South of Turkey's capital Ankara you can find some of the most astonishing landscapes of the planet. Here, in Cappadocia, soft volcanic tuff has been sculpted into fantastic shapes by millennia of erosion: huge pillars and mushrooms, valleys of "folded paper" and tuff cones in which early Christians carved their vibrantly painted churches. A stark contrast is provided by the barren salt flats of Tuz Gülö and the austere capital of the ancient Hittites: Hattusha.
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'Tuff in Kapilibag Valley-1.'
The Cappadocian Kapilibag Valley, situated on the western slope of the Aktepe table mountain, north of Göreme, displays vibrantly coloured layers of volcanic tuff. The tuff was deposited in the form of ash by nearby volcanos between 11 and 3 million years ago. The colour differences are due to variations in temperature and mineral composition of the lava from which the ash was derived. Photo Mick Palarczyk.
[TURKEY.CENTRAL 26861
'Tuff in Kapilibag Valley-1.'
The Cappadocian Kapilibag Valley, situated on the western slope of the Aktepe table mountain, north of Göreme, displays vibrantly coloured layers of volcanic tuff. The tuff was deposited in the form of ash by nearby volcanos between 11 and 3 million years ago. The colour differences are due to variations in temperature and mineral composition of the lava from which the ash was derived. Photo Mick Palarczyk.
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