One of the places that must be visited and seen in our beautiful country is the “Salt Lake” with its special structure and appearance.. Although we call it a lake, Salt Lake, which turns into a white ice sheet with its drying especially in summer and offers truly magnificent views, also meets 40% of our country’s salt need on its own.. In this article, we have brought together what you need to know before visiting about the “Salt Lake“, our travel proposal that will leave you with a very different memory than the usual.. We wish you a pleasant trip on this unique and fascinating lake in advance..
Information About Salt Lake
Salt Lake It meets 40% of Turkey’s salt need. The logic of salt formation in the lake is as follows; As a result of the infiltration of the water on the surface underground, the salty layer there melts.. The salt in the molten layer is brought up to the surface with the help of water, allowing salt to be obtained from the lake.. Although the lake is surrounded by plateaus, the lake has the distinction of being the second largest lake in Turkey after Lake Van.. Another feature is that it has found its place among the top lakes in the world due to its salt content of around 32%.. Although the other name used in the region is Koçhisar lake, you can’t think of anything in front of the white landscape in front of you.. People who follow the advice of experts who say that salt water is good for the human body up to a point, immediately take a walk towards the lake with bare feet as soon as they arrive.. The area of the place, which is a rectangle of 80 x 60 km, can be calculated as approximately 7414 km2.. The lake, which gets smaller due to the evaporation of water in the summer months, can grow up to 164,000 hectares with the melting of the water in the spring.
Salt Lake does not allow us to benefit from its water because it is a closed basin.. On the other hand, the fact that the Melendiz, Peçenek, Kırkdelik, Karasu and İnsuyu streams, which feed the lake, have very little water in summer, prevents the drinking of the water of the lake, which has achieved a class A in world standards.. If we drank, we probably would have dried it, so maybe this is the best.
The lake is also recorded as one of the shallowest lakes in the world.. In the spring season, when the precipitation increases and the snow melts, the deepest is 1.50 meters, and in other periods, the depth of the water is only 40 cm.. It can be noticed that a 30 cm thick salt layer is formed in the areas that dry up with the withdrawal of water in the summer.. As a result of all these features, it creates a complete surprise for its visitors who come to the region by thinking it is a normal lake without doing research.. Because the lake makes it impossible to swim normally, let alone with a boat, with these depths.
The Legend of Salt Lake
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When we start researching the history of the Salt Lake, we come across a legend that has been told for years.. The Salt lake legend is described as follows; Where the lake is, there is a very productive vineyard that is legendary with its beauty.. One day, when a thirsty dervish was passing by the vineyard, he asked the wicked woman who owned the vineyard for a handful of grapes.. The woman, on the other hand, did not give it, saying that she could not buy grapes this year, but the dervish did not believe and said, “Let you be with salt and ice”.. From that day on, the woman became ice, and the vineyard formed today’s Salt Lake as salt.. Although it may sound a little hard to believe, it is almost impossible to hear anything else about the history of the lake.
Geological Structure of Salt Lake
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The lake has a unique structure and Salt lake geological structure There is a salt layer of 1000 meters continuity but with different densities. Therefore, salt production around the lake can be provided continuously.
There is another story of the lake, which is that the Salt Lake was thought of as a natural gas reservoir at the time.. As it is known, the gas we buy from Iran and Russia decreases in the press, especially in the winter months.. For this reason, the elders of the period thought of building a natural gas tank under the salt layer under this place.. The facility was completed in February 2017 and storage activities were started by giving gas for the first time.. In order to prevent the decreasing salt amount, 12 artificial salt caves were built approximately 40 km away from the lake and the salt water that emerged by first pressing the water and then releasing the water began to be directed towards the lake..
Biological Diversity Around Salt Lake
The lake, which has a really nice potential in terms of geographical location, is like Tersakan, Bolluk, Düden and Akgöl. It is home to many bird species by forming a whole with its smaller lakes.. It is protected as a first degree protected area in Turkey due to the biodiversity around Tuz Lake. It does a tremendous job hosting a total of 85 different bird species, 15 mammals, 129 insect species and 40 different plants.. You can see birds flying around you all the time in the lake, where married people line up to take pictures.. When you search the internet, you can see plenty of bird pictures in the photos you find.. If you pass through this region, we definitely recommend that you stop by and take the maximum time you can to enjoy this natural beauty.
Where is Salt Lake?
Where is the Salt Lake, which is one of the most searched titles about the lake? We can answer the question as in three cities.. Because Salt Lake; It is located within the borders of Ankara, Aksaray and Konya cities.. The easiest route to reach here is Ankara-Aksaray Highway.
Distance of Salt Lake to some cities:
Ankara ⇒ 130 km
Konya ⇒ 190 km
Aksaray ⇒ 110 km
Istanbul ⇒ 600 km
Antalya ⇒ 500 km
Eskişehir ⇒ 300 km
Salt How to Obtain
Let’s try to explain the subject that everyone is curious about but is too lazy to research here.. Can we use the salt obtained from the salt lake directly on our tables? How is salt obtained? Behind the answer to the questions is actually a mass of transactions and many people who make money from them.. We said that the lake shrinks through evaporation in the summer months.. In fact, as a result of this shrinkage, a 30 cm deep salt layer emerged.. This layer is collected by tools and goes up to obtaining salt by means of evaporation technique.. Salt producing places are called Tuzla and around this place there are 3 salt flats named Kaşdırım, Yavşan and Kayacık.
Tuz Lake Trip Recommendation
If you go to the lake, you will see large and small shops when you start to approach.. In these shops, nourishing creams produced from pure lake salt and containing many beneficial minerals are sold.. In addition, they also show a softening effect depending on their use in your hands and feet.. My advice to you would be to buy them, albeit for trial purposes, and to benefit both yourself and the local people who make a living from the lake.