Morphometric Characteristics of the Glacial Cirques on Mount Dedegol

Abstract

This study investigates the morphometric characteristics of 30 glacial cirques developed on Mount Dedegol (2992 m) in the western Taurus mountain belt of southwestern Turkey. The elevation, slope, size, and shape characteristics of the cirques are analyzed and classifieded according to their developmental stages based on morphometric parameters. The development of cirques and their distinctive features are basically due to the pre-glacial topography, elevation, and aspect, and partly due to the local tectonic and geological structures. Nearly three-quarter of the cirques (73.3%) were developed in the N, NE, and NW aspects, which area less exposed to solar radiation. The average floor altitude of the cirques is 2543 m, and on the north-facing slopes, the cirques grew at lower elevations. From the morphometric measurements of the cirques, their mean length, width, and area are 600 m, 534 m, and 0.27 km(2) , respectively, revealing that the lengths of most cirques are slightly larger than the corresponding widths. The cirques have distinctive features regarding forms, as they exist as troughs or simple, staircase, or compound cirques, and they are located at the head or slopes of the glacial valleys, or on an area isolated from the valley. We assessed and classified the cirques according to their developmental stages. The assessment results show that there are 11 well-developed cirques in the mountain and the remaining 19 are either moderately or poorly developed. The evaluation also shows that at the onset of the glaciations, the appropriately located cirques developed into mature cirques because of the facilitative environment.