Compressional behavior of clayey sand and transition fines content

Clayey sand can be considered as a composite matrix of coarse and fine grains. The interaction between coarser and finer grain matrices affects the overall stress–strain behavior of these soils. Intergranular void ratio, e_s (which is the void ratio of the coarser grain matrix) can be utilized as an alternative parameter to express the compressive response of such soils. Oedometer tests conducted on reconstituted kaolinite–sand mixtures indicate that initial conditions, percentage of fines, and stress conditions influence the compression characteristics evidently. Tests showed that, up to a fraction of fines, which is named as transition fines content (FC_t), compression behavior of the mixtures is mainly controlled by the sand grains. When concentration of fines exceeds FC_t, kaolinite controls the compression. It was found that FC_t varies between 19% and 34% depending on the above mentioned factors. This range of fines content is also consistent with various values reported in literature regarding the strength alteration. Performed direct shear tests revealed that there is also a close relationship between transition fines content and shear strength, which is harmonic with the oedometer test results.     

GIS-based landslide susceptibility mapping using bivariate statistical analysis in Devrek (Zonguldak-Turkey)

Devrek town with increasing population is located in a hillslope area where some landslides exist. Therefore, landslide susceptibility map of the area is required. The purpose of this study was to generate a landslide susceptibility map using a bivariate statistical index and evaluate and compare the results of the statistical analysis conducted with three different approaches in seed cell concept resulting in different data sets in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) based landslide susceptibility mapping applied to the Devrek region. The data sets are created from the seed cells of (a) crowns and flanks, (b) only crowns, and (c) only flanks of the landslides by using ten different causative parameters of the study area. To increase the data dependency of the analysis, all parameter maps are classified into equal frequency classes based directly on the percentile divisions of each corresponding seed cell data set. The resultant maps of the landslide susceptibility analysis indicate that all data sets produce fairly acceptable results. In each data set analysis, elevation, lithology, slope, aspect, and drainage density parameters are found to be the most contributing factors in landslide occurrences. The results of the three data sets are compared using Seed Cell Area Indexes (SCAI). This comparison shows that the crown data set produces the most accurate and successful landslide susceptibility map of the study area.     

Stratigraphy and palaeoenvironment of the Lower-“middle” Oligocene units in the northern part of the Western Taurides (İncesu area,Isparta, Turkey)

This study describes the stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental significance of the Lower-“middle” Oligocene sediments based on the fauna from the Delikarkas? Formation and the microflora from the ?ncesu Formation of the ?ncesu area (northern part of the western Taurides, Isparta province, Turkey). In the area, the Oligocene sediments show a regressive succession, which begins with the limestones of the Delikarkas? Formation indicating marine conditions followed by conglomerates, sandstones and coaly mudstones of alluvial and fluvial (shallow marine-continental) origin. A well preserved foraminiferal assemblage including Nummulites intermedius, Nummulites vascus and Halkyardia maxima proves an Early Oligocene age for the Delikarkas? Formation. Due to palynological markers such as Boehlensipollis hohli, Slowakipollis hippophaëoides, Dicolpopollis kockelii, Magnolipollis neogenicus ssp. minor, Plicapollis pseudoexcelsus, Caryapollenites simplex and Intratriporopollenites instructus the ?ncesu Formation, which concordantly rests on the Delikarkas? Formation, may be assigned to the Early-“middle” Oligocene. From the palynomorph assemblage, three zones have been recognised according to abundance of species. Zone 1 is characterized by predominance of C. simplex and Momipites punctatus and rarely presence of tricolpate and tricolporate pollen. Zone 2 consists mainly of Inaperturopollenites dubius, Leiotriletes maxoides ssp. maximus, Verrucatosporites favus, Verrucatosporites alienus and infrequently marine dinoflagellate cysts. Zone 3 is characterized by a high percentage of ferns such as Echinatisporis?chattensis and Polypodiaceoisporites saxonicus. The presence of marine dinoflagellate cysts like Apectodinium sp. and Cleistosphaeridium sp., back-mangrove elements such as Acrostichum aureum and lepidocaryoid palms (e.g. Longapertites discordis, Longapertites punctatus and Longapertites psilatus) in the sediments of the ?ncesu Formation imply coastal or near-coastal conditions. Terrestrial palynomorphs in more inland settings were transported by running water towards the sea. Conifers are represented by poorly preserved and rare pollen grains of Pityosporites, Cathayapollis and Piceapollis which may have been transported by wind. In this study, the terrestrial climate of the ?ncesu Formation is also discussed on the basis of the Coexistence Approach method. The climate was warm at the coast (over 20 °C), as evidenced by A. aureum and lepidocaryoid palms, whereas there was a mean annual temperature of 17.2–17.4 °C must be assumed for the upland environment(s).     

Quality control and homogeneity of Turkish precipitation data

Outlier trimming and homogeneity checking/correction were performed on the monthly precipitation time series of various lengths from 267 stations in Turkey. Outlier values are usually found during dry summer months, and are concentrated mostly over the southern parts of the country, where the dry period is most pronounced, implying natural extremes rather than wrong measurements. Homogeneity analysis was done using the Standard Normal Homogeneity Test, on an individual monthly basis, which led to many non‐testable series due to lack of reference stations, especially during summer months. Yet, remaining testable months were usually helpful for the assessment of homogenity, revealing a well distributed set of stations that proved to be homogeneous. There were still a number of stations which either could not be tested efficiently, or were classified as inhomogeneous. Lack of metadata is argued to be largely responsible for inefficient homogeneity testing. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Change detection and visualization of acid mine lakes using time series satellite image data in geographic information systems (GIS): Can (Canakkale) County,NW Turkey

