Travertine Caves in the Aksu Creek Drainage Basin, Giresun

Abstract

The travertine caves which are the subject of this study are located between Pinarlar and Yuce villages in the central part of Aksu creek drainage basin that has catchment area of 892 km(2). Aksu creek is located in Giresun province in the Eastern Black Sea Subregion of the Black Sea Region in Turkey. The aim of this study is to explain the formation of the caves in the Aksu creek drainage basin and to discuss their potential for sustainable use. We investigated and mapped the environmental conditions of the caves area during the field studies. In addition we determined and photographed the locations and morphological characteristics of these caves. We used the satellite images ASTER-DEM (15 m resolution) and software ArcGIS. 10 in this study. We produced the geological map of the caves area using the field survey data and the related parts of the geological map of Turkey (1/50.000) by MTA. The bedrock in the caves area consists mostly of igneous volcanic rocks, but there are some small marble parts. Meteoric waters infiltrated in these marbles have surfaced as sources in three separate areas, and they formed travertine deposition and four prominent travertine caves. These travertine caves and the travertine depositions surrounded them have an important tourism potential with other touristic attractions in the Aksu Creek drainage basin. We think that all of these natural touristic attractions will contribute to development and diversification of the tourism in Giresun province and the region.