Engineering Properties of Monuments in the Gallipoli Peninsula, Northwest Turkey

Abstract

Many monuments were built on the Gallipoli Peninsula by governments in memory of the servicemen after the World War I ( 1915 – 1918 ). There are seventy seven monuments in total, thirty, one of witchwere built by the governments of Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, one by the French and forty five by the Turkish government in 1926. SiO2-rich rhyolites known as Azmak and Ilgardere Stones and oolitic limestones were usually used fort he monuments on the Gallipoli Peninsula. However, freezing and dissolving events increased in Çanakkale province duo to sudden climate variatons and monuments in this area became subject to weathering. Thus, rhyolites and ooliticlimestones used in monuments were replaced with marbles ( known as Fenike stone ) and micritic limestones. In this study, a series of mechanical and physicochemical tests have been conducted on both rhyolite and marble to determine their susceptibility to weathering and their long-term behavior in sudden climate variations. XRD, mineralogical and chemical analyses have been performed on both rhyolite and marble. Mineralogical and chemical compositions have been observed if they have an effect on the slake durability of both rocks types. Additionally, the physical and mechanical properties of rhyolites, oolitic limestones, micritic limestones and marbles, such as density and unit weight, have been determined. The results show that marble and micritic limestones are more resistant than rhyolite and oolitic limestones.