Bolkar Mountains, also known as Bulgar Dagh or Bolghar Dagh, are a mountain range situated in the middle part of the

Taurus mountains The Taurus Mountains (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar,'' Greek language, Greek'':'' Ταύρος) are a mountain range, mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coastal reg ...

complex in southern Turkey bounded by the

Göksu River The Göksu River (), known in classical antiquity, antiquity as the Calycadnus and in the Middle Ages as the Saleph, is a river on the Taşeli, Taşeli Plateau in southern Turkey. Its two sources arise in the Taurus Mountains—the northern in t ...

to the west and the Pozantı River to the east. The northern part of the mountains lies in

Niğde province Niğde Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province in the southern part of Central Anatolia, Turkey. Its area is 7,234 km2, and its population is 365,419 (2022) of which 170,511 live in the city of Niğde. The population was 348,081 in 200 ...

, while the southern peaks rise in

Mersin province Mersin Province (), formerly İçel Province (), is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast between Antalya Province, A ...

Economy

In the early 20th-century, the mountains were noted as having large amounts of

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

. A mine active in the region since 1825 was Bulgar Maden. As of 1920 it was still producing lead as a Turkish government ran enterprise. The ore from this mine was 44.2 percent lead.

Silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

and

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

were occasionally found in the mines. The mine used a low quality

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron-making, iron, copper extraction, copper ...

technique, which often threatened the quality of the product, leaving much of it lost. The gold and silver findings were sent to Istanbul for smelting.

Fauna

Montivipera bulgardaghica is a venomous viper species endemic originated from this mountain range.

References

External links

Bulgar Maden
from Hittite Monuments Mountain ranges of Turkey Physiographic provinces Mediterranean region, Turkey Important Bird Areas of Turkey {{Turkey-geo-stub