Pamukkale

Pamukkale, meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish, is a natural site in south-western Turkey in the Denizli Province. The city contains hot springs and travertines, terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. It is located in Turkey's Inner Aegean region, in the River Menderes valley, which has a temperate climate for most of the year.

The ancient city of Hierapolis was built on top of the white "castle" which is in total about long and high. It can be seen from the hills on the opposite side of the valley in the town of Denizli, 20 km away.

Tourism is and has been a major industry. People have bathed in its pools for thousands of years. As recently as the mid 20th century, hotels were built over the ruins of Heropolis, causing considerable damage. An approach road was built from the valley over the terraces, and motor bikes were allowed to go up and down the slopes. However, when the area was declared a world heritage site, the hotels were demolished and the road removed and replaced with artificial pools. The wearing of shoes has been prohibited in the water to try and protect the deposits.

Geology

[[wikipedia:File:Pamukkale panorama 2.jpg|thumb|300px|Panoramic view of travertine terraces at Pamukkale]] Pamukkale's terraces are made of travertine, a sedimentary rock deposited by water from the hot springs.

In this area, there are 17 hot water springs in which the temperature ranges from to . The water that emerges from the spring is transported to the head of the travertine terraces and deposits calcium carbonate on a section long covering an expanse of to . When the water, supersaturated with calcium carbonate, reaches the surface, carbon dioxide degases from it, and calcium carbonate is deposited. The depositing continues until the carbon dioxide in the water balances the carbon dioxide in the air. Calcium carbonate is deposited by the water as a soft jelly, but this eventually hardens into travertine.

This reaction is affected by the weather conditions, ambient temperature and the speed of flow duration. Precipitation continues until the carbon dioxide in the thermal water reaches equilibrium with the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Measurements made at the source of the springs find atmospheric levels of 725 mg/l carbon dioxide, by the time this water flows across the travertines, this figure falls to 145 mg/l. Likewise calcium carbonate falls from 1200 mg/l to 400 mg/l and calcium 576.8 mg/l to 376.6 mg/l. From these results it is calculated that 499.9 mg of CaCO3 is deposited on the travertine for every liter of water. This means that for a flow rate of 1 ı/s of water 43191 grams are deposited daily. The average density of a travertine is 1.48 g/cm3 implying a deposit of 29.2 dm3. Given that the average flow of the water is 465.2 l/s this implies that it can whiten 13584 m2 a day, but in practice this areal coverage is difficult to attain. These theoretical calculations indicate that up to. 4.9 km2 it can be covered with a white deposit of 1 mm thickness.

Archeology

Museum

The former Roman Bath of the ancient city of Hierapolis has been used as the site of the Hierapolis Archaeology Museum since 1984.

In this museum, alongside historical artifacts from Hierapolis, there are also artifacts from Laodiceia, Colossae, Tripolis, Attuda and other towns of the Lycos (Çürüksu) valley. In addition to these, the museum has a large section devoted to artifacts found at Beycesultan Hüyük that includes some of the most beautiful examples of Bronze age craft.

Artifacts from the Caria, Pisidia and Lydia regions are also on display in this museum. The museum’s exhibition space consists of three closed areas of the Hierapolis Bath and the open areas in the eastern side which are known to have been used as the library and gymnasium. The artifacts in open exhibition space are mostly marble and stone.

Tourist attraction

Pamukkale is a tourist attraction. It is recognized as a World Heritage Sites together with Hierapolis. A few other places in the world resemble it, including the Mammoth Hot Springs in the USA and Huanglong in Sichuan Province of China (another UNESCO World Heritage Site). Hierapolis-Pamukkale was made a World Heritage Site in 1988.

The underground volcanic activity which causes the hot springs also forced carbon dioxide into a cave, which was called the Plutonium meaning place of the god, Pluto. This cave was used for religious purposes by priests of Cybele, who found ways to appear immune to the suffocating gas.

Tadpoles can be found in the pools.

Media

Sister Cities

The village of Pamukkale has two sister cities:

• Eger in Hungary
• Las Vegas, United States

Similar places

• Geothermal areas of Yellowstone in the USA
• Pink and White Terraces in New Zealand (destroyed in 1886 by volcano eruption)

Notes

External links

• Government Of Denizli Pamukkale official site
• Pamukkale official site
• Film of Pamukkale - Introduction Films of Turkey - TOURISM Pamukkale Videos
• Photos of Pamukkale & Hierapolis
• Pamukkale's 'white heaven' in danger recent newspaper article from Turkish Daily News about the danger threatening Pamukkale
• Pamukkale & Hierapolis images
• Environmental protection of geothermal waters and travertines at Pamukkale, Turkey

be:Памукале

bg:Памуккале ca:Pamukkale cs:Pamukkale de:Pamukkale es:Pamukkale eo:Pamukkale fi:Pamukkale fr:Pamukkale he:פמוקלה hu:Pamukkale it:Pamukkale ja:ヒエラポリス-パムッカレ ka:ფამუქ-ქალე lt:Pamukalė nl:Pamukkale pl:Pamukkale pt:Hierápolis-Pamukkale ro:Pamukkale ru:Памуккале sw:Pamukkale th:ปามุคคาเล tr:Pamukkale uk:Памуккале zh:棉堡

Categories: Buildings | Buildings in Turkey | Buildings in , Turkey | UNESCO World Heritage Sites | UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Europe and North America | UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Turkey