Uzunyayla Plateau: High Uplands Between Central and Eastern Anatolia

Where Uzunyayla Sits in Anatolia

Uzunyayla occupies part of the high interior between Pınarbaşı in eastern Kayseri and the uplands around Kangal in southern Sivas. In traditional regional geography it belongs mainly to the Upper Kızılırmak section of Central Anatolia, yet its elevation, winter climate and eastward transition toward rougher terrain give it a distinctly high-Anatolian character.

Pınarbaşı provides a useful western reference point. The town stands at about 1,546 metres, while the Uzunyayla terrain extending eastward reaches much higher levels locally. Hınzır Mountain rises to the northeast of the Pınarbaşı sector, while the Tahtalı mountain system forms part of the high terrain to the south. Farther east, the plateau system connects with the Kangal Basin and adjoining dissected uplands.

A High Surface With More Than One Elevation

Uzunyayla is often described as lying roughly between 1,500 and 2,000 metres, but that range should not be treated as a perfectly level plateau floor. Official descriptions of the western part commonly place broad surfaces around 1,500–1,600 metres. Geomorphological studies of the Uzunyayla and Kangal basin sectors use values around 1,650 metres for major structural plateau surfaces, while terrain east of Pınarbaşı reaches approximately 2,000 metres in places.

The important feature is not a single average elevation but the existence of a large, already elevated interior surface. Valleys are cut below that surface and mountain blocks rise above it. This makes Uzunyayla very different from a low plain even where the horizon appears broad and nearly level.

How a Neogene Basin Became a Plateau

The present landform makes more sense when Uzunyayla is viewed first as an old basin and only later as a plateau. Geological and geomorphological work identifies the wider Uzunyayla–Kangal system as an important intermontane Neogene basin north of the Eastern Taurus mountain belt.

During the Late Miocene and Pliocene, the basin remained an area of sediment accumulation. Sedimentary deposits spread across the low-relief basin floor while surrounding mountain belts and fault structures controlled its setting. Studies of both the western Uzunyayla sector and the Kangal sector describe reverse faults and thrust-related boundaries around parts of the basin. In tectonic terminology, this type of mountain-bounded basin in a deforming orogenic belt can be described as a piggy-back basin.

The transition to external drainage during the Quaternary is especially important. Rivers no longer merely occupied an internally accumulating basin; they began removing material from it. In the upper Zamantı sector, channels have cut tens of metres into Late Miocene–Pliocene basin deposits in places, leaving broad remnants of the former basin surface between valleys.

Why Uzunyayla Can Look Like Both a Plain and a Plateau

The central parts of Uzunyayla can appear surprisingly gentle. Broad surfaces have low local relief, and some valleys are shallow enough that the landscape resembles a rolling high plain. That appearance does not mean the area is an undissected plain.

River incision becomes more obvious toward many plateau margins. Valleys deepen, slopes become steeper and older basin surfaces are divided into separate upland blocks. The degree of dissection also changes from one sub-basin to another. The Kangal side contains more strongly dissected sectors, while parts of the upper Zamantı basin preserve extensive, weakly cut surfaces.

Horizontal or gently inclined sedimentary layers also influence the visible relief. Where erosion cuts these layers unevenly, structural benches and mesa-like remnants can develop. Such landforms are documented particularly within parts of the wider Kangal Basin. Uzunyayla is therefore better understood as a varied structural plateau system than as one continuous flat surface.

A Headwater Region Dividing Three Major River Systems

Uzunyayla has an unusually clear watershed role. Water leaving different parts of the upland can enter three major Turkish river systems, eventually reaching different drainage regions. This hydrological position is one of the most useful ways to understand the plateau as a geographic unit.

The divides between these systems are not always dramatic mountain crests. Across parts of a broad upland, modest changes in slope are enough to send neighboring streams toward completely different trunk rivers. Uzunyayla therefore functions as a high hydrographic divide as well as a plateau.

