Description of Mountains and Mountainous Areas Mountains and Mountainous Areas in Turkey

34th International Geographical Congress, İstanbul, Türkiye, 16 - 20 Ağustos 2021, cilt.1, sa.2, ss.311

The complexity of the answers given to the questions of what mountain is and where mountainous areas are located

is mainly derived from the existence of inconsistent and inaccurate responses in defining these concepts. The reason

is that mountains have no defined universal criteria. Defining mountain and mountainous areas can be considered as

the first stage of understanding natural and anthropic relations in these regions. Mountains and mountainous areas

create geographical isolation zones. This feature offers different environmental conditions in terms of morphology

and climatology. For this reason, the criteria to be used for the definition of mountains should be determined

according to the morphological characteristics of the field. It is seen in a small number of studies that elevation

and slope characteristics are used as a common topographic criterion for the identification of mountains and

mountainous areas. In this study, definitional framework of mountains in Turkey and the areas which they occupy

have been examined by using DEM with the application of UNEP-WCMC mountain classification criteria. In order to

reveal the differences between geographical formations, it is necessary to identify features of the topographical

structure and generate particular parameters accordingly. When considering the morphological structure of Turkey,

the presence of plateaus and lowlands with high elevation ratios draw attention. This creates some difficulties in

defining and distinguishing mountainous areas from these areas. In this respect, works will be made on different

criteria values for Turkey as the continuation of this study. According to this study, the area covered by the

mountains in Turkey is 76.6%.