Anthropogeomorphological researchs in the Körfez district (Kocaeli)

The natural process of the Earth, which has a history of more than 4.5 billion years, has undergone a great change in the last 200 years, especially beginning with the Industrial Revolution, as a result of the rapid growth of the world population and the increasing control over nature by mankind depending on technological developments. It is possible to see the negativities caused by the changes on the "landforms" which constitute one of the research topics of the geomorphology as well as the atmosphere, hydrosphere, soil and vegetation cover. Nowadays, the increase and intensification of the general sense of human and economic activities carried out by man on the earth has led to the transformation of the landforms into increasingly changing forms. As a result, "Anthropo-geomorphology" or "Anthropogenic geomorphology" emerged as a subdivision of geomorphology in order to examine the direct and indirect effects of human being on geomorphological processes and units. The most anthropogenic pressure on geomorphological units in the world include coastal regions and the developing countries where the world population is concentrated. Also in Turkey, the anthropogenic effects that can be initiated by the Neolithic period, in which human beings migrate to settled agriculture, have gained considerable momentum, especially with the rapidly increasing population and intensive industrial activities since the 1950s. Especially, the human and economic activities and the population, that increases from Anatolia to coastal provinces such as Istanbul, Kocaeli, Sakarya, İzmir and Bursa, have made the anthropogenic effect on the existing geomorphological processes and units inevitable. It is one of the most important factors in making choice of the Körfez District in Kocaeli Province as a study area. The another reason is that the Körfez district is not only in Kocaeli but also in Turkey has carried out the dense migration and intense human activities, so it is one of the areas where the most intense anthropogenic effects observed. The study consists of four parts. The first part focuses on the purpose of studying, research questions, method, limitations of the research and previous studies. In the second part, the general geographical characteristics of the research area and in the third part the geomorphological changes of anthropogenic origin which constitutes the subject of study are examined. In the last part of the study, "Körfez District Anthropogenic Impact Map" was prepared by using "Potential Anthropo-geomorphological Process Equation" proposed by Nir (1983) in order to reveal and show the spatial distribution of anthropogenic activities in the research area. In the study, it was concluded that the area which is completely within the administrative borders of the Körfez district was heavily influenced by anthropogenic interventions that have been resulting in significant changes over geomorphological processes and units.