Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Geotechnical properties of volcanic materials
of the Mount erciyes
s. Yüksek & a. Demirci
Engineering Faculty, Mining Engineering Department, Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey
aBsTRacT: The Mount erciyes (3917 m) is the largest volcanic mountain of central anatolia
(Turkey) and situated 15 km south of kayseri. Mt. erciyes its volcanic groups have produced calc-
alkaline and pyroclastic rocks such as basalt, andesite, tuff, ignimbrite, dacite, rhyodacite and pumice.
Thickness of these rocks varies from one to several hundred meters and these rocks constitute of whole
The cappadocia Region comprising nevşehir, kayseri and niğde provinces of central anatolia. These
rocks are mined in more than a hundred quarries and used construction purposes. in this study several
geotechnical parameters related to these rocks are determined in the laboratory. There have been found
good relationship between these products such as P-wave velocities versus Ucs, P-wave velocities versus
thermal conductivity coefficient, Ucs versus thermal conductivity coefficient. These parameters show
these rocks quite suitable for construction purposes.
1
inTRoDUcTion
Mt. erciyes and its volcanic groups have
produced calc-alkaline and pyroclastic rocks such
as basalt, andesite, tuff, lavas, ignimbrite, dacite,
rhyodacite and pumice. Thickness of these rocks
varies from one to several hundred meters and
these rocks constitute of whole The cappadocia
Region comprising nevşehir, kayseri, aksaray
and niğde provinces of central anatolia. actually
resources of the materials of cappadocian Region
are not only from Mt. erciyes volcano but also
Mt. hasandag and Mt. Melendiz volcano as well.
however majority of the materials of the region
originate from the Mt. erciyes.
1.1
A General view for Volcanic Mountains of
Turkey
anadolu (Turkey) is one of the young volcanic
areas within the alpine orogenic belt. Volcanic
activities began in the Tertiary era and continued
up to the early holocene time. During these period
numerous volcanic cones were formed; such as Big
ararat Mt.(5137 m), small ararat Mt. (3896 m),
Tendürek Mt.(3533 m), suphan M.(4058 m),
nemrut Mt.(3050 m), kisir Mt. (3197 m) and
akbaba Mt.(3040 m) in the eastern anatolia;
karaca Mt.(1954 m) in the south-eastern anato-
lia; erciyes Mt. (3917 m), hasandag Mt. (3268 m),
Melendiz Mt. (2963 m), karaca Mt. (2288 m) and
kara Mt (2288 m) in the central anatolia.
Mount erciyes is the huge stratovolcano moun-
tain (3300 km
2
) of central anatolian Volcanic
Province (caVP) in Turkey, with a basal diameter
of 55-60 km. (Şen et al., 2003). around the cen-
tral cone there are sixty-eight monogenetic vents
with a diameter of 600 m-3000 m being situated
on its flanks (ketin, 1985). Mt. erciyes is situated
about 15 km south of kayseri and its materials
are distributed in large areas (∼30,000 km
2
). First
volcanic activity of Mt. erciyes had been started
4.39 Ma ago (ayranci, 1969). numerous studies
(innocenti et al., 1975, Pasquare et al., 1988, notsu
et al., 1995, kurkcuoglu et al., 1998, Toprak, 1998,
sen et al., 2003) have been carried out for the eval-
uation of Mt. erciyes and its vicinity.
1.2
The Cappadocia Region
The cappadocia Region is one of the historical
sites in the World heritage list and a famous
touristic site of Turkey due to its spactacular
and unique landforms, fairy chimneys and
historical heritages as seen Figure 1. Various
geomorphological landforms like columns, towers,
pillars with chimney caps (named fairy chimneys)
and obelisks are developed owing to differential
weathering and erosion activities. cappadocia has
been continuously inhabited from the neolithic era
up to the present day. it was known as hattie in
the late Bronze age, and was the homeland of the
hittite power centered at hattusa. after the fall of
The hittite empire, cappadocia was fallen into
the power of the Persian empire. in this reason
monastery, hermitages, shrines and even dwellings
