Geotechnical properties of volcanic materials of the Mount Erciyes

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 calcalkaline 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 Nevsehir, Kayseri and Nigde 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.