ERZURUM – Doğan News Agency
İhsan Bulut says the floating island should be preserved with its fauna and flora.
Two small floating islands have been discovered on Lake Zökün in the eastern province of Erzurum, according to a geography professor at the province’s Atatürk University.
İhsan Bulut, a professor at Atatürk University Faculty of Literature Geography Department, has called for the floating island in the province’s Tortum district to be preserved.
“The thousands years of formation on Lake Zökün should be preserved with its fauna and flora as a geological heritage for future generations. These two floating islands are the most beautiful ones in Turkey,” he said.
Tortum Municipality should place informative signboards on the roads for tourists to visit the islands, Bulut said. “It is also important that visits to floating islands should be within environmental rules because such areas have sensitive ecosystems. Hundreds of types of birds and other species take shelter on these islands.”
Bulut has been leading efforts to protect the islands and said he had been informed about more floating islands in 15 Turkish provinces thanks to people calling him.
A floating island is a mass of floating aquatic plants, mud, and peat ranging in thickness from a few inches to several feet. Floating islands are a common natural phenomenon that are found in many parts of the world.
(Source: www.hurriyetdailynews.com )