Geography of Turkey
The Anatolian side of Turkey is the largest portion in the country[1] that bridges southeastern Europe and west Asia. East Thrace, the European portion of Turkey comprises 3%[2] of the country and 10%[2] of its population. East Thrace is separated from Asia Minor, the Asian portion of Turkey, by the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles.[3] İskilip, Çorum province, is considered to be the geographical center of Earth.[4] Turkey has the 17th longest coastline in the world with 7,200 km.
 | |
| Continent | Europe and Asia |
|---|---|
| Region | Southern Europe and West Asia |
| Coordinates | 39°00′N 35°00′E |
| Area | Ranked 36th |
| • Total | 783,562 km2 (302,535 sq mi) |
| • Land | 98% |
| • Water | 2% |
| Coastline | 7,200 km (4,500 mi) |
| Borders | Total land borders: 2648 km Armenia 268 km, Azerbaijan 9 km, Bulgaria 240 km, Georgia 252 km, Greece 206 km, Iran 499 km, Iraq 352 km, Syria 822 km |
| Highest point | Mount Ağrı (Ararat) 5,137 m |
| Lowest point | Mediterranean Sea 0 m |
| Longest river | Kızılırmak 1,350 km |
| Largest lake | Van 3,755 km2 (1,449.81 sq mi) |
| Exclusive economic zone | 462,000 km2 |
External boundaries
Turkey, surrounded by water on three sides, has well-defined natural borders with its eight neighbors.[3]
Turkey’s frontiers with Greece—206 kilometers—and Bulgaria—240 kilometers— were settled[5] by the Treaty of Constantinople (1913) and later confirmed[5] by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. The 1921 treaties of Moscow[6] and Kars with the Soviet Union[6] defines Turkey’s current borders with Armenia (268 kilometers), Azerbaijan (9 kilometers), and Georgia (252 kilometers). The 499-kilometer Iranian border was first settled by the 1639 Treaty of Kasr-ı Şirin and confirmed in 1937.[7] With the exception of Mosul, Turkey ceded the territories of the present-day Iraq and Syria with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. In 1926, Turkey ceded Mosul to the United Kingdom in exchange for 10% the oil revenues from Mosul for 25 years.[7] Syria does (as of 1990) not recognize its border with Turkey because of a dispute of the 1939 transfer of Hatay Province following a referendum that favored union with Turkey.[5]
Main articles:
Regions
Turkey Is stolen land who occupies land from Greece, armania, Kurdistan. Originally for Mongolia. They are Travelers. They have oppressed many kurds for decades but the westerns media tends to give a blind eye The mountain area is mostly Kurdish land. So why don't we sand up. I'm waffling now because there nothing else to say Biji kurdistan. Îradeya dijmin nahêle em bikevin
Geology
Turkey's varied landscapes are the product of a wide variety of tectonic processes that have shaped Anatolia over millions of years and continue today as evidenced by frequent earthquakes and occasional volcanic eruptions. Except for a relatively small portion of its territory along the Syrian border that is a continuation of the Arabian Platform, Turkey geologically is part of the great Alpide belt that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Himalaya Mountains. This belt was formed during the Paleogene Period, as the Arabian, African, and Indian continental plates began to collide with the Eurasian plate. This process is still at work today as the African Plate converges with the Eurasian Plate and the Anatolian Plate escapes towards the west and southwest along strike-slip faults. These are the North Anatolian Fault Zone, which forms the present-day plate boundary of Eurasia near the Black Sea coast, and the East Anatolian Fault Zone, which forms part of the boundary of the North Arabian Plate in the southeast. As a result, Turkey lies on one of the world's seismically most active regions.
However, many of the rocks exposed in Turkey were formed long before this process began. Turkey contains outcrops of Precambrian rocks, (more than 520 million years old; Bozkurt et al., 2000). The earliest geological history of Turkey is poorly understood, partly because of the problem of reconstructing how the region has been tectonically assembled by plate motions. Turkey can be thought of as a collage of different pieces (possibly terranes) of ancient continental and oceanic lithosphere stuck together by younger igneous, volcanic, and sedimentary rocks.
