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Stability Assessment of the Gökgöl Karstic Cave (Zonguldak, Turkey) by Analytical and Numerical Methods

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Abstract

Turkey has many cave formations and some caves are important tourist attractions. Theses caves have natural and historical characteristics that need to be investigated and protected. An important rock engineering topic is the identification of possible rock falls and collapses in caves that are open to the public and planning preventive measures. In this study, the locations and types of instability problems were identified along a section of 875 m of the Gökgöl cave in Zonguldak, Turkey. The main instabilities were identified as block falls controlled by discontinuities, rock block sliding, and flexural toppling. To obtain the intact rock and rock mass properties of the stratified limestone which is the host rock of the cave, field and laboratory studies were conducted. Stability assessments for four different sections inside the cave were carried out using numerical and analytical methods, and the results were compared. The results of the analyses revealed that some countermeasures and precautions must be implemented to increase the stability in some areas of the Gökgöl cave, especially those which have potential for regional failure.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to express their deep gratitude to Prof. Ömer Aydan (University of the Ryukyus, Japan) for his valuable suggestions and help at the study site and the in the laboratory and to Prof. Hasan Gerçek (Bülent Ecevit University, Turkey) and Dr. Özgü Kaşmer (Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, Turkey) for their help with the English edition of this paper. In addition, we gratefully acknowledge the Scientific Research Unit of Bülent Ecevit University for providing financial support (Project No: 2011-17-11-05).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining Engineering, Bülent Ecevit University, Zonguldak, Turkey

    Melih Geniş

  2. Department of Mining Engineering, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyon, Turkey

    Berdan Çolak

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  1. Melih Geniş
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  2. Berdan Çolak
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Correspondence to Melih Geniş.

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Geniş, M., Çolak, B. Stability Assessment of the Gökgöl Karstic Cave (Zonguldak, Turkey) by Analytical and Numerical Methods. Rock Mech Rock Eng 48, 2383–2403 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-014-0700-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-014-0700-z

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