Mount Tendürek
| Tendürek | |
|---|---|
 Tendürek seen from space | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 3,514 m (11,529 ft) |
| Prominence | 1,294 m (4,245 ft)[1] |
| Coordinates | 39°22′N 43°52′E / 39.37°N 43.87°E |
| Geography | |
Armenian Highlands | |
| Geology | |
| Age of rock | 250,000 years[2] |
| Mountain type | Shield volcano |
| Last eruption | 1855 |
Mount Tendürek (
The volcano is part of a volcanic group surrounding
Geography
Mount Tendürek is a
Topography
At the summit of Tendürek are two craters; the larger western peak has a height of 250 m (820 ft) and a diameter of 1 km (1 mi), and is the volcano's highest point, exceeding 3,500 m (11,483 ft). The eastern peak, which is called Lesser Tendürek (Küçük Tendürek in Turkish),[4] is about 100 m (328 ft) high and has a diameter of 800 m (2,625 ft). [5] The main crater's lava flows engulfed Lesser Tendürek, causing the elevation difference between the craters to decrease.[6]
The western crater has a more prominent relief than the eastern crater; it is funnel-shaped and has a cylindrical
Erupted volcanic material from these craters, mostly lava, covers roughly 650 km2 (251 sq mi).
Tectonic setting
Tendürek is in Turkey, which has some of the world's most-extensive seismic activity and deformation. The country is known for its extensive history of large and deadly earthquakes and is within the Mediterranean Earthquake Belt, a complex deformation zone caused by the collision between the
The tectonics of Turkey are made up of three main elements: the
Regional setting
The volcanism near Lake Van in Eastern Anatolia is thought to have begun in the late Miocene as a result of continental collision as part of a volcanic province that extends 900 km (559 mi), with a width of 350 km (217 mi), from Syria toward the northeast at the border of Armenia.[9] The earliest collision volcanism in the region is thought to have occurred southwest of Erzurum near Solhan in the middle-late Miocene as northward subduction parallel to the Bitlis Thrust Zone (northwest-southeast directed). This subduction, over the next few million years, resulted in the formation of multiple volcanic centers, including Mount Tendürek.[10]
Mount Tendürek lies between two long dextral strike-slip faults directed northwest–southeast. These faults accommodate the continental collision.[11]
Petrology
The volcano's lavas are predominant
Eruptive history
Since its formation 250 thousand years (ka) ago, Mount Tendürek has had five phases; in phase I (250-200 ka), the first volcanic activity at the location took place with trachybasalts; in phase II (200-150 ka), more volcanic craters and fissures formed with tephrites; in phase III (150-100 ka), the eastern crater Lesser Tendürek began to form and activity centralized on it with phonolites and trachyites; in phase IV (100-70 ka), activity slowed followed by the formation of the western crater Greater Tendürek with trachyandesites; and in phase V (50 ka-present), activity continues with phonolitic summit eruptions.[2]
Pre-cone eruptive episodes
Volcanic activity at Mount Tendürek began roughly 250,000 years ago with
First main cone formation
150,000 years ago, immediately before the cone-building phase started, volcanic activity at Mount Tendürek shifted to one central spot, where it remains.[14][2] Later, a new cone—the eastern crater Lesser Tendürek—started erupting trachytic and benmoreite lava flows that spread equally along the plain on which the cone was located.[14][17] Following these, very thin basaltic lavas erupted and later spread widely and smoothly, carpeting the area. This first episode of cone-building activity concluded with more effusive eruptions, varying from trachytic to basaltic lavas that formed a radial flank to this central cone with shallow angles of between 20 and 40 degrees. This flank, which followed by subsequent eruptions, expanded with more-fluid and thinner lava flows of the same variety. After this phase, a period of quiescence took place.[14]
In a later period, another new trachytic eruption began following the eruption of the second main cone. When the erupting lava flows decreased, newly ejected lava in the first main cone blocked its crater, pausing the first main cone's summit eruptions. This caused pressure on the cone to increase. Because the crater of this cone was blocked, an internal collapse may have occurred in the volcano's structure, causing faults and fractures trending circularly to form in the flanks close to the summit of the complex. These faults cut through the then-newly formed volcanic rocks.[14]
Second main cone formation
The climactic phase of the volcano began when activity shifted to a new cone—the western crater of Greater Tendürek— between 100,000 and 70,000 years ago.[14][15] This new cone began erupting voluminous and fast-moving trachyte and benmoreite lava flows that reached a thickness of 250 m (820 ft).[14][15] These large lave flows formed the current topographic profile of the volcano and expanded more than 500 km2 (193 sq mi) along the basement of the volcano.[14]
In the summit crater, as a result of the pressure blocking the main eastern crater, fractures and faults formed in the southern wall of the crater, and filled with magma that formed very thin dikes. Meanwhile, the crater's northwestern wall is slightly deformed outward of the crater as a result of forced lava injection into the caldera. The former peak of the volcano along the crater walls is thought to have collapsed as a result of an avalanche caused by an eruption that formed a smaller, breached crater. The most-recent eruption in 1855 occurred in the summit crater, forming a small, steep-sided cone.[14]
Flank eruptions
At the same time as the summit eruptions, some of the underground magma found a different way to the surface, resulting in flank eruptions that took place far from the main craters in areas with no lava cover. These usually erupted from north–south-directed fissures and later formed into a cinder cone. Lava from these eruptions mostly flowed 200 m (656 ft) to 500 m (1,640 ft) wide, and were usually 2 m (7 ft) to 4 m (13 ft) tall. These flank extrusions were usually of basaltic-trachytic characteristics. The most-recent of these extrusions took place roughly 2,500 years ago in the southeast of the volcano.[18]
Recent dormancy
Since its last eruption, Mount Tendürek has continued to be
Flora and fauna
The Tendürek region is home to
In culture
East of Mount Tendürek is the Durupınar site, which due to its size, ship-like shape and big aggregate structure is considered by some, without evidence, to be the remains of Noah's Ark.[25][26]
Medieval Armenian
See also
- Armenian highlands
- List of volcanoes in Turkey
- Flood geology
- Flood myth
- Mountains of Ararat
- Zagros Mountains
References
- ^ "Mount Tendurek". PeakVisor. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Lebedev et al. 2016, p. 133.
