Nemrut (volcano) inside the caldera, becoming the world's second largest caldera lake. Subsequent eruptions separated a small lake Ilı from Lake Nemrut. Nemrut volcano has an elliptical shape, its size at the base is 27×18 km, and its center contains 377.5 km of volcanic materials. The caldera of Nemrut is the largest in Turkey, the fourth largest in Europe and sixteenth largest in the world. Locals link the name of the volcano with the legendary ruler Nimrod, who is credited with the construction of the Tower of Babel. Turkish chronicles of the 16th century reproduce a local legend as follows: Eruptions of
Nemrut (volcano) mapped the area, and some, including the British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard, explored the remains of Urartu fortresses around Lake Van. In this period it was suggested that the unusual structure of the watersheds in the region, and the very formation of Lake Van, is related to a large volcanic eruption and the blocking of the water discharge to Murat River by the lava flow. The most detailed work on the subject was the doctoral thesis of the English scientist Felix Oswald, "A Treatise on the Geology of Armenia", which devotes a large part to Nemrut. Oswald made and documented