Lake Aygır (); is a lake in the Adilcevaz district of
Bitlis
Bitlis ( or ; ) is a city in southeastern Turkey. It is the seat of Bitlis District and Bitlis Province.Süphan Mountain..
The source of lake water is rains and Şorlar Creek from the summit of
Mount Süphan
Mount Süphan (; ; ) is a stratovolcano located in eastern Turkey, immediately north of Lake Van. It is the second highest volcano in Turkey, with an elevation of , and has the third highest prominence of the Armenian Highlands, after Mount Arara ...
. It has been declared a sensitive area to be strictly protected by the Presidency.
Geology and geography
Aygır Lake is a
maar
A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...
lake formed as a result of a
phreatic eruption
A phreatic eruption, also called a phreatic explosion, ultravulcanian eruption or steam-blast eruption, occurs when magma heats ground water or surface water. The extreme temperature of the magma (anywhere from ) causes near-instantaneous evap ...
of Mount Süphan, in which groundwater came into contact with volcanic
magma
Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...
, generating a huge volume of steam and causing an explosion. The maar crater is somewhat elliptical, being 1400 m across in the north–south direction and 1820 m in the east–west direction. The lake inside the maar is 1245 m north–south and 1670 m east–west. The elevation of the lake surface is 1942 m. The height of the maar wall is around 70 m in the north and 30 m in the south. The area of the lake inside the maar is around . The waters of the lake freeze in winter.