Tilkiler Cave, a.k.a. Tilkiler Sinkhole, ( a.k.a. ''Tilkiler Düdeni'') is a

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

located in

Manavgat Manavgat is a municipality and district of Antalya Province, Turkey. Its area is 2,351 km2, and its population is 252,941 (2022). It is from the city of Antalya. The Manavgat River has a waterfall near the city. Geography Between the Ta ...

district of

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

in southern Turkey. It is named after the nearby village Tilkiler. It is situated east of Tilkiler village and about northwest of Oymapınar Dam at above sea level. The distance from Manavgat is about . Tilkiler Cave was discovered in 1976 during the preparatory construction works at Oymapınar Dam while excavating an injection gallery. The horizontal developed cave has a length of and is deep. It is the country's third longest one. The cave was constituted in the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

conglomerate rock formation. It is also partly formed in

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

. These characteristics make it valuable for scientific research. The ponds inside the cave are at different elevations. Water level varies between summer and winter ranging between . The cave floods in springtime. A few kilometers from the entrance, there is a hall, where the ground is completely covered with sand. In 1977, French

speleologist Speleology () is the scientific study of caves and other karst features, as well as their composition, structure, physical properties, history, ecology, and the processes by which they form (speleogenesis) and change over time (speleomorpholog ...

s built four small sand castles there that gave the hall the name "Hall of Castles". It was observed 27 years later that the sand castles were still intact.

References

Caves of Turkey Caves of Antalya Province Manavgat District Wild caves {{Antalya-geo-stub