- ^ "Tendürek Dağı". TurkVolc. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
- ^ "Kucuk Tendurek Tepesi". PeakVisor. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
- ^ a b c Yılmaz, Güner & Şaroğlu 1998, p. 185.
- ^ a b Lebedev et al. 2016, p. 130.
- ^ "Tendürek Dagi". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
- ^ a b Bozkurt 2001, p. 3.
- ^ Pearce et al. 1990, p. 190.
- ^ Pearce et al. 1990, p. 194.
- ^ Bathke et al. 2015, p. 158.
- ^ Pearce et al. 1990, p. 197.
- ^ Lebedev et al. 2016, p. 127.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Yılmaz, Güner & Şaroğlu 1998, p. 186.
- ^ a b c Lebedev et al. 2016, p. 139.
- ^ Lebedev et al. 2016, p. 138.
- ^ Lebedev et al. 2016, p. 140.
- ^ Yılmaz, Güner & Şaroğlu 1998, p. 192.
- ^ Yılmaz, Güner & Şaroğlu 1998, p. 181.
- ^ Gündüz, Yılmaztürk & Orhan 2023, p. 12.
- ^ Bathke et al. 2013, p. 4501.
- ^ Bathke et al. 2013, p. 4495.
- ^ Bathke et al. 2013, p. 4488.
- ^ "Tendürek Dağı" (in Turkish). Doğa Derneği. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
- ^ Collins, Lorence G. (2011). "A supposed cast of Noah's ark in eastern Turkey" (PDF).
- S2CID 129721550.
- ^ Yianni Cartledge & Brenton Griffin, 'Sunk in the…Gulf of Perdition': The 'Heretical' Paulician and Tondrakian Movements in the Periphery of the Medieval Byzantine Empire', Cerae, 9, 2022, 235-271.
Sources
- Lebedev, V. A.; Sharkov, E. V.; Ünal, E.; Keskin, M. (2016). "Late Pleistocene Tendürek Volcano (Eastern Anatolia, Turkey): I. Geochronology and petrographic characteristics of igneous rocks". Petrology. 24 (2): 127–152. S2CID 131205904.
- Yılmaz, Y.; Güner, Y.; Şaroğlu, F. (1998). "Geology of the quaternary volcanic centres of the east Anatolia". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 85 (1–4): 173–210. .
- Bozkurt, E. (2001). "Neotectonics of Turkey – a synthesis". Geodinamica Acta. 14 (1–3): 3–30. S2CID 129718202.
- Pearce, J. A.; Bender, J. F.; De Long, S. E.; Kidd, W. S. F.; Low, P. J; Güner, Y.; Şaroğlu, F.; Yılmaz, Y.; Moorbath, S.; Mitchell, J. G. (1990). "Genesis of collision volcanism in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 44 (1–2): 189–229. .
- Bathke, H.; Nikkhoo, M.; Holohan, E. P.; Walter, T. R. (2015). "Insights into the 3D architecture of an active caldera ring-fault at Tendürek volcano through modeling of geodetic data". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 422: 157–168. hdl:10754/579155.
- Gündüz, H. I.; Yılmaztürk, F.; Orhan, O. (2023). "An Investigation of Volcanic Ground Deformation Using InSAR Observations at Tendürek Volcano (Turkey)". Applied Sciences. 13 (11): 0–15. .
- Bathke, H.; Sudhaus, H.; Holohan, E. P.; Walter, T. R.; Shirzaei, M. (2013). "An active ring fault detected at Tendürek volcano by using InSAR". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 118 (8): 4488–4502. S2CID 129673735.
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