Some Petrographic, Soil and Vegetative Characteristics of Karst Forest Ecosystems; Kahramanmaras-And？r？n Sar？msak Mountain Example

In Turkey Karst ecosystems are generally spread over the limestone bedrock which constitutes the Tauride mountains range in the Mediterranean region. This research was carried out at the Sar？msak Mountain Karst Ecosystem in the And？r？n District of Kahramanmara？ province in order to determine soil characteristics (soil depth, organic matter content, soil reaction (pH), electrical conductivity (EC), cation exchange capacity (CEC), lime content, plant available water content, soil moisture, surface stoniness and texture) and vegetation type in regarding with spatial distributions of petrographic characteristics of the bedrocks and climate. The rocks cropped out in the region cover about 20% of the area. These limestones had abundant fossiliferous and porous (karstic void) structure. Soil depth was moderate, deep (>75 cm and >100cm) in depression areas and was shallow (<50 cm) in other areas. The limestone covering the majority of the research area about 72.35% was mainly composed of calcite minerals and some of them were fossiliferous and the others were brecciated texture. It has been found that the soils had moderately alkaline reaction (pH: 8.1) and very high organic matter content (4.33%), Cation exchange capacity was 32.6cmol kg-1, on the average and lime content was 10.77%. The water holding capacity was medium and well drained. Pinus brutia Ten, Cedrus libani A. Rich, Abies cilicica subsp. cilicica, Quercus cerris L. var. cerris, Fagus orientalis Lipsky, Juniperus foetidissima Willd, Juniperus excelsa Bieb, Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn. subsp. antitaurica Yalt, Fraxinus ornus L. subsp. cilicica (Lingelsh.) Yalt. Cornus sanguinea L., Styrax officinalis L., Laurus nobilis were spread on the limestone bedrock in the humid and dry forest site. Quercus coccifera L., Quercus cerris L. var. cerris, Cercis siliquastrum L., Arceuthos drupacea, Juniperus foetidissima Willd., Laurus nobilis, Quercus infectoria Oliv. subsp. boissieri, Quercus ilex, Styrax officinalis L., Olea europaea L., Cotinus coggygria and many shrub formations were found in dry forest site where the bedrock marble, quartzite, breccia and diabase exists. shown