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How Was Cappadocia Formed? Cappadocia is the name of the region that emerged when the soft layers formed by lava and ashes erupted by Erciyes, Hasandağı and Göllüdağ 60 million years ago were eroded by rain and wind over millions of years. Today, the region called Cappadocia is a region where its geographical formations are concentrated in an area of 250 km² and spread to the provinces of Kırşehir, Niğde, Aksaray and Kayseri, especially Nevşehir.
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Rock Structure
How Was Cappadocia Formed? Erciyes, Hasandağı and Göllüdağ in the Cappadocia Region were active volcanoes in geological periods. The eruptions of this volcano and many other volcanoes started in the Upper Miocene (10 million years ago) and continued until the Holocene (to the present).
How Did Cappadocia and Fairy Chimneys Form?
How Was Cappadocia Formed? The lava coming out of the volcanoes under the Neogene lakes is 100-150 m. on the plateau, over the lakes and streams. thick tuff layer of different hardness. In this layer, besides tuff, there are geological rocks such as tuffite, ignimbrite tuff, lahar, volcanic ash, clay, sandstone, marl agglomerate and basalt. The plateau, shaped by the eruptions from the main volcanoes, has been constantly changed by the eruptions of smaller volcanoes. Starting from the Upper Pliocene, the region took its present form due to the erosion of this tuff layer by rivers and lakes, especially Kızılırmak.
Interesting formations called “Fairy Chimneys” emerged as the flood waters descending from the valley slopes and the wind eroded the tuff structure. Flood waters finding their way on steep slopes caused the hard rocks to crack and break. The slope regressed with the deep carving of the material in the lower parts, which erodes more easily, so that conical shaped bodies that are protected from abrasion by the caps in the upper parts have emerged. Cappadocia is located in the city of Nevşehir, which is in the middle of Anatolia.
Cappadocia is the name of the region that emerged when the soft layers formed by lava and ashes erupted by Erciyes, Hasandağı and Göllüdağ 60 million years ago were eroded by rain and wind over millions of years.
How Was Cappadocia Formed? The fairy chimneys with hats, which are mostly found around Paşabağı, have a conical body and there is a rock block at the top. The body is composed of tuff, tuffite and volcanic ash; The cap part consists of hard rocks such as lahar and ignimbrite. In other words, the type of rock that makes up the cap is more durable than the rock group that makes up the body. This is the first condition for the formation of the chimneys. Depending on the resistance of the rock in the hat, fairy chimneys are long or short-lived.
Why Is It Called As Fairy Chimneys?
How Was Cappadocia Formed? There is a story behind why this region is called fairy chimneys. It was believed that fairies lived in this region, since it was not made by any human hand, but was completely formed by nature. The fairy chimney is called because it is believed that it was created by fairies. It has always been called a fairy chimney since history and has come to this day as a fairy chimney.
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Cappadocia Underground Cities
How Was Cappadocia Formed? The rocks formed from lava have a structure that can be easily excavated and harden when in contact with air. For this reason, people have built underground cities by digging the ground since the Paleolithic period. These caves, which were built to be protected from enemy attacks in the pre-Christian era, were also used as hiding places in the early periods of Christianity.
How Was Cappadocia Formed? Around 200 small and large underground settlements have been identified in the Cappadocia Region. 36 of them are big enough to be underground cities. Underground cities with secret passages, ventilation systems and sliding stone doors were found to be built during the Hittite period.
Later on, people left the underground cities and built sheltered settlements by carving the rocks in places such as Ihlara valley and Göreme. With the churches and monasteries built here, they created environments where Christians can live comfortably.
