Acıgöl (''literally "the bitter lake" in Turkish'') is a lake in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

's inner Aegean Region, in an

endorheic An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

basin at the junction between

Denizli Province Denizli Province ( tr, ) is a province of Turkey in Western Anatolia, on high ground above the Aegean coast. Neighbouring provinces are Uşak to the north, Burdur, Isparta, Afyon to the east, Aydın, Manisa to the west and Muğla to the south ...

Afyonkarahisar Province Afyonkarahisar Province ( tr, ), also called more simply Afyon Province, is a province in western Turkey. Adjacent provinces are Kütahya to the northwest, Uşak to the west, Denizli to the southwest, Burdur to the south, Isparta to the southea ...

, and

Burdur Province Burdur Province ( tr, ) is a province of Turkey, located in the southwest and bordering Muğla and Antalya to the south, Denizli to the west, Afyon to the north, and Isparta to the east. It has an area of 6,887 km2 and a population of 258, ...

. Its surface area varies greatly through the seasons, with 100 km² in spring and 35 km² in late summer, with a maximum depth of 1.63 m. The lake is notable for its sodium sulfate reserves, extensively used in the industry, and Turkey's largest commercial sodium sulfate production operations are based here. It is situated 60 km east of Denizli city. From west to east, the lake's surrounding districts and towns are Bozkurt,

Çardak Çardak is a town and a district of Denizli Province of Turkey. It is situated on the road from Denizli to Ankara near the banks of the Lake Acıgöl. Denizli's airport ( Çardak Airport) is in Çardak. A very notable sight in the town is the ...

, Dazkırı and Başmakçı. The lake's altitude is 836 m, and it is fed primarily by high-sulfate springs issuing from a

fault line In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

on its south side. The lake is estimated to contain 12.5 million mt of sodium sulfate on the surface and in the subsurface brine, with probable total reserves of 70 million mt and possible reserves of 82 million mt. The yearly production rate in the late 1990s was 100,000 tonnes, all operated by

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...

companies. The ancient Greeks called the lake ''Anaua'' ( el, Ἄναυα), and the ancient town near the lake was named Anaua. Historians think that the lake ''Ascania'' (Ἀσκανία) that is mentioned by Arrian is also the same lake.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Anaua
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References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Acigol Lakes of Turkey Denizli Afyonkarahisar Burdur Landforms of Afyonkarahisar Province Landforms of Denizli Province Landforms of Burdur Province Important Bird Areas of Turkey