The Bosphorus, Istanbul and Mountainous Terrain of Turkey – February 21st, 2012

This orthorectified wide-swath ASAR image shows the city of Istanbul, Turkey, straddling the Bosphorus. The world’s narrowest strait used for international navigation, it connects the Black Sea (top right) with the Sea of Marmara (top center).

Istanbul is the largest city of Turkey. The Istanbul metropolitan province (municipality) had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey’s population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe (including the Asian side of the city), after London and Moscow. The city is located in northwestern Turkey within the Marmara Region on a total area of 5,343 square kilometers (2,063 sq mi).

Turkey is divided into seven census regions: Marmara, Aegean, Black Sea, Central Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, Southeastern Anatolia and the Mediterranean. The uneven north Anatolian terrain running along the Black Sea resembles a long, narrow belt. This region comprises approximately one-sixth of Turkey’s total land area. As a general trend, the inland Anatolian plateau becomes increasingly rugged as it progresses eastward. Turkey’s varied landscapes are the product of complex earth movements that have shaped the region over thousands of years and still manifest themselves in fairly frequent earthquakes and occasional volcanic eruptions. The Bosphorus and the Dardanelles owe their existence to the fault lines running through Turkey that led to the creation of the Black Sea.

via Earth Snapshot • The Bosphorus, Istanbul and Mountainous Terrain of Turkey – February 21st, 2012.