The Earth Story

Fairy Chimneys These rock formations are found in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey. These towers are found within Göreme National Park just outside the city of Göreme.

The Sea of Marmara Nestled in between the Asian and European locales of Turkey, the Sea of Marmara is large inland body of water that links the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea. The narrow Bosphorus Strait, which separates Istanbul into its Asian and European territories, connects the Marmara to the Black Sea, while the Dardenelles Strait flows from the Marmara into the Aegean Sea. Its strategic location makes the Sea of Marmara an important port for trade and shipping between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean — an economic feature that has lasted since the days of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire.

The North Anatolian Fault – one of the world’s most dangerous It’s hard to say that there’s a single, most dangerous fault segment in the world, but if we started making a list, the North Anatolian fault would appear on it very quickly.

Kaleköy, Turkey

Video @adamaxoi 📸

First historic report of death by meteorite located There have been documented cases of stones falling from the sky for centuries. However, even though one stone fell through the roof and hit a sleeping woman in Alabama, and one piece of a martian meteorite is famously reported as having killed a cat, until today there were no known cases of a meteorite actually killing someone. This map, with a few details added by modern authors, shows the suspected track of a meteorite that entered the Earth’s atmosphere above what is today Iraq in 1888. The rock entered the atmosphere and as the atmosphere slowed the rock, it heated up and built so much pressure that eventually it triggered an explosion – an airburst. A just-published paper demonstrates that after this event, 3 independent documents were generated stating that fragments of this exploding rock killed one man and paralyzed another. Those documents were delivered to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire at the time and have been stored in files in Turkey ever since, until these researchers uncovered them. The researchers suggest that there are likely other cases of people killed by rocks falling from space that have been stored in document vaults around the world, waiting to be recognized today. -JBB Image source and original paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/maps.13469

Pink lake in Turkey

Pamukkale, Cotton Castle

Located in southwestern Turkey, the hot springs of Pamukkale are a marvel of nature and are now a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site. The springs form a series of white limestone cascades that carpet the slope of the River Menderes valley.

Pamukkale means ‘Cotton Castle’ in Turkish. It lies in a fault zone, where two plates of the Earth’s crust meet. Tectonic movements in the area often cause earthquakes. They are also responsible for the creation of countless hot springs. The waters of Pamukkale hot springs are loaded with calcium and dissolved carbon dioxide, and these combine to form crystals of calcite, which precipitate out. Over time these crystals have built up to form limestone sheets. In some places these sheets appear to flow down the slope torrents, like rivers of frozen water. In others, the crystals have created forests of calcite stalactites and flooded terraces connected by spectacular limestone waterfalls.

The waters of Pamukkale’s hot springs gush out of the ground at a rate of 240 litres per second and have a temperature of 35˚C (95˚F). They are rich in dissolved calcium and carbon dioxide and contain very few impurities. As they cool, the calcite that precipitates out of them is dazzling white. Beneath the top layer of calcite visible are other, more ochre-coloured layers. These were laid down in the past when the spring waters were not pure. 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) from Pamukkale is Karahayit, which also has hot springs. Here, the water emerges at 38˚C and is loaded with iron, resulting in the formation of red limestone.

~ JM

More Info: Pamukkale: http://bit.ly/1OKjHFm

Pamukkale Water Terraces: http://bit.ly/1BENndX

Soothing waters of Pamukkale:http://wxch.nl/1HULAss

Awesome winter view of the Fairy Chimneys - eroding volcanic rocks at Cappadocia, Turkey - covered by snow