Can, a county in the province of Canakkale, is one of the most prominent coal mining districts in Turkey. Many mining companies have been operating coal deposits for power generation and district heating in this region since 1980. Generally, small and medium-scale mining companies operate for short periods and abandon the operational land without providing any rehabilitation. Human intervention in the natural structure and topography of the earth surface causes large holes and deterioration in these areas. Artificial lakes occur because of surface discharge and underground leakage into abandoned open pit mines with high lignite sulfur content (0.21–14.36 wt %). Furthermore, these lakes gain acidic character due to acid generation from pyrite oxidation. Acid mine lakes are highly acidic (pH < 3.05) and have elevated concentrations of \({\text{SO}}_{4}^{2 - }\) , Fe and some metals. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the environmental conditions and demonstrate the development of a monitoring system for their possible changes in the acid mine lakes of the open cast lignite mining area on a regional scale. For this purpose, the data received from remote sensing satellites were used. Areal change detection and perimeter changes of nine acid mine lakes caused by coal mining companies in Can from 1977 to 2011, were determined using Landsat, Quickbird and Worldview satellite images. As a case study, an area of 9 km² was chosen for the variety of acid mine lakes. Using GIS software, satellite images were analyzed in time series, borders of acid mine lakes were digitized and converted into vector data format. At this stage, prior to the digitization, in order to create contrast on the satellite images, “stretch type” and “stretch values” were changed. The areal and perimeter changes were computed and presented via tables and graphics. In addition, thematic maps of the acid mine lakes were created and visualized. The results show that the number of acid mine lakes increased and these caused environmental risks due to their hydrochemical properties and areal increments.     

Infrared imaging spectroscopy with micron resolution of Sutter's Mill meteorite grains

Synchrotron‐based Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy are applied with submicrometer spatial resolution to multiple grains of Sutter's Mill meteorite, a regolith breccia with CM1 and CM2 lithologies. The Raman and infrared active functional groups reveal the nature and distribution of organic and mineral components and confirm that SM12 reached higher metamorphism temperatures than SM2. The spatial distributions of carbonates and organic matter are negatively correlated. The spatial distributions of aliphatic organic matter and OH relative to the distributions of silicates in SM2 differ from those in SM12, supporting a hypothesis that the parent body of Sutter's Mill is a combination of multiple bodies with different origins. The high aliphatic CH₂/CH₃ ratios determined from band intensities for SM2 and SM12 grains are similar to those of IDPs and less altered carbonaceous chondrites, and they are significantly higher than those in other CM chondrites and diffuse ISM objects.     

Observations on the building damages after 19 May 2011 Simav (Turkey) earthquake

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 $(\text{ M}_{\mathrm{L}})$ has struck Simav, Kutahya located in the western part of Turkey on May 19, 2011. The ground motion caused observable damage within 25 km radius from the epicenter. Although the earthquake is moderate, its effects on the structures are serious. This paper presents the observations on seismic damages of reinforced concrete (RC) and masonry structures. Common reasons of damage in RC buildings are: low quality of concrete, detailing mistakes of reinforcement, short column, pounding, overhangs and misconstructed gable and outer infill wall parts. Interesting cases related to these deficiencies are reported. Damages in the masonry buildings are due to lack of connection between orthogonal walls and unsuitable location and dimension of openings. The damages at structures are more noticeable at regions with unfavorable soil conditions like plain regions or foothills. However, on stiffer soils at hilly sides, the damages seem to be more limited and masonry structures are observed to be less affected compared to the RC ones. The damages in RC buildings found to be increasing with story number for light damage states. However, for heavier damage states, 4–5 story buildings are observed to be the most damaged.     

Practical Application of 3D Visualization Using Geotechnical Database: A Case Study Karsiyaka (Izmir) Settlement Area (Turkey)

3D geographic information system software’s (GIS) are widely used in engineering geology applications. This study was performed in the Karsiyaka settlement area for the preparation of engineering geological maps and evaluation of geological structures. Firstly, topographic maps digitized with Arcview GIS 3.2. Engineering geological maps were prepared using site works and digitized with the Rockworks 2006 programme and later stored in GIS-based computer systems. 3D modelling analysis and assessment using a geotechnical database is important to assist decision-making for land use and metro subway line planning, construction site selection, selection of water sources, etc. In this respect, the sub-surface of the study area is fully 3D visualized and useful soil class zonation maps for different depths maps are performed to be used in further studies. At last, after research at this site, the construction applications of Karsiyaka have multiplied.     

Modelling and Remote Sensing of Land Surface Temperature in Turkey

This study introduces artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the estimation of land surface temperature (LST) using meteorological and geographical data in Turkey (26?C45°E and 36?C42°N). A generalized regression neural network (GRNN) was used in the network. In order to train the neural network, meteorological and geographical data for the period from January 2002 to December 2002 for 10 stations (Adana, Afyon, Ankara, Eski?ehir, ?stanbul, ?zmir, Konya, Malatya, Rize, Sivas) spread over Turkey were used as training (six stations) and testing (four stations) data. Latitude, longitude, elevation and mean air temperature are used in the input layer of the network. Land surface temperature is the output. However, land surface temperature has been estimated as monthly mean by using NOAA-AVHRR satellite data in the thermal range over 10 stations in Turkey. The RMSE between the estimated and ground values for monthly mean with ANN temperature(LST_ANN) and Becker and Li temperature(LST_B-L) method values have been found as 0.077?K and 0.091?K (training stations), 0.045?K and 0.003?K (testing stations), respectively.