Salda Lake coastal geomorphology and coastal use

Salda Lake basin is located in the Lakes Region of the Antalya part of the Mediterranean Region, in the Yeşilova district of our Burdur province. The aim of the study is to examine the coastal geomorphological features of Salda Lake and to explain the formation and development characteristics of the morphological units that occur in the basin and on the shores. In the light of these determined coastal geomorphology features, it is aimed to reveal the coastal use conditions. For this purpose, the morphometric characteristics of the basin were determined by digitizing the topography and geology maps obtained from MTA and General Directorate of Mapping in the Geographical Information Systems environment. Most of the basin is composed of Marmaris peridotites. İğdir metamorphites located at the base of these peridotites also crop out as tectonic windows. The carbonate unit is found only in the southeast of the lake as one-piece. This carbonate unit forming Kale Hill is defined as the Dutdere limestones and contains the forms of karst topography (lapias, dolines, spring type dry caves). All these units are tectonically related to each other and are allochthonous. Therefore, the morphology of the basin developed on the thrust units that developed gradually in the region. The basin shaped by tectonic movements took its final shape in the Quaternary and continues to take shape today. In the basin, which has been shaped by tectonic movements that have developed in the region since the Upper Cretaceous, erosional surfaces of Miocene, Pliocene and Lower Pleistocene periods have developed. Especially, the shores of Lake Salda took its final shape after the neotectonic period. In the tectonic basin, the streams formed accumulation areas on the wide-low coasts where the slope decreased. These deposits, which generally consist of Quaternary alluvial fans, have narrowed the lake area in places. In the formation of lake shores; tectonic movements, fluvial processes and lake level changes have been decisive. As a result of these factors and processes, narrow-high shores and wide-low shores have developed on the lake shores. Wide low shores are spread on the northwest, southeast and west shores of the lake. Narrow high shores are located roughly on the eastern and western shores of the lake. Although it was aimed to protect the shores of Salda Lake with the environmental plan, and it was declared as a 1st degree protected area, Salda Lake and its shores are under threat due to increasing tourism pressure, agriculture and livestock activities. First of all, in order to prevent erosion of the morphological elements on the coast, the pressure on the coasts should be alleviated by creating different destination areas on the same route.