Abstract
Current landforms are the basis for understanding past geomorphodynamics and human activities. Based on multiple materials and methods, including geomorphometric analyses of a digital elevation model and visual interpretations of satellite images, different landscape units of the Bakırçay and Madra River catchments in the environs of ancient Pergamon are described. The area was mainly shaped by tectonics that formed a horst-and-graben structure; small Miocene horsts and NE-trending subgrabens in the Kozak and Yunt Dağı Mountains were separated by the NEE-trending Plio-Pleistocene Bergama Graben. The asymmetry in relief, drainage network, and sediment accumulation between the Kozak Mountains to the north and the Yunt Dağı Mountains to the south of the lower Bakırçay plain characterize the Pergamon Micro-Region. The regional relief characteristics, with wide flat basin and plateau areas, are suitable for agriculture. Complemented by its richness in natural resources, the Pergamon Micro-Region became a preferred settlement area, with evidence of human impact since the Hellenistic–Roman period at the latest. As a consequence of settlement activities, several landscape engineering measures were implemented simultaneously with a parallel change in morphodynamics.
Highlights
The Aegean Region of Turkey (Ege Bölümü) is characterized by a number of mountain ranges below ca. 2500 m a.s.l. that are dissected by several large east–west oriented valleys (Figure 1B) [1]
The relief of the Bakırçay and Madra River catchments and their adjacent coastal areas can be grouped into three major landform types: (1) upland landforms including ridge, slope with debris cover and with bare rock, and valley with or without fluvial infill; (2) lowland landforms; and (3) anthropogenic landforms (Figure 4)
Alluvial landforms refer to the plains aggraded by the Bakırçay River; paleochannels in the lower Bakırçay plain document the anastomosing character of the Bakırçay River before straightening and embanking
Summary
The Aegean Region of Turkey (Ege Bölümü) is characterized by a number of mountain ranges below ca. 2500 m a.s.l. that are dissected by several large east–west oriented valleys (Figure 1B) [1]. Sediments transported and deposited by rivers caused the development of alluvial plains and large prograding deltas [1,2,3]. Abundant prehistoric and historic settlements were built on and along these valleys and deltas; for example, Troy in the Karamenderes valley [4,5,6,7]; Pergamon and its rural settlements in the Bakırçay valley [8,9,10,11,12]; Phocaea and Smyrna at the former mouth of the Gediz River [5]; Ephesus in the Kücük. Land 2021, 10, x FOR PEER REVIEW (https://www.romaq.org/the-project/aqueducts/article/692#tab-details, last accessed 8 June 2021) [20]
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