A Fascinating Gift from Volcanoes: The Fairy Chimneys and Underground Cities of Cappadocia

Attila Çiner; Erkan Aydar

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-03515-0_31

A Fascinating Gift from Volcanoes: The Fairy Chimneys and Underground Cities of Cappadocia

Attila Çiner^*, Erkan Aydar

^*Corresponding author for this work

Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences

Hacettepe University

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Cappadocia, at the heart of the Central Anatolia Plateau in Turkey, is famous for its unusual volcanic landscape and rock dwellings. The formation of this landscape dates back to the late Miocene epoch (∼10 Ma) (Ma = Million years) when ignimbrites and pyroclastic deposits started to spread out from a few volcanic centres over an area of 20.000 km² centred on the plateau. The volcanism continued for several millions of years and laid down thick and colourful ignimbrite layers. The evolution of the Cappadocian landscape is governed by the uplift of the plateau since late Miocene times. Gently sloping plateaus formed by the surface of volcanic pyroclastic flows are later dissected, usually along fractures of soft-unwelded ignimbrites, to form mushroom-like, cone-shaped structures known locally as “fairy chimneys”. Ancient populations also used the ignimbrites to carve their houses, churches and even underground cities. This unique cultural and morphological heritage site was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985 and today is one of the most visited regions of Turkey.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	World Geomorphological Landscapes
Publisher	Springer
Pages	535-549
Number of pages	15
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03515-0_31
Publication status	Published - 2019

Publication series

Name	World Geomorphological Landscapes
ISSN (Print)	2213-2090
ISSN (Electronic)	2213-2104

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Funding

Several TÜBİTAK projects financially supported our long-lasting research in the region. We thank numerous colleagues (İnan Ulusoy, Evren Çubukçu, Erdal Şen from Hacettepe University; Orkun Ersoy from Niğde University; Marek Zreda from University of Arizona; Catherine Kuzucuoğlu from CNRS; Alain Gourgaud from Université Blaise Pascal) with whom we exchanged knowledge and observations. We appreciate M. Akif Sarıkaya’s (Istanbul Technical University) help during the fieldwork and in drawing the map. We are grateful to Kısmet Çiner, the manager of Kayadam Cave House in Ürgüp, who kindly hosted us during our work in Cappadocia.

Funders	Funder number
University of Arizona
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Keywords

Cappadocia
Fairy chimneys
Hoodoos
Ignimbrites
Tourism
Volcanoes

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-030-03515-0_31

Cite this

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abstract = "Cappadocia, at the heart of the Central Anatolia Plateau in Turkey, is famous for its unusual volcanic landscape and rock dwellings. The formation of this landscape dates back to the late Miocene epoch (∼10 Ma) (Ma = Million years) when ignimbrites and pyroclastic deposits started to spread out from a few volcanic centres over an area of 20.000 km2 centred on the plateau. The volcanism continued for several millions of years and laid down thick and colourful ignimbrite layers. The evolution of the Cappadocian landscape is governed by the uplift of the plateau since late Miocene times. Gently sloping plateaus formed by the surface of volcanic pyroclastic flows are later dissected, usually along fractures of soft-unwelded ignimbrites, to form mushroom-like, cone-shaped structures known locally as “fairy chimneys”. Ancient populations also used the ignimbrites to carve their houses, churches and even underground cities. This unique cultural and morphological heritage site was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985 and today is one of the most visited regions of Turkey.",

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A Fascinating Gift from Volcanoes: The Fairy Chimneys and Underground Cities of Cappadocia

Abstract

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Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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