The Engineering Properties of Clays in Trabzon Tasonu Quarry

Tasonu limestone quarry located south of Arakli in Trabzon is the largest cement raw materials field in the Eastern Black Sea region. The quarry is run in the Kirechane Formation composed of limestone with various facies. However, it has been encountered three separate planar failures occurred between 2005 and 2006. Due to the failures, the amount of raw material production from the quarry has been gradually decreased. These failures occurred on clayey layers varying between 15 and 110 centimeter thicknesses. Therefore, the relevant clayey layers were examined in terms of geochmechanical and geophysical properties. The samples collected from the clayey layers are classified as high plasticity clay (CH) in accordance with the Unified Soil Classification System. Clay samples consist of 85 to 90 % montmorillonite and 10 to 15 % illite. The measurement of volumetric magnetic susceptibility used in the diversity of clay varies in the range 129-163x10(-6) cgs. These values have been analyzed with respect to the heavy metal pollution ratio of the clay and especially iron oxide depending on 3.6 to 6.8 % rates was the result. In this study, index and shearing strength values obtained from clayey level and filling material may be use for the investigation of the stability of quarry slopes during excavation.