Geodiversity and Significant Geosites of the Denizli Province (SW Türkiye)
Abstract: Denizli province, with a surface area of 12,134 km2 in southwestern Anatolia, Türkiye, has high geodiversity.The geodiversity of the province, which is spread over nineteen regions, is distributed from old to young within the Menderes Massif, Lycian Nappes, Oligocene Molasse, Neogene continental deposits, Neogene volcanics and Quaternary formations. The gneisses and accompanying schists of the Menderes Massif located near the Buldan District are probably among the oldest rocks in both the region and Türkiye. The Late Triassic carbonate-evaporitenappe slice within the Lycian Nappes, emplaced during the Late Cretaceous-Eocene period, is a rare outcrop.Molasse successions filling NE-SW trending basins during the late Oligocene period, when nappe emplacements continued, are quite common in the province. In March 2024, the Oligocene molasse was designated among the First100 Geological Heritage Sites of Türkiye.The Neogene sedimentary fill of the Denizli Basin is unique and has different characteristics compared to other graben fills in Western Anatolia. One of these characteristics is that it contains Paratethyan mollusc fauna. The geodiversity elements of the Neogene to Quaternary period are closely related to basin fills, horst-graben structures,normal faults, extensional fractures and the extensional tectonics that gave rise to them. Particularly, canyons,caves, landslides, geothermal areas, hot springs, a wide variety of travertine formations, lakes and wetlands standout in the geodiversity from the Quaternary. The most important lake is Acıgöl, which is a closed basin. PamukkaleTravertines, the most prominent geodiversity element in Denizli, were listed among the First 100 Geological HeritageSites of the World by the International Union of Geological Sciences. `Denizli Travertine`, which also containsHomo erectus finds, was approved as a global heritage stone by the union in August 2024.