Geological and morphological investigations of the underground cities of Cappadocia using GIS

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2004
Ayhan, Arda
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of rock types and morphologic classes on the locations of underground cities existing in Cappadocia. To achieve this purpose four databases are created that contain related information of underground cities, present settlements, rock types and morphologic classes. Four main analyses are carried out using the data created fort the study. These analyses are: 1) Distance analysis to determine the distances between underground cities and present settlements, 2) Density analysis to inspect the areas where the underground cities are concentrated, 3) Distribution analysis to explore the spatial distribution of underground cities within the rock types and morphologic classes, and 4) Neighbourhood analysis to examine whether the underground cities within rock types and morphologic classes are located along or far inside the marginsof the polygons. The conclusions reached after the analyses are as follows: 1) The mean distance between two underground cities is about 4 km. 2) The mean distance between an underground city and the nearest present settlement is about 700 m. 3) Underground cities are concentrated in Derinkuyu-Nevsehir-Özkonak belt. Present settlements, on the other hand, are concentrated along Aksaray-Ortaköy-Hacibektas. 4) For the underground cities, pyroclastic dominant Neogene sequences are preferred whereas all other units are avoided. 5) In terms of morphology, the class defined as أmesaؤ is strongly preferred for underground cities. 6) Neither lithology nor morphology played a role in the site selection for present settlements. 7) Both for rock types and morphologic classes the underground cities are located along margins of the polygons.

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Citation Formats
A. Ayhan, “Geological and morphological investigations of the underground cities of Cappadocia using GIS,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2004.