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

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

Elmah-Karagöl and Avian Lake karst system The big basin in front of Elmah town, where the lakes of Avian and Karagöl are, is one of the largest poljes of Turkey. The streams flowing into Karagöl Cave and the sinkholes of Yaka formed on the bank of Avian Lake. In 1958 Aygen cut the water going into the Karagöl Cave by a temporary baricade which was built at the canal. In 1987, the cave was searched again to find a way through the narrow fissures. But the team could find no way through these numerous cracks (ÖZBEK, 1988). In recent years when the water of the lakes rises to a risky level, D.S.I. (State Water Works) let the water run through the conduit leading to Karagöl sinkhole (diideni). Nowadays, the water run into Karagöl and Avian Lake poljes through the conduit pouring out to Finike valley, Basgöz, Aykirca and Gökpinar springs and the other karstic springs on the sea level near Finike. The dry caves of Katrandag Karain cave and the nearby cavities alongside the surmounting hills on the Cretaceous aged limestones of Katrandag* belong to an old karstic system which were once active. Although their present speleomorphologies show vadoz type facade, their water marks and formation levels with the other caves present the fact that they are a part of the Kirkgözler karstic system. Now most of their entrances filled up with the Quaternary deposits, these caves are the most important sedimentation traps enclosing the shelters and tool marking sites of the Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. Karain cave also enclose the fossils of an abundant fauna indicating that during the last Ice Age. The Antalya Plateau was a suitable habitat for these animals (Fig. 5.). Kirkgözler Cave This cave is situated 50 meters to Kirkgözler springs and it hase rich formations with interesting archaeological finds consisting ceramic and human skeletons. After 300 meters the cave situated in the Cretaceous limestones descends to a sump which is throught to be related with the spring. Insuyu Cave It is the second cave after Damlatas which has been opened to tourism. It is situated 13 kilometers to the South of Bufdur, formed in Mesozoic limestones. The carbonated mineral water coming from a fault just in front of the entrance of the cave makes a mixture with the underground streams (AYGEN, 1984). The environs of the cave consists of different rocks ,like Eocene flisch and limestones, ophiolits belonging to Pliocene lake units Plio-Pleistocene travertines. From the limestone- ophiolit, and limestone -flisch contact there are various spring discharges having approximately an output of 5-30 1/sec. There are more than six deep water wells near Insuyu Cave for the drinking water demands of Burdur. The three wells near Insuyu have about 180 1/sec discharge rate. The water level of Insuyu Cave dropped drastically in the last five years due to official and other borings to get water for drinking and irrigation. Recently most of the lakes in the cave are dry and there very little hope to constitute the past situation. The marine caves The sea caves in this region were first examined by Aygen in 1960'ies. After 1980, the Mediterranean Coast was searched for the caves suitable for touristical utilizations by a group in MTA (State's Mineral Research and Exploration Office). However, these studies were only for touristical purposes and scientific studies were insufficient. Nowadays the hydrogeology departments of the universities and geologists from different institutions study the coastal karst of the region. According to AYGEN *(1984) the names of the important sea caves are Incilrli cave near Finike, Kekova Island sea caves, Kapita^ (Mavi) Cave, Giivercinlik and Giivercinini 16