Geography

The lake is between the district centers of Çay

Çay

Çay is a town and a district of Afyonkarahisar Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. the mayor is Ali Yakut .-Settlements:*Akkonak, Çay*Armutlu, Çay*Aydoğmuş, Çay*Bulanık, Çay*Cumhuriyet, Çay*Deresinek, Çay*Devederesi, Çay*Eber, Çay...

, Bolvadin

Bolvadin

Bolvadin is a city and district of Afyonkarahisar Province in Turkey. It covers an area of 1,108 km², has an altitude of 1,016 m, :The population of the district center is 31,387...

 and Sultandağı

Sultandagi

Sultandağı is a town and district of Afyonkarahisar Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. It is located at 68 km from the city of Afyon on the road to Konya, near Lake Akşehir at the foothills of the Sultan Mountains , a meeting point of the Aegean and central Anatolian geographical zones...

 of Afyon Province. The mid point is at about 38°38′N 31°09′E. The altitude of the water surface with respect to sea level is 967 metres (3,172.6 ft). The surface area fluctuates and at times it may be exceed 125 square kilometres (48.3 sq mi). In past the maximum recorded depth was 21 metres (68.9 ft).

Geologic history

Lake Eber is a part of Akarçay closed basin, a tectronic basin about 7600 square kilometres (2,934.4 sq mi). At the conclusion of the last glacier age (Pleistocene

Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

) a vast lake was formed in the basin. But after the water level dropped, the lake was fragmentized into two lakes. Lake Eber is at the north west and Lake Akşehir

Lake Aksehir

Lake Akşehir is a tectonic freshwater endorheic lake in Afyonkarahisar and Konya provinces, southwestern part of Turkey. It carries the same name as the town Akşehir south of the lake....

 which shares the same history lies at the south east. Presently the distance between the two lakes (nearest points) is about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi).

Tributaries

The tributaries are rivulets from the Sultan Mountains

Sultan Mountains

The Sultan Mountains , also known as Sultan Dagh range or Sultan Dag, is a short mountain range on the western edge of the Anatolian Plateau, Turkey with highest elevation of .The town of Sultandağı is their namesake....

 at the south. When the level increases beyond a certain level the water is fed to the nearby lower level Akşehir lake by a channel (Eber channel).

The ecology

The main plants of the lake are Typha latifolia

Typha latifolia

Typha latifolia is a perennial herbaceous plant in the genus Typha. It is found as a native plant species in North and South America, Europe, Eurasia, and Africa...

, Phragmites australis, Lycopus europaeus and Mentha aquatica. The lake is known for the reed beds. Sometimes the remains of reed beds which detach from the land, constitute floating islands on the lake and may be used by the fishermen. The fish species are Cyprinus carpio, Cyprinus carpio, Esox lucius and Gobio gobio

Gobio gobio

Gobio gobio, or the gudgeon, is a species of freshwater fish in the Cyprinidae family.This small fish is widely distributed across northern Eurasia....

. The lake is also known for various waterfowls.

Environmental issues

Due to global warming and misuse of water sources the surface area of the lake is shrinking. ( The neighbouring lake Akşehir has been mostly dried up.) Up to 1992, the most important problem was water pollution. However in 1992 the lake was declared as Natural Protected Area. .
and the lake is slowly recovering.