Taurus Mountains

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For the Taurus Mountains on the moon, see Montes Taurus. For Mount Taurus outside Cold Spring, New York, see Bull Hill.

The Taurus Mountains (Turkish Toros, also known as Ala-Dagh or Bulghar-Dagh) are a mountain range in the southeastern Anatolian plateau, from which the Euphrates (Turkish Fırat) River descends into Syria.

The system extends along a curve from Lake Egridir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates River in the east. It has many peaks rising above elevations of 10,000–12,000 ft (3,000–3,700 m). The pass that was known in antiquity as the Cilician Gates crosses the range north of Tarsus.

Limestone has eroded to form karstic landscapes of waterfalls, underground rivers, and the largest caves of Asia.

Kestel is a Bronze Age archaeological site in the Taurus mountains where early evidence of tin mining was found.

External links

[NASA satellite view of the Taurus Mountains]

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