Türkiye Jeoloji Bülteni

Determination of Geoturism Potential of Seydiler and Nearby Area (Afyonkarahisar, Turkey)

Abstract: Phrygian Valley, playing host to many different cultures for a thousand of years in west Anatolia, largelyin the Afyonkarahisar, Eskişehir and Kütahya provinces in Turkey, is one of the oldest settlement area in the world.The Phrygians and Romans left behind many carved rock monuments such as house, tombs, castles, temples in easilyerodible rocks such as volcanic tufa, agglomerate and ignimbrite in Phrygian Valley. Some of these remarkablemonuments are located in the area between Seydiler and Döger towns in Afyonkarahisar where the southern end ofthe Phrygian valley is.Besides these culturel sites, Seydiler region are also characteristics with the natural beauties such as fairy chimneys;an unusual rock formations shaped by the effects of surficial process in the volcanic sequence of the pyroclactictufa/ash deposits. Field based investigation reveals that seven natural heritage of the volcanic area in Seydiler arethe potential geosite areas with geotourism potential. These sites are, Seydiler lava-tufa formation, Seydiler castle,Kırkinler rock settlement, Kuzini rock settlement, fairy chimneys of Seydiler, stork rock, and Yanarlar rocks. In thisstudy we focus on the geologic and geomorphologic analyses of these natural and also cultural sites to interpretthe outcomes in terms of the geoheritage and geoturism potential of Seydiler volcanic area which is one of the mostremarkable settlement area in Phrygian Valley.