15. The Lake Basins of South-west Anatolia

The part of south-west Anatolia called the “Lake District” neighbouring the Mediterranean region of Turkey, includes nine large and over twenty small lakes that are mostly tectonic and some karstic in origin. These lacustrine basins are disseminated within depressions of the Taurus Mountains that are part of the Alpine–Himalayan belt. Here, the Taurus makes a morphological curve towards the north (Isparta Angle or Bend in the literature) due to the collision of the African and Anatolian plates during the early Neogene. The curvation resulted in depressions convenient for lakes. The largest freshwater lakes of the country (Beyşehir and Eğirdir), the most saline ones (Acıgöl and Salda), the slightly saline ones (Akşehir and Burdur) and the deepest ones (Burdur and Salda) occur here together in the same area, most probably because of special characteristics of drainage systems, source rocks and the above-mentioned tectonic development. Altitudes of lakes are around 850–1100 m a.s.l. The region, however, is mountainous and some peaks are above 2500 m, making the region attractive for settlements since early Neolithic time (e.g. Suberde ca 7500–7000 cal. BC, Erbaba 6500–6000 cal. BC, Eflatunpınarı 1300–1200 cal. BC).