Anatolian Plateau
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Anatolian Plateau
the inner part of the Asia Minor upland, located in Turkey. It is bounded on the north by the Pontic Mountains and on the south by the Taurus Mountains. The length of the plateau is about 700 km from east to west, and the width is up to 400 km from north to south. The plateau is composed mainly of sedimentary Paleogene and Neogene rocks. The large amount of volcanic activity is linked to Quaternary breaks. The extinct volcano Erciyas Dagi is 3,770 m high. The surface is predominantly leveled (elevations are 800–1,500 m), with insular ridges. Individual peaks rise to heights above 2,000 m. In the south there are a number of drainless depressions with salt bottoms and salt lakes—for example, Lake Tuz—and sloping plains with oases. The climate is subtropical-continental, and winters are cold. Precipitation varies from 200 mm in the center of the plateau to 350–500 mm a year on its borders, with the maximum falling in the spring. The northern half of the Anatolian Plateau is cut by the Kizil Irmak, Sakarya River, and others. The soils are gray and brown. The vegetation is of the arid steppe and semidesert type, with low, prickly, cushion-shaped shrubs. On the northern edge of the plateau is the city of Ankara.