The eastern continuation becomes still more complex. The Kangal Basin is divided among the upper Tohma, upper Çaltı and other neighboring catchments. This drainage fragmentation helps explain why the eastern sector is more dissected and why a single simple boundary for the entire Uzunyayla system is difficult to draw.

Why the Climate Becomes More Eastern Across the Uplands

Uzunyayla lies far from maritime influence and at high elevation, producing long cold winters and comparatively mild summers. The climatic transition is particularly clear along the Pınarbaşı–Kangal direction.

Türkiye’s official 1991–2020 climate classifications place both Pınarbaşı and Kangal in the cold-winter, mild-summer category under the Trewartha system. The winter classification value is lower at Kangal than at Pınarbaşı, while their summer values are very similar. This supports the geographic impression that the plateau becomes more strongly associated with high eastern-interior conditions toward the Kangal side without undergoing a sudden climatic boundary.

Elevation also shortens the warm season. Spring arrives later than on lower Central Anatolian plains, frost risk persists longer and autumn cooling begins early. These conditions help explain the extensive steppe cover and the long-standing importance of grazing.

Between Central and Eastern Anatolia Is a Transition, Not a Sharp Line

The phrase “between Central and Eastern Anatolia” describes Uzunyayla’s physical setting better than it describes an exact regional border. The western plateau around Pınarbaşı is tied geographically to the high eastern edge of Central Anatolia. Toward Kangal, the terrain meets a zone officially described as the junction between the Central Anatolian plains and the rougher land of Eastern Anatolia.

This transition is gradual. There is no single ridge where a uniformly “Central Anatolian” landscape ends and an “Eastern Anatolian” one begins. Relief, drainage, altitude and climate change together across the high interior.

The wider geological context supports the same interpretation. Geological work has described the Uzunyayla basin as one of the easternmost major basins of the Central Anatolian interior, while its eastern continuation connects directly with Kangal and the upper Euphrates drainage network.

High Steppe Reflects the Elevation and Continental Climate

The open appearance of Uzunyayla follows directly from its physical setting. Cold winters, a relatively short growing season, summer moisture stress and extensive exposed upland surfaces favor steppe and grass-dominated vegetation. Continuous woodland is not a defining feature of the plateau interior.

Vegetation is not uniform, however. Valley bottoms and locations with better moisture can support denser plant growth than the exposed uplands. Soil depth also changes with slope and erosion. On dissected margins, thin soils and active runoff can restrict vegetation even where local precipitation is adequate.

The resulting landscape differs from both the lower, warmer dry plains farther west and the wetter high grasslands found in some parts of northeastern Anatolia. Uzunyayla is best treated as a cold continental high-steppe environment whose local character changes with elevation, drainage and exposure.

Grazing, Cultivation and Villages Follow the Landform

Land use mirrors the plateau’s physical geography. Open uplands provide extensive grazing ground, and provincial geographic descriptions have long associated Uzunyayla with sheep raising and horse breeding. Cultivation is more limited by cold conditions and the short growing season, although cereals such as wheat and barley are grown on suitable surfaces.

The relationship is not as simple as “high plateau equals no farming.” Parts of the wider Kangal sector contain broad cultivable surfaces, while valley floors and gentler slopes provide better soils and access to water. The most exposed or strongly dissected terrain is less favorable for intensive cultivation.

Settlement also responds to relief. The broad uplands have relatively low settlement density, while villages are more likely to occupy valleys, spring zones and locally sheltered terrain where water, cultivable ground and transport routes come together. Pınarbaşı developed as the main settlement reference on the western side of the plateau, close to important springs and the headwater zone of the Zamantı.

Uzunyayla Is More Specific Than the Anatolian Plateau

Uzunyayla should not be used as another name for the Anatolian Plateau or even for the whole Central Anatolian Plateau. Those terms describe much larger regional systems containing numerous basins, volcanic areas, plains and separate uplands.

Uzunyayla is a smaller named highland system with its own geomorphological identity: a Late Miocene–Pliocene intermontane basin transformed into elevated structural and dissected plateau terrain, centered on the Pınarbaşı–Kangal transition and positioned across major drainage divides.