Geologic and geotechnical effects of an impact caused by an airplane crash

A Turkish Airlines (THY) Boeing 737-400 plane crashed into alluvial soils creating an approximately 13 m deep and 30 m wide crater near the village of Adatepe, Ceyhan in southern Turkey. Effects of the impact on the soils in and around the crater were investigated from both the geological and soil mechanics point of view.

The results show that the impact caused severe deformations in the soils in and around the crater. The soils deformed similar to metamorphic rocks seen at many terrestrial hypervelocity impact craters around the world and became overconsolidated up to a distance of about 10 m from the crater wall as a result of the impact.

Also, the crash was recorded as a 2.7 magnitude earthquake by a nearby microtremor seismograph which provided both the location (epicenter) and time of the crash which was not known immediately after the crash.     

Buildings Damages after Elazığ, Turkey Earthquake on January 24, 2020

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake that occurred on January 24, 2020, has been effective in Turkey’s eastern regions. The earthquake, with recorded peak ground acceleration (PGA) value of 0.292 g, caused the destruction or heavy damage of buildings, especially in the city center of Elaz?? province. The purpose of this paper was to share the results of detailed investigation in the earthquake-stricken area. Additionally, the causes of damages and failures observed in the buildings were compared to those that had occurred in previous earthquakes in Turkey. In this study, the damages observed in especially RC buildings as well as in masonry and rural buildings were summarized, the lessons learned were evaluated, and the results were interpreted with reference to Turkish earthquake codes. In the study, it was particularly emphasized why the building stock underwent such damage even though the buildings were exposed to earthquake acceleration well below the design acceleration values.

     

Petrogenesis of ultramafic and mafic rocks of the Thompson Nickel Belt,Manitoba

Abundant sill-like bodies of serpentinized ultramafic rocks, with associated nickel sulfide deposits, are found on the western side of the Thompson Nickel Belt near the Moak Lake-Setting Lake cataclastic fault zone. The ultramafic rocks range in composition from dunite to orthopyroxenite and feature variable alteration. Chemical variation across the bodies is suggestive of in-situ differentiation controlled mainly by olivine and orthopyroxene. Relative abundances of some elements, incompatible for olivine and orthopyroxene, suggest a parental liquid of komatiitic affinity. Ultramafic and mafic rocks are petrogenetically linked. A high degree of partial melting of mantle material and subsequent low-pressure crystal fractionation are responsible for the spectrum of composition from ultramafic to mafic.Publication 19-84, Ottawa-Carleton Centre for Geoscience Studies     

Kinematics of the eastern part of the North Anatolian Fault Zone

The North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ), which marks the boundary between Anatolia and the Eurasian plate, is one of the world's most seismically active structures. Although the eastern part of NAFZ has high seismic hazard, there is a lack of geodetic information about the present tectonics of this region. Even though many scientists would like to study this area, geographical and logistical problems make performing scientific research difficult. In order to investigate contemporary neotectonic deformation on the eastern NAFZ and in its neighborhood, a relatively dense Global Positioning System (GPS) monitoring network was established in 2003. Geodetic observations were performed in three GPS campaigns in an area of 350 km × 200 km with 12-month intervals. In addition, 14 new GPS stations were measured far from the deforming area. Since this region includes the intersection of the NAFZ and the East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ), deformation is complex and estimating seismic hazard is difficult. One important segment is the Yedisu segment and it has not broken since the 1784 earthquake. After the 1992 Erzincan and 2003 Pulumur earthquakes, the Coulomb stress loading on the Yedisu segment of the NAFZ has increased significantly, emphasizing the need to monitor this region. We computed the horizontal velocity field with respect to Eurasia and strain rates field as well. GPS-derived velocities relative to Eurasia are in the range of 16–24 mm/year, which are consistent with the regional tectonics. The principal strain rates were derived from the velocity field. Results show that strain is accumulating between the NAFZ and EAFZ along small secondary fault branches such as the Ovacik Fault (OF).     

Laboratory and field performance of recycled aggregate base in a seasonally cold region

The objective of this project was to characterize the freeze-thaw properties of recycled concrete (RCA) and asphalt (RAP) as unbound base and to assess how they behaved in the field for nearly 8 years. This paper includes an examination of existing information, laboratory studies of freeze-thaw behavior, and evaluation of data from MnROAD field-test sections in a seasonally cold region, i.e., in Minnesota, USA. Test sections were constructed using recycled materials in the granular base layers at the MnROAD test facility. One test section included 100% RAP, another 100% RCA, a third one a 50/50 blend of RCA/natural aggregate, and a fourth one only natural aggregate (Class 5) as a control. The stiffness (i.e., elastic modulus) was monitored during construction and throughout the pavement life by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, along with the variation of temperatures and moisture regimes in the pavement to determine their effects on pavement performance. The resilient modulus of each material was determined by bench-scale testing in accordance with NCHRP 1-28a, as well as by field-scale tests incorporating a falling-weight deflectometer. Specimens were subjected to as many as 20 cycles of freeze-thaw in the laboratory, and the change in their resilient modulus was measured. In the field-test sections constructed with the same materials as the base course, temperature, moisture, and field modulus (from falling-weight deflectometer tests) were monitored seasonally for nearly 8 years. From the temperatures in the base course layer, the number of freeze-thaw cycles experienced in the field was determined for each test section. Inferences were made relative to modulus change versus freeze-thaw cycles. Conclusions were drawn for long-term field performances of the recycled base (RAB) in comparison to natural aggregate.     

Recent developments of the Middle East catalog

This article summarizes a recent study in the framework of the Global Earth model (GEM) and the Earthquake Model of the Middle East (EMME) project to establish the new catalog of seismicity for the Middle East, using all historical (pre-1900), early and modern instrumental events up to 2006. According to different seismicity, which depends on geophysical, geological, tectonic, and seismicity data, this region is subdivided to nine subregions, consisting of Alborz–Azerbaijan, Afghanistan–Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Caucasus, Central Iran, Kopeh–Dagh, Makran, Zagros, and Turkey (Eastern Anatolia; after 30° E). After omitting the duplicate events, aftershocks, and foreshocks by using the Gruenthal method, and uniform all magnitude to Mw scale, 28,244 main events remain for the new catalog of Middle East from 1250 B.C. through 2006. The magnitude of completeness (Mc) was determined as 4.9 for five out of nine subregions, where the least values of Mc were found to be 4.2. The threshold of Mc is around 5.5, 5.0, 4.5, and 4.0, for the time after 1950, 1963, 1975, and 2000, respectively. The average of teleseismic depths in all regions is less than 15 km. Totally, majority of depth for Kopeh–Dagh and Central Iran, Zagros, and Alborz–Azerbaijan, approximately, is 15, 13, and 11 km and for Afghanistan–Pakistan, Caucasus, Makran, Turkey (after 30° E), and Saudi Arabia is about 9 km.     

Reclamation planning for coal mine in Istanbul, Agacli Region

This paper outlines mining aspect of view to reclamation studies based on rather simpler but more practical analyses in terms of legislations and regulations in Turkey. This paper also presents the results of various multi-disciplinary experimental studies aimed at the development of a reclamation proposal for an open pit mine located in the Istanbul Agacli region. Within the scope of this study, the current conditions and environmental features of the working area and its surrounding were evaluated. Various experimental studies were carried out on the representative samples taken from the overburden material and water sources in order to detect the existence of any contamination and also to determine the properties of samples subjected to the reclamation. Then, both environmental features and the results of experimental studies of the working area were evaluated. At the end of the evaluation, a simple and practicable reclamation proposal was developed.