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Pamukkale
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Pamukkale, which means "cotton castle" in Turkish, is a large natural spring in southwestern Turkey. The ancient city of Hierapolis was built on top of the white "castle" which is in total about 2700 meters long and 160m high. It can be seen from the hills on the opposite side of the valley in the town of Denizli, 20 km away.
The tectonic movements that took place in the fault depression of the Menderes river basin triggered frequent earthquakes, and gave rise to the emergence of a number of very hot springs. The water from one of these springs, with its large mineral content — chalk in particular — created Pamukkale.
Te water contains large amounts of hydrogen carbonate and calcium, which leads to the precipitation of calcium bi-carbonate. Every second 250 liters of hot water arises from this spring, precipitating 2.20 grams of chalk per liter of water or 0.55 kilograms of chalk every second. In the course of time some sources dried up because of earthquakes, while new ones arose in the neighbourhood.
The effect of this natural phenomenon has left thick white layers of limestone and travertines ascading down the mountain slope resembling a frozen waterfall. One type of these formations consists of crescent-shaped travertine terraces with a shallow layer of water, lying in a step-like arrangement down the upper one-third of the slope, with the steps ranging from 1m to 6 meters in height. The other form consists of stalactites, propping up and connecting these terraces.
These sources were well-known in the Antiquity. They were described by the Roman architect Vitruvius. The Phrygian Greeks built Hierapolis on top of the hill. They ascribed medical properties to the spring water, bestowed by the gods, especially Asklepios (demigod of medicine) and his daughter Hygieia (goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation), under the protection of Apollo (god of medicine and healing).
Pamukkale is a popular tourist attraction and even though it was a bleak overcast day with snow flurries when I went, there were still many people there.
Source: Wikipedia. |
amanengone, skoksalan, Juyona has marked this note useful
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Hi Chris,
Indeed a natural wonder of Pamukkale. White travertine on the color of turquoise is an excellent composition of water brought up. Thanks for sharing.
Regards.
- zetu
![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 645 W: 15 N: 1580]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-s-g.gif)
(6173) - [2009-06-07 6:21]
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Hello Chris
Wonderful landscape with a wonderful place. Well done.
regards
Razvan
Hello Chris.
Attractive picture from Pamukkale. I appreciate the purety of the colors (white for the concretions and blue for the water). Good composition and good sharpness. Thank you also for those interesting comments.
Hope to see you latter on treknature.
All the best.
Philippe.
Hi Chris,
I was not aware of these thermal areas in Turkey before,even though they look every bit as spectacular as those more famous ones in America and NZ.
A great capture of these terraces and an interesting note.
Cheers & TFS
Steve
One of the most beautiful natural areas in our country would like to thank for sharing.
Whether he's not at all dark areas.
In a manner befitting the name, such as Pamukkale, cotton is very white.
A great square.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Chris
Superbe composition,les couleurs sont éclatantes et la beauté de ce paysage est spécial d'image est parfaite.
Merci et bravo...JP
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- Juyona
(15565)
- [2009-06-08 0:55]
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Hola amigo,
fabuloso panorama,
bellos destalles y encuadre...
saludos Chris.
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 117 W: 0 N: 100]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
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(12035)