Karakız Lake is an artificial lake in Mersin Province

Mersin Province

The Mersin Province is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. The provincial capital is the city of Mersin and the other major town is Tarsus, birthplace of St Paul...

, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

.

Geography

The lake was built in 1998. It is on Toros Mountains

Taurus Mountains

Taurus Mountains are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, dividing the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east...

 in the rural area of Erdemli

Erdemli

Erdemli is a town and district of Mersin Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey, west of the city of Mersin.-Geography:The district extends from the Mediterranean coastal plain, the largest agricultural area in Mersin Province, to high in the Taurus Mountains where there is forest, and...

 district at 36°51′N 34°13′E. Its main water source is Karakız River. It is at the east of the village Hacıalanı which actually is a yayla

Yayla (resort)

Yayla is a name given to the summer mountain resorts in Turkey.- Etymology :Nomadic herdsmen of Turkic origin used to call their herding locations by different names depending on the season. Yazlak, yaylak, güzlek and kışlak referred to herding locations of different seasons of the year...

 (summer resort). Distance to Erdemli is 49 kilometres (30.4 mi) and to Mersin

Mersin

-Mersin today:Today, Mersin is a large city spreading out along the coast, with Turkey's second tallest skyscraper , huge hotels, an opera house, expensive real estate near the sea or up in the hills, and many other modern urban...

 is 65 kilometres (40.4 mi) . The bird’s flight distance to Mediterranean

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

coast is 27 kilometres (16.8 mi). The longer dimension of the lake which is in north to south direction is about 1500 metres (4,921.3 ft). The surface altitude is about 1530 metres (5,019.7 ft). The total water capacity is 3240000 m³ (4238000  yd³)

Uses

The lake is used for irrigation. It is also a popular picnic and fishing area In the future it may further be used for sports. Mersin union of industrialists proposes to establish a winter sports complex around the lake .