Volcanic Monument of Western Anatolia: Kula-Salihli UNESCO Global Geopark

Abstract

The Kula-Salihli UNESCO Global Geopark includes evidence of geological history spanning 600 million years, from Palaeozoic metamorphic rocks to late prehistoric volcanic eruptions. It can function as a field laboratory for geosciences, demonstrating a variety of graben and fault structures and fluvial, volcanic, and karstic landscapes, in addition to rocks from various geological eras, evidence of fluvial processes, and topographic inversions caused by differential erosion. The topography and landscape elements also exhibit the qualities of a natural monument. The majority of the most recent basaltic lava eruptions, linked to the development of scoria cones, took place in the western Anatolian Kula-Salihli UNESCO Geopark during the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. In this unique volcanic province, there is also much earlier volcanism, such as a few older lavas that overlie mesa-style uplands, conserving underneath them sediments that are loosely bound but otherwise would have been lost to erosion. Because of its rich and diverse geoheritage value, the geopark is emerging as a location for academic studies, teaching, and investigation of natural events. This study aims to introduce the volcanism-related geosites of the Kula Salihli UNESCO Global Geopark. In this context, we present the results of geomorphological research that we have been conducting in the region with an international team for many years, as well as field observations and relevant literature.

Keywords

• geosite
• geoheritage
• volcanic landforms
• kula–salihli geopark
• anatolia
• türkiye