DETERIORATION OF THE VOLCANIC KERB AND PAVEMENT STONES IN A HUMID ENVIRONMENT IN THE CITY CENTRE OF IZMIR, TURKEY

Abstract

İzmir is the third largest city in Turkey and has being the centre of art, culture, tourism and trade activities throughout the 5,000 years of its history. Natural stones brought from different parts of the world have been widely used for construction of the prestigious buildings, monuments and roads etc., in the past in the city. Renovation of the street pavements and public gathering areas in the city centre has been undertaken by the Metropolitan Municipality in 2000 and continued through the year of 2001. These renovation activities have mainly been carried out in the streets running parallel to the sea shore. Volcanic rocks brought from the Central Anatolia Ankara-Gölbaşı (andesites) and Kayseri-İncesu (tuffs) have been used in the renovation works. These rocks have shown extensive deteriorations within 4 years of their usage between 2001 and 2005 under the influence of different environmental factors. In this study, the deteriorations developed in the recently placed volcanic rocks used as kerb and pavement stones in the city centre of İzmir in the light of their mineralogical, chemical, physical and mechanical properties, used locations and the environmental factors are presented.