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Imaggeo on Mondays: Fairy chimneys in Love Valley

Imaggeo on Mondays: Fairy chimneys in Love Valley

Every year tourists from around the world flock to Love Valley in Göreme National Park in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey to marvel at the region’s peculiarly pointy geological features. These cone-shaped formations, known as ‘fairy chimneys’ or hoodoos, dominate the park’s skyline, with some rocky spires extending up to 40 metres towards the sky.

While the name ‘fairy chimney’ suggests mythical origins, these rocks began to take shape millions of years ago, when many active volcanoes dominated the region. “The deposits of [volcanic] ash, lava and basalt laid the foundations for today’s landscape,’ commented Alessandro Demarchi in the photo’s description, who captured the stunning photograph featured today. The volcanic material consolidated into a soft rock known as ‘tuff.’ Then over the years, natural weathering forces like wind and water eroded weaker parts of the rock away, leaving behind the pinnacles we see now.

Around the 4th century, during the reign of the Roman empire, many Christian pilgrims traveled to Cappodocia to flee persecution. They built their new life into the region’s rocks, carving out a network of homes and churches from the towers of tuff. If you look closely at background of the image, you can even spot remnants of their handiwork.

The region was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, and today you can enjoy the extraordinary geological formations, as well as their cultural history, either from the ground or up in the air through hot air balloon tours.

Imaggeo is the EGU’s online open access geosciences image repository. All geoscientists (and others) can submit their photographs and videos to this repository and, since it is open access, these images can be used for free by scientists for their presentations or publications, by educators and the general public, and some images can even be used freely for commercial purposes. Photographers also retain full rights of use, as Imaggeo images are licensed and distributed by the EGU under a Creative Commons licence. Submit your photos at http://imaggeo.egu.eu/upload/.

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Olivia Trani is a former Communications Officer at the European Geosciences Union. Olivia has a MS in Science Journalism from Boston University and her work has appeared on WBUR-FM, Inside Science News Service, and the American Geophysical Union. Olivia tweets at @oliviatrani.


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