During the Mesozoic era (about 250 to 66 million years ago) a large ocean (Tethys Ocean), floored by oceanic lithosphere existed in-between the supercontinents of Gondwana and Laurasia (which lay to the south and north respectively; Robertson & Dixon, 2006). This large oceanic plate was consumed at subduction zones (see subduction zone). At the subduction trenches the sedimentary rock layers that were deposited within the prehistoric Tethys Ocean buckled, were folded, faulted, and tectonically mixed with huge blocks of crystalline basement rocks of the oceanic lithosphere. These blocks form a very complex mixture or mélange of rocks that include mainly serpentinite, basalt, dolerite and chert (e.g. Bergougnan, 1975). The Eurasian margin, now preserved in the Pontides (the Pontic Mountains along the Black Sea coast), is thought to have been geologically similar to the Western Pacific region today (e.g. Rice et al., 2006). Volcanic arcs (see volcanic arc) and backarc basins (see back-arc basin) formed and were emplaced onto Eurasia as ophiolites (see ophiolite) as they collided with microcontinents (literally relatively small plates of continental lithosphere; e.g. Ustaomer and Robertson, 1997). These microcontinents had been pulled away from the Gondwanan continent further south. Turkey is therefore made up of several different prehistorical microcontinents.
During the Cenozoic folding, faulting, and uplifting, accompanied by volcanic activity and intrusion of igneous rocks was related to major continental collision between the larger Arabian and Eurasian plates (e.g. Robertson & Dixon, 1984).
Present-day earthquakes range from barely perceptible tremors to major movements measuring five or higher on the open-ended Richter scale. Turkey's most severe earthquake in the twentieth century occurred in Erzincan on the night of December 28–29, 1939; it devastated most of the city and caused an estimated 160,000 deaths. Earthquakes of moderate intensity often continue with sporadic aftershocks over periods of several days or even weeks. The most earthquake-prone part of Turkey is an arc-shaped region stretching from the general vicinity of Kocaeli to the area north of Lake Van on the border with Armenia and Georgia.
Turkey's terrain is structurally complex. A central massif composed of uplifted blocks and downfolded troughs, covered by recent deposits and giving the appearance of a plateau with rough terrain, is wedged between two folded mountain ranges that converge in the east. True lowlands are confined to the Ergene Ovası (Ergene Plain) in Thrace, extending along rivers that discharge into the Aegean Sea or the Sea of Marmara, and to a few narrow coastal strips along the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea coasts.
Nearly 85% of the land is at an elevation of at least 450 meters; the average and median altitude of the country is 1,332 and 1,128 meters, respectively. In Asiatic Turkey, flat or gently sloping land is rare and largely confined to the deltas of the Kızıl River, the coastal plains of Antalya and Adana, and the valley floors of the Gediz River and the Büyükmenderes River, and some interior high plains in Anatolia, mainly around Tuz Gölü (Salt Lake) and Konya Ovası (Konya Plain). Moderately sloping terrain is limited almost entirely outside Thrace to the hills of the Arabian Platform along the border with Syria.
More than 80% of the land surface is rough, broken, and mountainous, and therefore is of limited agricultural value (see Agriculture, ch. 3). The terrain's ruggedness is accentuated in the eastern part of the country, where the two mountain ranges converge into a lofty region with a median elevation of more than 1,500 meters, which reaches its highest point along the borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. Turkey's highest peak, Mount Ararat (Ağrı Dağı) — 5,137 meters high — is situated near the point where the boundaries of the four countries meet.
Climate
Turkey's diverse regions have different climates, with the weather system on the coasts contrasting with that prevailing in the interior. The Aegean and Mediterranean coasts have cool, rainy winters and hot, moderately dry summers. Annual precipitation in those areas varies from 580 to 1,300 millimeters (22.8 to 51.2 in), depending on location. The Black Sea coast receives the greatest amount of precipitation and is the only region of Turkey that receives high precipitation throughout the year. The eastern part of that coast averages 2,500 millimeters (98.4 in) annually which is the highest precipitation in the country.
