One of the biggest areas is the 6-kilometer-long Pamukkale plateau, on the northern margin of the Denizli Basin, where the rock averages 50 meters thick. The site includes an amazing selection of white calcite terraces and rimstone swimming pools cascading over 200-meter-high cliffs on the uplifted side of the Pamukkale fault. Called for the intense white rocks, Pamukkale equates as “cotton castle” or “cotton palace.”
The Pamukkale deposits, seen in white in the above image, cover 12 square kilometers (5 square miles). The image was acquired on October 9, 2021, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASAs Terra satellite. The image was collected in the noticeable and near infrared (bands 3,2,1) in which plant life appears red.
Water temperature levels in these springs and swimming pools range from 19 to 57 degrees Celsius (65 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit), although some can reach temperatures of 100 degrees Celsius or greater. The travertine kinds when rainwater seeps down into the network of faults and cracks and is warmed by magma deep underground.
Travertine deposition has actually been happening in the area for a minimum of 600,000 years, given that the Pleistocene date. However, much of the deposition at Pamukkale has actually taken place in the previous 50,000 years. Research study recommends the current hydrothermal and depositional system was developed after the seventh-century Laodikeia earthquake.
The temperature level routine has changed over time. Calcite travertine speeds up from higher temperature level springs, while more permeable tufa deposits form at lower temperature levels. Age dating and geochemical analyses of deposits indicate water temperature levels have declined because the Pleistocene date.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, utilizing information from NASA/METI/AIST/ Japan Space Systems, and the U.S./ Japan ASTER Science Team.
October 9, 2021
The warm springs at Pamukkale, Turkey, have produced the worlds biggest deposit of travertine.
The hot springs and thermal pools at Pamukkale, Turkey, have actually been a spiritual, cultural, and recreational destination for countless years. In the second century B.C., the ancient Greco-Roman city of Hierapolis was developed atop the balconies of travertine, a kind of rock that forms when calcium carbonate speeds up from hot water. At the close-by Cleopatras Pools, visitors can swim among damaged columns that collapsed throughout the Laodikeia earthquake in early seventh century C.E. Hierapolis-Pamukkale was designated a UNESCO World Heritage website in 1988.
The worlds largest deposit of such rocks depends on western Anatolia, Turkey, where Earths crust is pulling apart. This extension of the crust produces lots of faults and fissures, together with volcanic, seismic, and geothermal activity.
The hot springs and thermal pools at Pamukkale, Turkey, have been a spiritual, cultural, and leisure destination for thousands of years. The Pamukkale deposits, seen in white in the above image, cover 12 square kilometers (5 square miles). Water temperature levels in these pools and springs range from 19 to 57 degrees Celsius (65 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit), although some can reach temperatures of 100 degrees Celsius or greater. Calcite travertine precipitates from higher temperature springs, while more permeable tufa deposits form at lower temperatures.
By Sara E. Pratt, NASA Earth Observatory
November 25, 2021
