Limestone Terraces in Turkey

January 24, 2007

Pamukkale3 copy

Provided and copyright by: Robert Wagner, Max-Planck-Institute for Physics, Munich
Summary authors & editors: Robert Wagner

The above photo shows the fascinating limestone terraces at Pamukkale, in southwestern Turkey --"Pamukkale" means cotton castle in Turkish. They're approximately 2,700 m (8,800 ft) long and 160 m (525 ft) high. Though they resemble frozen waterfalls, these terraces are composed of calcite and aragonite, which are crystalline forms of calcium carbonate (travertine). Photo taken on March 30, 2006.

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