Turkish iron deposits

Abstract

Iron ore, which plays an important role in the development of civilisation, is one of the most familiar of ancient Anatolian people. It is known that iron had a long journey from Asia through Mesopotamia, Egypt, Cyprus, Rome and eventually through Europe. The oldest information about iron mining in Anatolia is based on the fact that the iron deposits of Firnis and Kartal in Maraş were operated around 3600 BC by Hittites in Southeastern Turkey. In 1937, the first recorded study of iron mines in Turkey was carried out by General Directory of Mineral Research & Exploration of Turkey (MTA) in Sivas Divriği, Central Anatolia. This chapter, on Iron Deposits in Turkey, is a compilation of works that are unique to iron deposit studies ranging from exploration of the Divriği iron mine to today’s operations. Different iron occurrences belong to different geological environments in Turkey, located in the Tethyan-Eurasian Metallogenic Belt. These occurrences are usually very small or small with only a few being of medium size. Geographically, the occurrences exhibit different spatial distributions and are clustered around four regions, i.e., Kayseri-Adana, Balıkesir-Kütahya, Sivas-Malatya and Kırşehir-Yozgat. The iron deposits of Turkey are generally located along the contacts with granitic rocks. However, some studies show that iron deposits may also be associated with ophiolitic rocks within the same region.