Karabuk

Karabuk is a town and the capital district of Karabuk Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. According to the 2009 census, population of the city is 108 167.The district covers an area of 760 km2 (293 sq mi) and the town lies at an elevation of 354 m (1,161 ft).Karabuk was built in the 1930s as the seat of the iron and steel industry of Turkey. Thus it has one of the worst- if not the worst – air pollution in the country, with a hazardous Air Quality Index of 328.Karabuk lies in a location near Filyos River formed by the merge of Arac and Soganlı rivers.

Once a small hamlet, it has grown rapidly since the establishment of Turkey’s first major iron-and-steel complex there in 1940. The works were expanded greatly in the 1950s and ’60s. Facilities include a coking plant, blast furnaces, a foundry, and tube works; chemical plants produce sulfuric acid and phosphates. The mills receive coal and manganese by rail from Zonguldak and iron ore from the Divrigi mines; dolomite and limestone are obtained locally. Karabuk lies on the rail line between Ankara and Zonguldak and is linked by road with Ankara and Kastamonu.