The Bosporus (also spelled Bosphorus) is a strait that connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara in the center of this view of northwest Turkey, taken during the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. The water of the Black Sea at the top of the image and Sea of Marmara below the center are colored blue in this image, along with several large lakes. The largest lake, to the lower right of the Sea of Marmara, is Iznik Lake. The Bosporus (Turkish Bogazici) Strait is considered to be the boundary between Europe and Asia, and the large city of Istanbul, Turkey is located on both sides of the southern end of the strait, visible as a brighter (light green to white) area on the image due to its stronger reflection of radar. Istanbul is the modern name for a city with along history, previously called Constantinople and Byzantium. It was rebuilt as the capital of the Roman Empire in 330 A.D. by Constantine on the site of an earlier Greek city, and it was later the capital of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires until 1922. The Gulf of Izmit is the narrow gulf extending to the east (right) from the Sea of Marmara. The city of Izmit at the end of the gulf was heavily damaged by a large magnitude 7.4 earthquake on August 17,1999, often called the Izmit earthquake (also known as the Kocaeli, Turkey, earthquake), that killed at least 17,000 people. A previous earthquake under the Gulf of Izmit in 1754 killed at least 2,000 people. The Izmit earthquake ruptured a long section of the North Anatolian Fault system from off the right side of this image continuing under the Gulf of Izmit. Another strand of the North Anatolian Fault system is visible as a sharp linear feature in the topography south of Iznik Lake. Bathymetric surveys show that the north Anatolian Fault system extends beneath and has formed the Sea of Marmara, in addition to the Gulf of Izmit and Iznik Lake. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL/NIMA [0003-0701-0214-1134] by 0003
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Keywords
anatolian fault, black sea, bosphorus, bosporus, bosporus strait, destination turkey, geography, gulf of izmit, istanbul, iznik lake, jpl, nasa, north anatolian fault, place turkey, sea of marmara, strait, turkey, turkey destination, turkey place
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