Ankara
Antalya
Istanbul
Van
Mountains close to the coast prevent Mediterranean influences from extending inland, giving the interior of Turkey a continental climate with distinct seasons. The Anatolian Plateau is much more subject to extremes than are the coastal areas. Winters on the plateau are especially severe. Temperatures of −30 to −40 °C (−22 to −40 °F) can occur in the mountainous areas in the east, and snow may lie on the ground 120 days of the year. In the west, winter temperatures average below 1 °C (33.8 °F). Summers are hot and dry, with temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F). Annual precipitation averages about 400 millimeters (15.7 in), with actual amounts determined by elevation. The driest regions are the Konya Ovasi and the Malatya Ovasi, where annual rainfall frequently is less than 300 millimeters (11.8 in). May is generally the wettest month and July and August the driest.
The climate of the Anti-Taurus Mountain region of eastern Turkey can be inhospitable. Summers tend to be hot and extremely dry. Winters are bitterly cold with frequent, heavy snowfall. Villages can be isolated for several days during winter storms. Spring and autumn are generally mild, but during both seasons sudden hot and cold spells frequently occur.
Land use
Land use:
arable land:
35.00
permanent crops:
4.00
other:
61.00(2011)
Irrigated land: 53,400 km2 (2012)
Total renewable water resources: 211.6 km2 (2012)
Elevation extremes:
lowest point:
Mediterranean Sea 0 m
highest point:
Mount Ararat 5,166 m
Natural hazards
Very severe earthquakes, especially on the North Anatolian Fault and East Anatolian Fault, occur along an arc extending from the Sea of Marmara in the west to Lake Van in the east. On August 17, 1999, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
 Map of earthquakes in Turkey 1900–2023 |
 |
Current issues
Water pollution from dumping of chemicals and detergents; air pollution, particularly in urban areas; deforestation; concern for oil spills from increasing Bosphorus ship traffic.
Ratified international agreements
Air Pollution, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Paris Agreement, Ship Pollution, Wetlands.
Signed but unratified international agreements
See also
Notes
- Sarıkaya, M. A. The Late Quaternary glaciation in the Eastern Mediterranean. In: Hughes P, Woodward J (eds) Quaternary glaciation in the Mediterranean mountains. Geological Society of London Special Publication 433, 2017, pp. 289–305.
- The Dorling Kindersley World Reference Atlas. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2014.
- Erturaç, M. K. Kinematics and basin formation along the Ezinepazar-Sungurlu fault zone, NE Anatolia, Turkey. Turk J Earth Sci 21: 2012, pp. 497–520.
- "Google marks Turkey's Çorum as center of the Earth – Türkiye News". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
- Finkel, Andrew, and Nükhet Sirman, eds. Turkish State, Turkish Society. New York: Routledge, 1990.
- Geoffrey Lewis, Modern Turkey. New York: Praeger, 1974.
- Shaw, Stanford J., and Ezel Kural Shaw. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. (2 vols.) Cambridge University Press, 1976.
References
- Bergougnan, H. (1976) Dispositif des ophiolites nord-est anatoliennes, origine des nappes ophiolitiques et sud-pontiques, jeu de la faille nord-anatolienne. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série D: Sciences Naturelles, 281: 107–110.
- Bozkurt, E. and Satir, M. (2000) The southern Menderes Massif (western Turkey); geochronology and exhumation history. Geological Journal, 35: 285–296.
- Rice, S.P., Robertson, A.H.F. and Ustaömer, T. (2006) Late Cretaceous-Early Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Eurasian active margin in the Central and Eastern Pontides, northern Turkey. In: Robertson, (Editor), Tectonic Development of the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 260, London, 413–445.
- Robertson, A. and Dixon, J.E.D. (1984) Introduction: aspects of the geological evolution of the Eastern Mediterranean. In: Dixon and Robertson (Editors), The Geological Evolution of the Eastern Mediterranean. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 17, 1–74.
- Ustaömer, T. and Robertson, A. (1997) Tectonic-sedimentary evolution of the north Tethyan margin in the Central Pontides of northern Turkey. In: A.G. Robinson (Editor), Regional and Petroleum Geology of the Black Sea and Surrounding Region. AAPG Memoir, 68, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 255–290.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Turkey: A Country Study. Federal Research Division.- This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook. CIA.
External links
- National Mapping Agency of Turkey Archived 2017-04-21 at the Wayback Machine
