Skip to main content
Radar Türkiye
Discover events in the app
Open
Radar Türkiye
The Volcanoes and Sinkholes of Karapınar
Cultural

The Volcanoes and Sinkholes of Karapınar

No ratings yet

Sign in to like and rate

At the eastern end of the Konya Plain the land begins to speak a different language. Between the flat fields, black ash hills, round craters and deep pits that make you dizzy when you look into them suddenly appear.

Karapınar, Konya
Cultural
Radar Editör
October 19, 2026

About Trip

At the eastern end of the Konya Plain the land begins to speak a different language. Between the flat fields, black ash hills, round craters and deep pits that make you dizzy when you look into them suddenly appear. Karapınar is a district shaped on one side by extinct volcanoes and on the other by rock dissolving underground. This trip devotes a day from Konya to Karapınar to volcanic craters, sinkhole lakes and the traces of a struggle against the wind that lasted for decades. It is worth saying in advance that most of the lakes, the best known parts of this landscape, have largely dried up in recent years. The trip does not hide this; on the contrary, it aims to help you read the dry beds you will see.

The eastern gate of the plain

According to Turkish Wikipedia, Karapınar lies 94 kilometres east of the provincial centre, on the Konya to Adana road, at an average altitude of 994 metres above sea level. With an area of 2,623 square kilometres the district is one of the large districts of Konya. Historically an important staging post between Ulukışla, Ereğli and Konya, the settlement took the name Sultaniye when a caravanserai was built here in the 16th century and received its present name in 1934. The history page of Karapınar Municipality also stresses that the district stands at a crossroads of trade routes. The soil of the plain is remarkable too: Turkish Wikipedia writes that up to sixty per cent of Karapınar's soil is calcareous. This lime is the very story of the sinkholes you are about to see.

Approaching the district today, you notice wide fields of solar panels stretching along the roadside. Turkish Wikipedia states that Turkey's largest solar power plant is in Karapınar. Cloudless skies and the flat plain make the area attractive for both farmers and energy investment; yet the same dryness also makes water the main theme of the day.

Getting there

From Konya, Karapınar is reached in about an hour and a half along the Konya to Adana highway. It is possible to reach the town centre by intercity bus, but the craters and sinkholes lie kilometres apart and most have no public transport; a private car is almost essential for this trip. Karapınar Municipality writes that Lake Meke is 8 kilometres from the town centre and 2 kilometres from the Karapınar to Ereğli road, while Acıgöl lies 10 kilometres east of the town. The sinkhole lakes are in the opposite direction, to the northwest: according to the municipality, Çıralı Gölü is 31 and Meyil Gölü 35 kilometres away. It is therefore best to think of the day as two loops: first the craters to the east, then the sinkholes to the northwest.

A plain of volcanoes

English Wikipedia writes that the Karapınar volcanic field consists of five cinder cones, two lava fields and a number of explosion craters and maars. A maar is a broad, shallow crater opened by a violent explosion when magma meets groundwater, and it usually fills with water afterwards. According to the introduction by the Karapınar District Governorship, Meke was formed by an eruption four to five million years ago, and a second eruption nine thousand years ago created the cone in the middle of the lake. Keeping this age in mind makes an interesting connection: the cone in the middle of Meke rose at roughly the same time as the first houses were being built at Çatalhöyük.

Describing Meke in detail is not the task of this article, but knowing its present state matters. English Wikipedia reports that by 2012 the lake's capacity had fallen by about sixty per cent in twenty years, that it dried almost completely after the 2014 drought, and that nearly a hundred bird species previously seen there had moved elsewhere by 2015. According to news reports, the lake once held water twelve metres deep, but in summer only a handful of water remains, turned red by microorganisms. Karapınar Municipality writes that the black and purple volcanic ash surrounding the lake is used today as raw material for brick and briquette making, and that its circumference exceeds four kilometres. When you look out from the path on the crater rim, try to pick out the white salt crusts, the old shorelines and the dark slopes of the cone; the former level of the lake can be read in these lines.

Acıgöl, a salty crater

Continuing east from Meke you reach Acıgöl. Karapınar Municipality writes that the lake spreads over an area measuring roughly 1,750 by 1,250 metres and that its water owes its distinctive bitter and salty taste to a high proportion of magnesium sulphate. In 2024 the municipality installed a floating pool on the lake; walks along the shore and the reflections on the surface at sunrise and sunset attract photographers. Seen together with Meke, Acıgöl forms the pair that best shows the variety of the volcanic field: one has turned into a dry salt pan, the other still looks like a crater lake with its water and colour.

