The Düden River (; - ''Katarraktes''; ) is a river of southern

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, the lower reaches of which traverse the

Düden Waterfalls The Düden Waterfalls are two waterfalls of the Düden River in the province of Antalya, Turkey. Upper Düden Waterfall At the Upper Düden Waterfall (), the water of the Düden River reappears from a karstic source after having disappeared ...

, and enter the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

east of

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

. Anciently, it was a major river of

Pamphylia Pamphylia (; , ''Pamphylía'' ) was a region in the south of Anatolia, Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the ...

Pomponius Mela Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest known Roman geographer. He was born at the end of the 1st century BC in Tingentera (now Algeciras) and died AD 45. His short work (''De situ orbis libri III.'') remained in use nea ...

describes its ancient names as being so called because it has a great fall or cataract. He places the town of

Perga Perga or Perge ( Hittite: ''Parha'', ''Perge'', ) was originally an ancient Lycian settlement that later became a Greek city in Pamphylia. It was the capital of the Roman province of Pamphylia Secunda, now located in Antalya Province on the ...

between the Cestrus and the Catarrhactes. The ''Stadiasmus'' describes it by the term οἱ Καταρράκται, or "the Falls".

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

also speaks of this river as falling over a high rock. This river, on approaching the coast, divides into several branches, which, falling over the cliffs that border this part of the coast, have formed a calcareous deposit. Through this calcareous crust the water finds its way to the sea, and the river has now no determinate outlet, unless, adds Leake, it be after heavy rains, when, it precipitates itself copiously over the cliffs near the most projecting point of the coast, a little to the west of Laara. According to the Stadiasmus the outlet of the river was at a place called Masura, probably the Magydus of

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

or the Mygdale of the Stadiasmus may be Magydus.

Düdenbaşı Waterfall karstic system

About 30 km () north of Antalya (just north of

Döşemealtı Döşemealtı is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Antalya Province, Turkey. Its area is 687 km2, and its population is 79,495 (2022). Döşemealtı is situated north of Antalya city center on the Turkish state highway Sta ...

), two big

karstic Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. There is some eviden ...

sources appear. These sources, Kırkgözler (around ) and Pınarbaşı ( ), merge after a short flow and disappear into Bıyıklı

Sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are also known as shakeholes, and to openings where surface water ...

(). The water that disappears at Bıyıklı Sinkhole travels underground, shows itself briefly at Varsak pit ( ), and then, after another , appears again at the base of the Upper Düden Waterfall (). Part of the water is diverted through a canal from the Kirkgöz Springs to a reservoir at , from where it drops through an underground pipe into Kepez 1

Hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

Power Plant (). Part of the water leaving the power plant travels through a canal to the Upper Düden Waterfall, where it creates the actual waterfall. At the Upper Düden Waterfall, the water coming up from the ground (together with the water from the waterfall) forms a large river. Seven irrigation trenches distribute the water to land north-east of Antalya. The waters of the river separate into a number of streams and finally, east of Antalya, cascade from a platform into the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

as the Lower Düden Waterfall (). A park surrounds this waterfall. It can also be seen from the sea by taking a boat trip from Antalya yacht harbour.

References

Rivers of Turkey Landforms of Antalya Province Pamphylia {{Turkey-river-stub