Karadağ (literally: ''Black mountain'') is an

extinct volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the Crust (geology), crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth ...

Karaman Province Karaman Province () is a province of south-central Turkey. Its area is 8,678 km2, and its population is 260,838 (2022). According to the 2000 census, the population was 243,210. The population density is 30 people/km. The traffic code is 7 ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The mountain, which was heavily inhabited in the Hittite and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

periods, is now used mostly for

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

, but many historical structures are still visible.

Geography

The Karadağ volcano rises between the

Çumra Çumra is a municipality and district of Konya Province, Turkey. Its area is 2,089 km2, and its population is 67,690 (2022). Geography The town of Çumra is at an altitude of 1,020 m. It is an important stop on the Istanbul to Baghdad railway ...

lowlands and the Hotamış marsh. The Mahalaç Peak is its highest point, at . The caldera, the Uluçukur caldera, has a diameter of to with a depth of . Surrounding the caldera are

lava domes In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular, mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow Extrusive rock, extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6 ...

. The volcanic complex covers around 600 km².

Route to mountain

The mountain is accessible by car. Departing from Karaman, along the Karaman-Kılbasan road, making a left turn after passing Kılbasan will lead you to the mountain. Buildings of official institutions being located in the peak makes it easier to access the crater. The historical road is thought to be near the current road.

Flora and fauna

The region is home to around 250

wild horses The wild horse (''Equus ferus'') is a species of the genus ''Equus'', which includes as subspecies the modern domesticated horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') as well as the endangered Przewalski's horse (''Equus ferus przewalskii'', sometimes tr ...

and many feral sheep. The mountain Karadağ is located near the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, which means its climate is a mix of

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...

. Due to this, the area is mostly covered by maquis. However, there are also some endemic plants, including the '' Astragalus vestitus''.

Geologic history

Volcanic activity in this volcano occurred in 4 phases. It started at the end of

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

. The oldest

materials A material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their ge ...

(around 2.3 million years old). The following volcanics have an age of around 1.95-2.05 million years old, which can be found in Kızıldağ, a

cinder cone A cinder cone or scoria cone is a steep, volcanic cone, conical landform of loose pyroclastic rock, pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic ash, clinkers, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are forme ...

in the northeast of the main mountain. Later activity at the summit resulted in the creation of a

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

1.1 million years ago. With these eruptions,

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...

s, pumicites and formations of

breccia Breccia ( , ; ) is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or Rock (geology), rocks cementation (geology), cemented together by a fine-grained matrix (geology), matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language ...

were observed. In the north flank of the caldera, within the tuffs

base surge A pyroclastic surge is a fluidised mass of turbulent gas and rock fragments that is ejected during some volcanic eruptions. It is similar to a pyroclastic flow but it has a lower density or contains a much higher ratio of gas to rock, which makes i ...

sediments are visible. In the last period, the 4th period, near Madenşehri, younger andesite rocks were found. Older

Neogene The Neogene ( ,) is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period million years ago. It is the second period of th ...

rocks were also found, consisting of conglomerates,

limestones Limestone is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Limestone forms when these ...

and

sandstones Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains, cemented together by another mineral. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed o ...

in the area of the caldera.

Caldera formation

Before the eruption which caused a caldera to form, the

extrusion Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross section (geometry), cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a Die (manufacturing), die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing pro ...

slag The general term slag may be a by-product or co-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and recycled metals depending on the type of material being produced. Slag is mainly a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. Broadly, it can be c ...

volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, produced during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to r ...

and debris was occurring. A

lava flow Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

covered the vent, which forced the pressure of the gas from the magma chamber to pile up and caused a large explosion, leaving a caldera behind.

Pyroclastic flows A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of b ...

were generated, the most effective being in the north flank. of pumice layers underground were found near Madenşehri as a result of the eruption.

History

Karadag 19 09 2000 Mahalic Tepesi hethitische Inschrift

The slopes of the volcano have always been inhabited. In fact,

Çatalhöyük Çatalhöyük (English: Chatalhoyuk ; ; also ''Çatal Höyük'' and ''Çatal Hüyük''; from Turkish language, Turkish ''çatal'' "fork" + ''höyük'' "tumulus") is a Tell (archaeology), tell (a mounded accretion resulting from long-term huma ...

(ca 7500 BC), one of the earliest

neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

settlements in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, is located at the north-west of the volcano, and there are Hittite inscriptions on the hills at the south-east of the mountain, belonging to a Great King Hartapu. The mountain was called Boratinon in late antiquity. Ancient

Derbe Derbe or Dervi (), also called Derveia (), was a city of Galatia in Asia Minor, and later of Lycaonia, and still later of Isauria and Cappadocia. It is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles at , , and . Derbe is the only city mentioned in ...

, which is one of the towns

Paul the Apostle Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...

had visited, is situated on the east slopes of the mountain. During the early ages of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

, the towns on the mountain were religious centers. There are ruins of early

settlements all around the mountain and the region is called

Binbirkilise Binbirkilise (literally: Thousand and One Churches) is a district in modern Karaman Province of Turkey, in what was the medieval region of Lycaonia known for its around fifty Byzantine Empire, Byzantine church ruins. The district is located on t ...

().

Madenşehri Madenşehri (literally “city of mines”) is a village in the Karaman District of Karaman Province, Turkey. Its population is 289 (2022). It is situated on the northern slopes of Karadağ, Karaman, Karadağ, an extinct volcano, and is north of t ...

ruins are situated to the north of the crater. However, after Christianity was well established in big cities, the settlements on the mountain lost their religious importance.

Gallery

File:Karaman Karadağ in distance 2242.jpg , Karadağ viewed from Karaman File:Karadağ drgulcu.JPG , Karadağ viewed from Çumra while the summit is covered by clouds File:Karadağ 08 1999 Uluçukur-Caldera.jpg , The Uluçukur caldera, viewed from the south

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karadag Mountain Volcanoes of Turkey Mountains of Turkey Central Anatolia region Landforms of Karaman Province Extinct volcanoes of Europe Stratovolcanoes of Turkey Two-thousanders of Turkey