City - Sereflikochisar State - AKSARAY Country - Turkey
About
As you approach Şereflikoçhisar southeast of Ankara, glinting light to the west tells you that the Tuz Gölü is approaching. The intense whiteness and sparkle of the salt crystals look deceptively like snow and ice. Even when you reach the edge, you still brace yourself for a freezing sensation as you take off your shoes and socks. The first step is a surprise, at the second you adjust your expectations, and at the third you become convinced that it is really salt beneath your feet. And you start to think about salt, one of life?s most essential ingredients. Salt makes up 3.5 percent of the human body, which is extraordinary testimony to the balance of nature, because the proportion of salt in the world?s seas is also 3.5 percent! Wearing high rubber boots you can take a long walk across the lake, if you do not mind sinking occasionally into patches of mud. The water varies from a few centimetres to half a metre in depth most of the time, but when the overflow from Lake Beyşehir pours through channels into Tuz Gölü, the depth increases by 30-40 centimetres. When the water level rises, the ecological balance of the lake is disturbed. Evaporation diminishes, and the circulation of the water between atmosphere and ground becomes erratic.
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{K:12249} 2/15/2005