Lake Küçükçekmece () is a

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

located between the

Küçükçekmece Küçükçekmece (; meaning “small-drawer”, from much earlier ''Rhegion'' (Greek: Ρήγιον) and ''Küçükçökmece as “little breakdown''" or “''little depression''”, in more ancient times just as Bathonea), is a municipality and d ...

Esenyurt Esenyurt (), formerly known as Ksenos, is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 43 km2, and its population is 983,571 (2022). Located in the European side of Istanbul, Es ...

and Avcılar districts of the European portion of

Istanbul Province Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, northwestern Turkey. The lake is neighbored in the south by state road D.100 and in the north by the O-3 motorway (

European route E80 European route E80, also known as the Trans-European Motorway or TEM, is an A-Class West-East European route, extending from Lisbon, Portugal to Gürbulak, Turkey, on the border with Iran. The road connects 10 countries and has a length of ...

). The proposed controversial Istanbul Canal is intended to pass through the lake, though the so-called construction of the canal has been in-halt ever since its construction started by ceremony back in 2021.

Location and characteristics

Situated west of

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

's city center, the lake was formed in shallow water when a sandbank caused its separation from the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara, also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, is a small inland sea entirely within the borders of Turkey. It links the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea via the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, separating Turkey's E ...

. A narrow channel in the east interrupts this sandbank, and serves as an outlet emptying excessive water in the lake into the Sea of Marmara. However, in situations where the sea is rough or the lake's water level gets too low due to drought, sea water may penetrate into the lake, causing the lake water to become

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

. The lake is fed from the north by the Nakkaş, Sazlıdere and Eşkinoz streams. The lake has a length of north-south by a maximum width of . The lake's surface area is , and its maximum depth is . The lake is significantly polluted due to rapid urbanization,

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

and industrialization activities over the last decade in the area around it. Its water is currently not compliant with safe drinking water standards.

Fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

observed in the lake basin consist of

pygmy cormorant The pygmy cormorant (''Microcarbo pygmaeus'') is a member of the Phalacrocoracidae (cormorant) family of seabirds. It breeds in south-eastern Europe and south-western Asia. It is partially migratory, with northern populations wintering further ...

(''Microcarbo pygmeus''),

great cormorant The great cormorant (''Phalacrocorax carbo''), also known as just cormorant in Britain, as black shag or kawau in New Zealand, formerly also known as the great black cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the black cormorant in Australia, and ...

(''Phalacrocorax carbo''), and A4iii group waterbirds.

Archaeological sites

Within the lake basin, the ancient settlement of

Bathonea Bathonea () is the probable name of a local community division known as a ''hekatostys'' (ἑκατοστύς, meaning "Hundred") of Byzantion or Rhegion that has generated considerable archaeological interest after being erroneously promoted as a ...

was unearthed, which is estimated to be approximately 1,600 years old. Such archaeological finds extracted from and around the lake shed light on Istanbul's historical chronology. The finds include

stone tool Stone tools have been used throughout human history but are most closely associated with prehistoric cultures and in particular those of the Stone Age. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or knapped stone, the latter fashioned by a ...

s indicating early agricultural activities,

potsherd This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

s dating back to the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

periods (8,000 – 1,000 BC),

amphora An amphora (; ; English ) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land ...

fragments from the

Hellenistic period In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

(fourth century BC), remains of walls along the lake shore,

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

s, and works from the

Roman period The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. 440 small

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

bottles in size containing tar-like fossilized material also were discovered. Vessel anchors were found in the lake and along the lake shore. In 2011, a -wide and -deep

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

was uncovered that might span . It was built with bricks bearing signs of the

Emperor Constantine Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a pivotal role in elevating the status of Christ ...

and a notable

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

of the time. In 2012, two underground water tunnels were discovered and subsequently, were surveyed by

speleologist Speleology () is the scientific study of caves and other karst features, as well as their composition, structure, physical properties, history, ecology, and the processes by which they form (speleogenesis) and change over time (speleomorpholog ...

s. They were built partly during the Roman Period and Late Roman period. Although one water tunnel is connected to the cistern, the other leads to a fountain still in use today. There are access

shaft Shaft may refer to: Rotating machine elements * Shaft (mechanical engineering), a rotating machine element used to transmit power * Line shaft, a power transmission system * Drive shaft, a shaft for transferring torque * Axle, a shaft around whi ...

s at certain points within the water tunnel. Structures in the ancient settlement, such as a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

, and

pier A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...

point toward the past existence of a

port city A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manche ...

. From observations of aerial views, evidence of previous roads arranged in a

grid plan In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogon ...

was detected. According to the results of excavations and examinations carried out between 2007 and 2009, Bathonea was destroyed by a large-scale

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

, after which it was abandoned. An anthropological forensic study of a human skull extracted from one of the 70 historic graves in Bathonea, revealed that thousands of years ago, an attempt at

brain surgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, s ...

was made there.

Sports

Since 2012, the municipality of

holds "Uniçek", an annual water sports festival for university students. Some of the events featured in the 2015 festival were

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

, modern dragon boat racing and stillwater

canoe sprint Canoe sprint is a water sport in which athletes race in specially designed sprint canoes or sprint kayaks on calm water over a short distance. Prior to November 2008, canoe sprint was known as flatwater racing. The term is still in use today ...

, in which around 800 sportspeople from 18 different universities, 7 canoe clubs and 40 corporations competed. In addition, shows of

wakeboarding Wakeboarding is a water sport in which the rider, standing on a wakeboard (a board with foot bindings), is towed behind a motorboat across its wake and especially up off the crest in order to perform aerial maneuvers. A hallmark of wakeboarding ...

waterskiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on one or two skis. The sport requires sufficien ...

, jet-skiing and

paramotoring Powered paragliding, also known as paramotoring or PPG, is a form of ultralight aviation where the pilot wears a back-pack motor (a paramotor) which provides enough thrust to take off using a paraglider. It can be launched in still air, and on ...

were held as well. Since 1999, Galatasaray's rowing division is based in Kanarya neighborhood at Lake Küçükçekmece with its 120 racing boats.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lake Kucukcekmece Archaeological sites in the Marmara region Avcılar, Istanbul Esenyurt Galatasaray S.K. facilities Geography of Istanbul Important Bird Areas of Turkey Küçükçekmece Kucukcekmece Landforms of Istanbul Province Sports venues in Istanbul

Location and characteristics

Archaeological sites

Sports

See also

References

External links