdens" on the East side, sucking all the waters thus accumulated. Although there has been many speleological expeditions here in the past (GÜLDALI and NAZIK 1980, GÜLDALI and NAZIK 1992, JAGER and others 1989, CHOPPY 1978, CHABERT 1975, BAKALOWICZ 1970), the area still remains promissing for the future surveys on dry caving and sump diving. The Egirdir Lake (924 meters in altitude) is situated in a N-S trending closed basin which is surrounded by ophiolitic and carbonate rocks. The lake has approximately 3916 km drai9