Hollows beneath the ground

The second half of the day is given to the sinkholes. Turkish Wikipedia defines an obruk, or sinkhole, as a karst landform created when the roofs of cavities opened by groundwater in soluble rocks such as limestone collapse. The process works like this: groundwater combines with carbon dioxide to form carbonic acid, this acid gradually dissolves limestone and opens caves underground, and after a while the ground above the cave collapses. The Culture Portal explains that sinkholes can range in depth from a few metres to several hundred metres, that some resemble a cylinder with a visible bottom, while others open into a cave and descend to great depths.

The region is in a special position for this formation. According to Turkish Wikipedia, the Obruk Plateau is a threshold separating the Tuz Gölü basin at around 950 metres from the Konya Plain at around 1,000 metres; the higher Konya groundwater flows beneath this plateau towards the Tuz Gölü basin, and the dissolution caused by this flow is considered the main cause of the sinkholes. The plateau stretches 75 to 80 kilometres from east to west. The same source writes that the Konya Basin, which holds a third of Turkey's groundwater, contains more than twenty sinkholes. The Culture Portal lists among the sinkholes of Karapınar the Akören, Putur, Yarım Obruk, Çifteler, Akobruk, Dikmen and Hamam sinkholes.

The sinkhole lakes to the northwest

According to Karapınar Municipality, Çıralı Gölü is a sinkhole about 250 metres across and 80 metres deep; it is surrounded by high cliffs, and there are caves and hollows in the cliff faces. The municipality states that the lake, once full of water, has dried up completely in recent years as the groundwater level fell. A little further on, Meyil Gölü lies about 60 metres below ground level and, with an average diameter of 368 metres, is one of the most striking sinkholes in the region; it too is drying out. Standing at the edge of these two pits and looking down, you see the scale of the cave roof collapse described by Wikipedia in its most tangible form.

The question of water is an inseparable part of this landscape. According to local testimony quoted in the news, hundreds of thousands of wells have been drilled in the closed Konya basin, and the drying of Meke is attributed to the pumping of groundwater for agricultural irrigation. The drying beds of the sinkholes are like open air lessons showing how the water of the plain is being exhausted not on the surface but underground.

The struggle with the sand

Another face of Karapınar is the wind. Karapınar Municipality explains that a major environmental project to prevent wind erosion in the area was launched in 1959, and that across one hundred and thirty thousand decares reed screens were first used to stop the wind carrying the soil away, after which afforestation followed. Turkish Wikipedia writes that this work on the Karapınar dunes was begun in 1962 by the General Directorate of Soil and Water over thirteen thousand hectares, was completed in 1999 and is regarded as one of the most successful projects of its kind in the world. Although the sources give different start dates, both describe the same area. As you pass the edge of the erosion area, look at the rows of trees planted against the wind and the dune texture that can still be seen in places; these strips, green today, are a reminder of how the plain once struggled with sand carried by the wind.

On the way back

If you take the northern road back to Konya, you can end the day at Kızören Obruğu on the Konya to Aksaray road. According to Turkish Wikipedia, at about 300 metres wide and 145 metres deep it is the best known sinkhole in the region; the neighbourhood of Obruk in Karatay takes its name from it. This gives you the chance to compare a sinkhole that still holds its water with the drying crater and sinkhole lakes of the south.

Season and time of day

Karapınar's climate is classed as cold semi-arid; summers are hot and dry, winters cold. There is almost no shade on the plain, so the most comfortable seasons are spring and autumn. Seeing Meke and Acıgöl early in the morning lets you photograph the crater rims in soft light; if you move on to the sinkholes in the northwest in the afternoon, the cliffs stand out more clearly in the setting sun. On windy days dust can rise, so glasses and closed shoes will come in handy.

Practical notes

The edges of the sinkholes are steep and loose; do not approach the rim outside marked points. The Culture Portal notes that carbon dioxide and sulphurous gases may be present at the bottom of some sinkholes, so never attempt to climb down into any of them. Lake Meke has been a Ramsar site since 2005 and is a protected natural monument; stay on the path and do not walk on the salt crust. There is hardly any shade on the plain; take plenty of water with you. Because the periods when facilities such as the floating pool are open can change, check the current information on the municipality's website.

Sources

Location - The Volcanoes and Sinkholes of Karapınar

Trip Info
CityKarapınar, Konya
TypeCultural
DateOctober 19, 2026
SourceRadar Editör
Radar TürkiyeAuthorRadar TürkiyeVisit SourceGet Directions