Formation of fairy chimneys

The strange formation named as fairy chimneys occured as abrading of tuff layer by winds and stream of torrent that flowed down from hills. Because stream of torrent found the way itself, it caused the crack of the hard rocks and their breaking off. By having hollowed the substances that stood down and could be eroded easily out, the side moved backward. So conical shaped bodies occured which can protect itself from being eroded with the hat on its upper part. Existing mostly in Psabagi, fairy chimneys with hats have conical shaped bodies and rock blocks on upper parts. Body consist of huge rocks that came into being by tuff, tuffet and ash of a volcano. The hat part consist of hard rock such as lahars and ignimbrite. In other words, rock that forms the hat is stronger than rock that forms body. It is the first condition for the formation of a fairy chimney. Dependent upon the resistance of rock that forms the hat, fairy chimneys cab have long life span or short one. The types of fairy chimneys formed by erosion in Cappadocia are one with hat, one in conical, one in mushroom shape, one in columnand sharp rock. Fairy chimneys are intensively on the valleys among the triangle of Avanos – Uchisar – Ürgüp, in the area between Ürgüp and Şahinefendi, near the town Çat in Nevşehir, on the walley Soganlı in Kayseri, near the village Selime in Aksaray.

Except for fairy chimneys, strange curls formed by rain drops on the slopes of hills give a different perspektive for the region. The colour harmony which can be seen on some slopes happens because of heat differences of the lava layers. These formations can be observed in Ürgüp, Uchisar, Cavusin, Güllüdere, Göreme, Meskendir, Ortahisar, Kızılçukur and pancarli.